Re: TIE - Passport Checks
 

Ours were stamped going out in Oct 2023 but the border guard asked where we were going.
He said that we should always be stamped out until we are permanent residents but hinted that going to the Uk he would not have.

I can report that nobody cares at the ferry ports. Leaving Bilbao they didnt want to look at the TIE and the passports were not stamped. Didnt show the TIE in the Uk.
Coming back on the ferry on Tuesday and the Uk didnt care for the TIE and when we got back to Bilbao today (25/04/24) I gave the passports and TIE to the border guard he just returned the TIE and scanned our passports.

I dont think the passport should be stamped if you are returning to your country of citizenship from Spain, or thats how it was explained to me when I asked earlier. So thats why they were in Oct as we headed for OZ.

I dont actually care one way or the other the stamp means nothing as we are resident even temporary ones for now.

Re: TIE - Passport Checks
 

I wouldn't worry about stamps too much. This is the only UE border that is completely clueless about them so I completely ignore it all because it's too much of a hassle. In... out... who cares? Let them figure it out.

My last stamp is an incoming one from a completely clueless Catalonian clown at Barcelona airport who was chatting and laughing over his cellphone whilst pretending to do his job at passport control. Been in and out of Schengen many times since and don't really care, never asked for an exit stamp since that one as I can't be bothered fixing some Catalonian idiot's mistakes for him...

Re: TIE - Passport Checks
 

Not related to TIEs, but it seems I was lucky to only have taken 30 minutes to clear Passport Control at Málaga airport when returning last week. I've just seen a letter published in last week's Sur in English from someone who arrived, as a tourist, on 17 April. He, with an EU passport, queued for 40 minutes to get through (only one officer dealing with the EU queue) whilst his wife, with a UK passport, queued for 90 minutes with only 2 officers dealing with the non EU queue (no idea why they didn't ask if she could accompany him in the EU queue, maybe they didn't know). They are both in their late 70s. I've seen other posts on social media, with photos of the very, very long queues in recent weeks. Málaga airport, along with the Policia Nacional, are going to have to get their act together to reduce the queues to an acceptable level by increasing staffing or it is going to have an adverse effect on tourism, and of course Spanish nationals and residents are being treated in this way as well. It is not good enough.

Re: TIE - Passport Checks
 

That must have been an awful experience. So just 3 border control people working even though numerous flights are coming in?

I've been in similar situations in a number of countries but they were more like one-offs and not the norm.

Re: TIE - Passport Checks
 

It has happened before. That's exactly the situation I experienced when returning from the UK in 2022, when it took me 1 hour and 20 minutes to get through. After that I did see reports in the press that additional officers were being drafted in from other parts of Spain to staff more Passport Control desks during the main holiday season, but they have obviously learnt nothing from past experience and ignored the rising number of passengers arriving via Málaga which is reported often in the papers.

El Aeropuerto de Málaga se refuerza con 34 policías por las largas colas en los controles de pasaporte | Diario Sur

Re: TIE - Passport Checks
 

I think this is part of a broader problem: tourist saturation. We have seen what is happening in Venice and Málaga along with the Canaries are at focal point of the problem in Spain. More and more people are traveling and some places are unable to deal with housing for local people as has happened in Venice. Málaga has a sticker campaign and graffiti - which is becoming more hostile towards tourists and Airbnb owners. Similarly in Canaries. Local authorities who are elected are well aware that whilst businesses can grease their palms voters are a different kettle of fish and as pressure increases more action needs to be taken. Torrevieja is now apparently experiencing a property boom driven by foreign investors and local Spanish are starting to complain publicly about the difficulty of finding long term rents. So I guess there is going to be political action taken soon.

Re: TIE - Passport Checks
 

In the whole of the very large town I live in, there are currently 16 property listings for long term rentals (and when you actually read the details, 5 of those are not in the town but in villages some distance outside it, and one of the property listings is duplicated, so in reality there are only 10. And this is not somewhere with mass tourism or foreign property investors flooding in. Tourism is one factor contributing to the housing crisis, but by no means the only one.

Casas y pisos en alquiler en Vélez-Malaga, Málaga — idealista

Re: TIE - Passport Checks
 

A lot is being blamed on tourists because they're an easy scapegoat, but the real problem is large numbers of people turning private houses and apartments into holiday lets (airbnb, etc.). The ability to do so almost unhindered is also fuelling foreign investment into properties which are immediately available only for short-term lets. In fact of all the people I know who don't even live in Spain but are investing in properties here, their sole reason for doing so is make money from holiday lets asap (in fact the agents they use to buy those properties... also manage such lets).

When Singapore realised in the early stages that this would potentially turn into a problem they didn't procrastinate but just shut the door on holiday lets completely. Problem solved.

