Spain launches dedicated Brexit hotline

Callers can ring 060 when in Spain or +34 902 887060 if calling from abroad and an automated system will offer the choice of either Spanish or English and ask if you are Spanish citizen wanting to live in the UK or a Brit in Spain.

You will then be offered a choice of information on the different issues most pressing for Brits in Spain during the transition period: residency, healthcare, retirement pensions, social security and driving licences.

Each option comes with an automated message about the current status relating to those matters and how it will remain unchanged during the transition period.

The service also offers the option of speaking to an operator for those requiring further information or with a specific query not dealt with by the automated options.

A large number of queries already received from Brits living in Spain have been about the issue of residency.

The Spanish government has updated its Brexit information page to inform British citizens already living in Spain, or planning to do so before the end of the transition period about the need to be properly registered.

It states that for the time being the process remains the same as it was before Brexit and the green credit card sized (or older A4) certificates will remain valid throughout the transition period until December 312020.

“During this transition period UK nationals and their family members resident in Spain who are nationals of non-EU countries will maintain their rights derived from the application of EU law (except for the right to vote and stand in elections to the European Parliament and the right to use the EU Citizens Initiative),” states an update in the Brexit section on the Moncloa website.

“Once the transition period ends, the Withdrawal Agreement stipulates that your rights of residence, work, study and social security will be maintained.

“You have to bear in mind that the registration certificates (the green certificate) and ID cards of family members of the EU citizen obtained before the end of the transition period will subsequently serve to accredit their legal residence in Spain and benefit from the provisions of the Withdrawal Agreement.”

But the website does state that plans are afoot for new paperwork specifically for Brits resident in Spain post-Brexit.  

“The Spanish government is working together with the European Commission to have a Foreign Identity Card that explicitly mentions your condition as beneficiary of the Withdrawal Agreement. The procedure for processing this card in the coming months will be completed soon.”

It adds: “The rights of British citizens and their family members who begin their legal residence in Spain after the transition period will be those established by the agreement regulating future relations; if there is none, the general arrangements governing foreign residents in Spain will be applicable.”

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