Re: Benefits (not the welfare system)
 

Are you suggesting that there are English people living in Spain.Portugal etc who behave in the same way as it is claimed immigrants from eastern europe do in the UK??
I do hope that you are not ,such behaviour is not in the English character !!!y

A large Iberica pig has just flown by.

Re: Benefits (not the welfare system)
 

I live in Madrid and tbh I don't know any other expats but if I did I certainly would hope they were following the rules etc. My question wasn't asked in the hope of evading anything legal.

I've lived and worked in Madrid for over 20 years and in the words some people here like using I am fully integrated ;-) and apart from when we bought our flat I can't honestly remember ever being asked for my Residency I was just curious as to how they would actually check the 183 days question. My wife just suggested mobile phone records which I can see being one way but as for plane tickets etc I can't see how they prove prove one way or another the 183 days rule.

Re: Benefits (not the welfare system)
 

Easy to check past flights on the sites if the airlines.

You go to manage my booking and then you can get the option of looking a past flights.

With Ryanair a reference number of a flight is needed, and I am sure that even the incompetent Spanish authorities could do that.

Re: Benefits (not the welfare system)
 

may not be the English way, heaven help us !!
but it would now appear to be the British way. Just can't work out who corrupted whom - we corrupted them after they arrived or they corrupted us.:confused:

Re: Benefits (not the welfare system)
 

OK but that still only proves how many times you entered and left Spain, what if you were leaving and entering by train or car. Oh another thing I am curious about... is the 183 days consecutive or cumulative ?

Re: Benefits (not the welfare system)
 

You mean like living in ghettoes, not mixing with the locals, not learning the language and only going to shops and restaurants that sell the same food they eat "at home"? :D

Re: Benefits (not the welfare system)
 

It's cumulative - 183 days in any 365 (Jan 1st to Dec 31st).

Re: Benefits (not the welfare system)
 

@Snikpoh Thanks, thats one of my idle queries answered :-)

Re: Benefits (not the welfare system)
 

Yep, here, they set up regular roadblocks. They just stop cars at random and ask to see their papers (and will even search the car if they want). If you haven't a NIE or a Spanish driving licence, then they want some evidence you're a tourist. A recent plane ticket, a business card, recent receipts from your home country, anything. If you can't produce that, they can take your passport or even seize your car and demand that you show up at the local aduana to prove you're not living here illegally. We get stopped all the time. Fortunately, we're legal!

Re: Benefits (not the welfare system)
 

i consider myself legal and integrated and live in a modern province with proper law enforcement. I take an active part in expat matters, like the HELP organisation and neighbourhood watch, as well as charity organisations.

I've never heard of the horrific stories from above and other parts of Spain. The police appear to have better things to do than check on whether some expat has exceeded his 183 day yearly stay in Spain.

I've also never heard of anyone being prosecuted for overstaying, or not getting a residency certificate or not signing on the padron. They seem to be busy enough chasing drug dealers and burglars and the various foreign gangs who have gathered in recent years.

I must admit I don't hang around in dangerous areas during the middle of the night and always wear my seat belt.

Re: Benefits (not the welfare system)
 

I know several people (in several households) who have been threatened with prosecution for just that

The Guardia turned up at their doors with summonses - 10 days to get the paperwork sorted one way or another

they have/had all lived here for some years - were on the padrón/bought property/had non-res bank accounts/one couple even married here

they all had to either get registered as resident or PROVE that they weren't living here

Re: Benefits (not the welfare system)
 

hey girl, sounds just like Malaga and neighbouring towns

:rofl:

Re: Benefits (not the welfare system)
 

if you leave by car you have to show your passport at the Chunnel
if you leave by train - ditto
if you leave by ship - ditto

it may not be the border guys of the country you are leaving by the guys of the country you are leaving but the guys on the train from the UKBA who seem to take so much interest in hassling the ordinary members of the public whilst missing all those II's who manage to make it without being stopped.

ever had to take your shoes off at Stansted (or elsewhere) Border Control when LEAVING on a RYR or EZY flight across the channel ??

Re: Benefits (not the welfare system)
 

As I said, Lynn, I've never heard of anyone actually being prosecuted.

It wouldn't make sense. a million of us expats live in this lovely country and spend our money here, why on earth would they want to prosecute us for what really are minor infringements of minor regulations, getting senseless bits of paper for permissions already granted to us by our membership of the EU?

Spain's bloated civil service is being drastically reduced because of Europe-wide austerity measures, but I agree that they still hang on to a lifelong habit of making things difficult for their own population and expats too.

Fancy a Guardia Civil knocking on doors for something daft like that, while tons of drugs are being smuggled into the country to stupefy the country's youth?

Re: Benefits (not the welfare system)
 

Never heard of anyone being prosecuted. Know some who have been in Spain 20 years and have never become resident. Still loads of Brit cars too. Perhaps they don't come on forums:unsure: