Stingychips

a lot. A hell of a lot

DLC

No, they have the green A4 or credit-card sized certificate, which has been known to be rejected inside Spain because British citizens aren't EU citizens any more and outside of Spain because it's a Spanish document, not an EU-wide document.

bobd22

Velez Malaga is as you say difficult so we used main police station in Malaga which usually has plenty of appointments available

Lynn R

Yes, we went to Málaga to get ours too. It really wasn't any hardship although we don't have a car, and we go to Málaga every few weeks anyway so just combined it with a regular trip for lunch and shopping.

bobd22

Yes we did the same. The procedure was straight forward. Nearly every time we went there was the same very efficient police woman that controlled the queue and told you where to go.

teuchterpete

What we don't know is " How many have just packed up and gone back to the UK?" I know of two families, one who just went back, and another who got their TIE cards then sold up and went back. Will these still be valid now that they are UK residents?
Pete

bobd22

My understanding re TIE is, if it's a temporary one you can leave Spain for 6month period and it remains valid. For a permanent one you can leave Spain for up to 5 years and it remains valid. Over these times residency becomes invalid. Also if your intention is to leave Spain permanently and take up residency say back in the UK you should go to the police station and cancel your residency using same system but different part of the form that you used to obtain residency

DLC

And if they had the green certificate then it doesn't have an expiry date, but if they're out for more than 6 months then they lose temporary residence and if they're out for more than 2 years they lose permanent residence.

Chipmonk

I am really angry about this. I changed to a TIE card in June as it seemed sensible to do due to problems getting back into Spain during the Covid restrictions. In a month I will have been resident in Spain 5 years so I hoped to change my card so it says PERMANENT. I have both phoned and been to the office for foreigners to enquire about how do to this and have been told that wont be considered to be permanent for another 5 years!!!!. As the new TIE set all persons who apply with less than 5 years at year zero. I speak good Spanish and have tried arguing my case but the officers say no

DLC

This is wrong, the WA specifically says previous residency periods must be taken into account in Articles 11 and 15(1).

Try making a complaint to a body here.

EU helplines and defensor del pueblo might be a good start. The EU helpline will say you're right and you can show that to DdP. Use Spanish as the language for the EU helplines so they reply in Spanish.

agree_to_disagree

So is the 2 years simply 24 months or is it if you leave in December 2021 you need return before the 1st of Jan 2023 i.e., simply a portion of two calendar or Spanish tax years?

bobd22

I thought it was 2 years under rules for permanent resident with green card but 5 years permanent resident TIE Card?

Joppa

My understanding is that all UK nationals who have been resident prior to 1st January 2021, whether they hold the new TIE or old residence certificates (green) have been included in the provisions of the withdrawal agreement, so for permanent residents, regardless of the document you hold, you can stay away for up to 5 years before losing your right to return to Spain.

bobd22

​​​​​​​That makes sense thanks. I knew I had read that it changed from 2 to 5 years .

agree_to_disagree

British residents are erroneously having their passports stamped at Spainish border control

https://spanishnewstoday.com/british...1676774-a.html