fawinds

So has been my experience too, but anyway wanted to hear form other people in order to know theirs'.

The shrunk passport being a photocopy may not be accepted in many places, the same way as they would not accept a photocopy of a Spanish ID card.

As for BBVA how did you intend to use you DL? If ti was for opening an account they won't accept it. If you already have an account and just used it to withdraw funds from a branch, I am not sure, but chances are that if your account was opened with a passport, they will want to see your passport. Banks in Spain keep customers records by their ID card number or passport number, so they may want to see a document that matches the number kept in their system.

VFR

Are you not answering your own questions ?

fawinds

Not really, I have not used my UK cards so extensively as I had Spanish cards matching my Spanish ID. But now my income is mainly coming from my Limited company in the UK and rather than converting sterling into euros and transfer the money to Spain, I prefer to keep it in my UK banks as most of my expenses are there. As a matter of fact if I could exclusively use my UK accounts I'd close the Spanish ones, but unfortunately I have not been able to set up direct debits from my Spanish utilities into my HSBC sterling or Citibank euro account, despite EU regulations that make this possible.

jo-ann

I never carry my passport with me, and whenever I pay by credit card I always use my spanish driving licence as Id, and I have never ever had a problem with that be it in large stores or in small shops

jdr

You should always carry your passport as it is your only legal ID outside the UK.

rachelk

I'd like to think that should i ever be in a situation where my legal ID was demanded, the agente would look kindly on me once I explained how much my UK passport had cost me from here in Spain and that I really didn't want to risk losing it to a youth on a speeding moto.

Have you seen how their eyes come out on stalks when you tell them how much????

jdr

Yeah I know the cost, I renewed mine a little while ago, they know they have us by the short and curlies so we have to pay.
The problem is that is the only legal ID we have and you could be held in custody until someone turned up with it.
Mmmm how much is a Spanish passport ? peanuts comes to mind.

JLFS

Yes, I am sure that they would look kindly on you, that might not be the case if you were are hairy a***d bloke though.

rachelk

It's ridiculous! Pay for the passport - can't afford the bloomin' holiday.

fawinds

The Spanish assport is now €20.20 and the ID card €10.10, but not long ago the passport was €12 and the ID card €6.80 so in time they will probably go up in price as the UK passport.

I wish ID cards in the UK would have continued to be issued as they come handy for loads of things, especially travelling within Europe. In addition I liked the way they looked like. I would qualify for the green one and in a few years for the pink one.

EsuriJohn

I think you will find that you may still be able to get one.

I was one of the lucky/sensable ones 15,000 of us Brits paid our £30 and got the new pink card, now when the Law is changed I will loose the use of the card with no recompense.

However non-Brits who are resident in the UK will still be required to have one so the system will still be in place. You may be able to sneak under the radar and get the green one but as a European you may be barred!

HBG

It's funny, British expats and various liberal organisations fought for years against having to carry compulsory ID. Spain eventually relented under pressure, and the UK ID scheme was hastily abandoned, to rounds of applause from the left-wing and liberals.

And now we've got no official photo ID when we need it, apart from our passports, and with all respect to the righteous, you cannot carry your passport in Spain on a daily basis, for one thing it would wear out, and you are also likely to lose it.

So we make do with miniaturized copies of doubtful validity, notarised photocopies and other little schemes to prove our right to be here. I'm as bad as everyone else and have a walletful of those daft little things, and boxes full of paperwork indoors to prove that I exist.

And the Spanish people (authorities)? 99 percent of the time they don't want to see anything apart from Euro notes.

fawinds

I am sorry you waisted your money. That ID card was a good solution for expats to prove their identity without carrying a passport, at least within the EU.

I can't apply for one. THe only foreing nationals who will continue to use ID cards are no EU/EEA citizens and they will be issued a different ID card:



This one is the same issued in Spain also for non EU/EEA nationals.

By the way, keep your card. Some day it will be a valuable souvenir, like those WW2 cardboard ID cards on sale on ebay. 15,000 can be considered a "limited edition".

fawinds

The problem in Spain is that by law you are compelled to carry ID at all times. This is a heritage from the Franco era. However I'm 43 and never ever have been stopped and asked for my ID card by the police.

In the UK I have found the ID problem a bit of a mess. When you open a Bank account, for example, you are not sure how many papers they'll want to see. I reckon a single driving licence makes them happy nowadays but before the photocard driving licence was in place I remember taking all sort of papers like utility bills, other bank statements, Inland Revenue letters, even bank references. It is for situations like that I believe a national ID card will come handy.

Anyway I must agree I was concerned by the vast amount of personal information the Labour government wanted to store in their database. I believe they could have done with far less data. Here they only have your name, address, sex, date and place of birth, parents' names, photograph and fingerprints. That is more than enough, just about the same information as in the passport.

jo-ann

No way, have it stolen and then have to pay the exorbitant price to get another - no chance, it is to valuable to carry around everyday. I have lived here for 7 years now and have never ever been asked for a passport for my legal ID. My spanish driving licence has always been sufficient, perhaps things are more sensible in my area.