Re: TIE - Passport Checks
 

Torre Del Mar changes completely late June through to September each year. Mainly due Tourism from inland Spain..It doesn't seem to affect Velez Málaga as much. I don't know facts just personal experience it is like a different town in those months and seems to spread to Algarrobo Costa.. There has been a huge amount of building out towards the Hospital area and on the west side of the town with no sign of it abating. They have also started pushing it for tourism elsewhere in Europe over the last few years. Axarquia has been having tourist seminars elsewhere in Europe re tourism. Unfortunately it strikes me that they see the area as an area to be exploited for tourism. Only today I was in Torrox Costa which has also had a lot of recent building development new apartment blocks being built on the North side of the main road along with the beachfront development near El Morche where there used to be the two brick unfinished blocks for years. Now Torrox Costa and El Morche have literally become one. My view is Axarquia has seen how much money tourism West of Málaga has brought in and they can get some of the tourist money. I know someone who wanted a long term let in Torre Del Mar and no way can they get a whole year rental.




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Re: TIE - Passport Checks
 

I agree, the situation of long term rentals being very scarce in Torre del Mar is largely down to tourism. Very many apartments are, and always have been, owned by Spanish families living further North who only occupy them for a few weeks a year and rent them out just for the winter months (still quite reasonably, many are available for around €500 per month but are booked a long time in advance, we know a couple of people who come every winter for a few months and have to reserve their apartment at least a year in advance and still sometimes can't get their first choice). The landlords who rent short term all year round can command very high prices for July and August.

But Velez-Malaga is very different, there are a few properties advertised on holiday rental sites but it's a very small number given the size of the town, and very little hotel accommodation either. But still there's a terrible shortage of properties available to local people for long term rent, we know Spanish people whose adult children and their families are having to live with them, very overcrowded, because they can't find homes to rent even if they are working. When the PP took control of the Ayuntamiento at the last elections, part of their manifesto was building a few hundred VPO homes in the very near future, but needless to say not a single brick has been laid yet. There are a lot of empty, dilapidated buildings around the town which would be better demolished and the sites used for small blocks of flats for social rent. One example - opposite the house we used to live in is a former Guarderia (the building is actually owned by the Diocese of Malaga). In 2010 the Guarderia was relocated nearer to the town centre and that building, which has a large walled playground behind it) has stood empty, getting into a worse state of repair all the time, ever since. When we sold the house in 2017 the buyers wanted to know what the Council's plans were for that building - I said as far as I knew they didn't have any, and that has proved to be true! There are many families in that area desperate for somewhere to live and if that building were demolished at least a dozen low rise flats could be built on the site. There's also a former Aqualia water deposito site, with walls around it, which has not been in use for even longer than that, again the site just sits there (the Ayuntamiento paint the wall surrounding it white every year before Semana Santa!) and could easily be redeveloped for low rise housing.

They are currently spending 4.9 million euros (will probably cost a lot more before it's finished) renovating the old Lope de Vega theatre which has stood empty for many years. It's not some historic treasure but the ugliest building you ever saw in your life from the 1950s and Velez already has a theatre - underused. There is another one currently under construction in Torre del Mar (well I say that but since the steelwork went up last year nothing more has happened on the site) so no way do we need another one. It is a pretty large building and next door to a multi storey car park so the site would be perfect for low rise flats for social rent, but no they would rather spend the money on another white elephant.

Re: TIE - Passport Checks
 

Yes Velez Málaga although these days nearly connected to Torre it's a very different place much different feel to it Certainly over the last few years the area has seen a lot of building development. I'm sure it will continue and I'm sure not all locals will like this hence the protests in the Canaries which I can see gaining traction on the mainland. Nothing standstill but some developers must be making millions changing the face of these beautiful areas.
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Re: TIE - Passport Checks
 

Its not a recent problem. We first came to Spain in 1999 and initially looked for rentals in Nerja. We found one, but only available until June and then the rent tripled for the summer. We then looked along the coast and found a rental in La Herradura, owned by a Norwegian couple. They did not rely on summer holiday lets as they wanted to use it for Easter and one month in the summer. We agreed a deal where we vacated it for 6 weeks a year (returning to family in UK etc) and it worked really well. A mutually acceptable compromise!

After 3 years we moved to the new house that we had built so that solved the problem. Since then it has got far worse. Some local Spanish friends had to move out of a long term rental because the owners were selling and found it really difficult to get a local long term rental due to the ludicrous prices the owners want in July/August.

I feel really sorry for locals who are being priced out of the rental market and the possibility of buying a house is getting even worse.

This is all a bit off topic with regard to passport checks but it is becoming a major problem that we all need to be aware of. Locals in Tenerife are complaining about the high costs of renting where the average wage is now about the same as a months rental.

Re: TIE - Passport Checks
 

I think the 2008 financial crash stalled the development but certainly the last 8 or so years it has picked up pace again . I do find east of Motril it is generally less of an issue but that may well change.

Re: TIE - Passport Checks
 

We flew out of Málaga a week gone yesterday . At Málaga airport we queued in the non EU queue for passport control. No stamping of passports my wife asked to border official whether as Spanish residents with TIE's if we were allowed to use the EU queue , she replied officially no but yes you can? So no definitive answer and we will continue to use the non EU queue when we return tomorrow and for future trips.

Re: TIE - Passport Checks
 

No but yes? sounds like the vicar of Dibley. Just take the official line of NO and you'll be OK.