Spain Updates Brits Living In Spain With Documentation Needed To Enter Under Current Restrictions
Spain News
Published: 17 May 2021 17:25 CET
The Spanish Government has announced they have updated the list of documentation that UK nationals who were living in Spain before January 1 2021, can use to determine their residency status when entering Spain while the current restrictions remain in place.
A Facebook post from The British Embassy in Madrid on Thursday, May 13 said “The Spanish Government has informed the UK Government that it has updated the list of documentation that UK nationals who were legally residing in Spain before 1 January 2021, and as such are beneficiaries of the Withdrawal Agreement, can use to prove their residence status when entering Spain while entry restrictions remain in place.”
The updated document that has been signed by the Spanish Embassy in London stated that British nationals who were legally residing in Spain before the end of last year, will need to submit any one of the following documents to substantiate their residence status:
- Residence card issued under Article 18.4 of the Withdrawal Agreement – ‘la tarjeta de identidad de extranjero (TIE)’
- Temporary or permanent EU residence certificate (green certificate) – ‘el certificado de registro de ciudadano de la Unión’ (tarjeta verde)
- Residence card as a family member of an EU citizen – ‘la tarjeta de familiar de ciudadano de la Unión’
- Receipt of application to exchange an EU residence certificate (green certificate) or residence card as a family member of an EU citizen for the new TIE (residence card issued under Article 18.4 of the Withdrawal Agreement) – ‘el resguardo de expedición de la tarjeta de identidad de extranjero (TIE) o de la tarjeta de familiar de ciudadano de la Unión’
- Confirmation of the positive outcome of your residence application from the Immigration Office – ‘la resolución favorable de reconocimiento como beneficiario del Acuerdo de Retirada emitida por la Oficina de Extranjería competente’
The British Embassy has said that the updated document has been passed on to all airlines and other operators.
Hopefully, this will mean that border police and airport staff, both in Spain and the UK, will no longer turn Britons away when their proof of residency documents have been accepted.
Likewise, it is also important that under the current travel restrictions, Brits who don’t have the correct documentation to prove their residency status, should not be booking flights out to Spain for residency purposes.
At present, house deeds, rental contracts, utility bills, work contracts and a padrón certificate are not on the list of accepted documentation.
There are however other permitted reasons for you to enter Spain and the UK’s government website lists them all in detail. https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/spain/entry-requirements
It is also important to remember that the British Government recently placed Spain, the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands on their ‘amber list’ for travel from May 17. This means anyone returning back to the UK from Spain or the islands, will be required to self-isolate for up to ten days.
The Spanish tourism authorities have since announced that from “around May 20th” Spain will happily welcome back UK tourists and that they won’t require a PCR test to enter the country. This is however still to be confirmed and is of course subject to future EU negotiations relating to non-essential travel from all third countries.
Sources
https://www.facebook.com/BritsInSpain/posts/3592271950877180
https://twitter.com/EmbSpainUK/status/1392837999944036352?s=20&fbclid=IwAR0iD3H4Gj
https://www.thelocal.es/20210514/spain-updates-documents-uk-nationals-living-in-spain-need-to-enter-under-current-restrictions/
