Coming to Spain - Page 17

Got to agree were did the figure of 500 come from, and who says they broke their own rules, the BBC, well even they had to remove there own newsnight lead for not adhearing to their own guidelines on impartial reporting.

James

James, I am at a loss. What figure of 500 are you talking about? Back in early March the BBC reporters were pandering to Boris Johnson and his advisors and gave the politicians an easy ride through what were some stupid decisions on the fight against the coronavirus. I was in Spain during February and had to endure well heeled Panama Hatted Brits pontificating that "we'll get it just about right when the time comes." The Tory government not only acted late but sent its rescue ship in the wrong direction and were let off the hook by BBC journalists. I pointed this out on another thread here which was deleted. 

When I came across the Saturday full beaches of Bournemouth earlier (in the Facebook equivalent of this forum) I couldn't believe what I was looking at. Please don't think I am anti Brit because I am not. It's apparent for many weeks now that it is the Brits that are screwing themselves. They can't trust Mr Johnson's advisors who themselves are breaking every restriction in the book and maintain that they are doing a good job. Worse again, there are those that believe them. 

I copied some comments from TripAdvisor where Benisteve (an inspired idiot to say the least) and his kind are living in cuckoo land and he and others tend to shout down with lies those that are providing them with truthful facts. On TripAdvisor now and at long last the Benisteves are being largely ignored in favour of those who tell the truth. I like to believe that this is happening on this forum too.

I’m largely in agreement. When Boris and his crew won a landslide I just wanted out! The country has got what it voted for. A populist, chaotic and arrogant group of people completely incapable of negotiating their way through a crises. It doesn’t surprise me a jot they’ve done a poor job. In the final analysis the U.K. will almost certainly have the worst death rates in Europe. This is the country Boris likes to boast is the best in the world. I also agree our media have been pitiful and have failed to hold the government to account. 

It’s actually 556 deaths in the last 24 hours in the UK. today. They discovered 400+ deaths from previously that had been left out. Hence most of the 556 announced today had not happened in the last 24 hours. It’s still appalling.

As reported in several U.K. newspapers:

“The number of people in the UK who have died after testing positive for Covid-19 is 556 more than the equivalent total announced yesterday. But Health Secretary Hancock told the daily press briefing that 111 people had died from Coronavirus since yesterday.

The reason for the difference in these two figures is to do with how deaths are being incorporated into historic data retrospectively.

Yesterday's cumulative total announced by the Department of Health was 38,489, which is 556 below today's cumulative total of 39,045.”

Chris

Mathew, dont you read the posts before responding, it was only 3 posts back.

"But England is a world leader, alongside Brazil and the USA, in lackadaisical planning and then its ministers, including the PM and his chief adviser, ignored their own rules and the science - what an example. 500+ died of the virus today in the U.K. and yet although the country is at the second highest phase (4) it has begun relaxing the lockdown restrictions! In Spain in the last 24 hours there were zero deaths."

Interesting the poster has now corrected himself, not actual deaths but recorded deaths ,in the 24 hours. As i keep saying, too many comments spoken hastily.

This chat is about travel to spain, but yet again has been hijacked for politacl comment.

James

James, Many, many of my posts and full threads started by me have been deleted on this forum. Usually, when I go back to previous threads and find that they've been deleted I find that I've gone to more trouble than most before I place a post. Apologies for that.

Has the original thread been hijacked? Perhaps! - Is there fear in taking a holiday in Spain? I must say Yes! - Are there nationalities other than Irish I fear may cause Covid-19 while in Spain? - Yes! Do I think I'm much different to most? No! How do I feel in general to the whole Covid-19 situation? While we haven't had a lockdown equal to that of Spain, we have been obeying all the restrictions and don't want to have our efforts and the efforts of the vast majority of Brits, Spaniards etc over the past 3 months wasted. 

Going back to the original thread James, I think that a lot of British people (the elderly at least) will decide not to travel to Spain or anywhere else outside the UK and Ireland because of the problem of not being able to get insurance in the event of having to be treated outside the UK.  Maybe one exception might be Cyprus who are guaranteeing free hospital charges in case of falling ill over there.

But of course politics is the driver as to whether or not travellers are allowed to return the Spain. The Bojo government has decided to quarantine Visitors from overseas (even those from countries with far fewer cases of Covid-19 than the U.K.) so it seems reasonable that the Spanish government will retaliate. Politics! 

Hi Andy, I don't think the Spanish government is retaliating against UK policy. Spain has been through much tragedy and it hurts; I think Senor Sanchez is doing what he thinks best for Spain. (Wait for it, though, I bet he lumps Ireland in with his UK ban). 

Hopefully not Matthew - I'm sure he'll be cognisant of the efforts of the Irish government in containing the virus.

As posted a while back, though, the Minister of Tourism has reiterated her comments about not allowing UK holidaymakers back to Spain until Britain manages to drive the numbers down.  That would mean the UK government actually doing something other than issuing meaningless platitudes, three word slogans, pretending they are getting good numbers on tests by counting a throat and a buccal swab on one person as two tests and oh, yes, defying their own lockdown laws!

I know people want to get out ... but the scenes on some of the beaches - Bournemouth in particular - don't bode well for a hurried return.  Perhaps UK government are merely enforcing Brexit by ensuring their Nationals stay out of Europe as well? 

But yes, this is a thread for coming to Spain, so on that note I'd like to add something that popped up on another thread about being here.  A poster noted they had Irish passports and so were therefore legally allowed to stay in Spain 6 months of the year.  I don't think the poster was too happy when I pointed out this was not the case, and asked why estate agents etc would then give them 6 month long-term leases if they weren't allowed to be here.

The answer to that question for anyone wondering, is that Estate Agents, land owners etc. are not responsible for ensuring you are legally allowed to be in Spain - it is up to the individual.  

So to reiterate, ALL EU nationals (including Irish passport holders) may only stay in Spain for 90 days in any 180 day period UNLESS they have Residencia.  Your green card is what will allow you to work and live here longer than 90 days.  Please also remember that once you have your green card, your residencia, there are a couple of obligations you need to be aware of:
1. You MUST convert your driving licence to a Spanish Carnet de Conducir
2. You MUST spend at least 183 days a year in Spain to retain your right to residency (until you have been here 5 years and have permanent residency, at which point you can spend up to 5 years out of the country without losing residency)
3. You are obliged to pay Spanish taxes - Residencia means you are a "resident" of the country, that this is your normal place of residence - you can't have residencia in Spain and choose to pay taxes in England because that suits your financial situation better.

Under current double-taxation agreement, taxes paid in UK on property etc will NOT be taxed in Spain, so you will not be double-taxed - but you ARE obliged to declare income.  Spanish tax laws give me a headache (which is why I happily pay an Asesora to take care of it)

I wanted to add this little snippet because there still seems to be confusion surrounding how long you can stay here on what passport.  90 days in any 180 day period, Ladies and Gentlemen, 90 days without Residencia, irrespective of the colour of your passport.