Important message from the Brexit team at the British Embassy in Madrid
Super helpful member
I have just received this from the Brexit team at the British Embassy in Madrid. It’s long and involved but it does attempt to answer / clarify a lot of points.
“Healthcare:
Reinstatement of the Convenio Especial in Andalucía: some U.K. nationals are worried this is part of the preamble of the S1 form being stopped. I can absolutely confirm this is not the case. The suppression of the Convenio in some provinces of Andalucía went against national Spanish law. Andalucía was in fact the only region in Spain to take action on the Universal Healthcare Law, which is in the process of being amended at national level. The bringing back of the Convenio merely means that Andalusia is once again in line with the rest of the country. So, the issues that we saw with the Convenio Especial in Andalucía were a domestic Spanish matter, and in no way related to Brexit. The Embassy lobbied for its reinstatement so that UK nationals without state (i.e. Spanish or UK) or private healthcare cover could successfully apply for residency before EU Exit. Universal healthcare cover is not recognised by the national police as appropriate healthcare cover for the purposes of registering on the “Registro de Ciudadanos de la Unión”. As always, our aim is to protect the Citizens’ Rights of UK nationals living in Spain.
It is also certainly not the UK government’s intention to stop reciprocal healthcare under the S1 form. If the UK leaves with a deal, the continuation of reciprocal healthcare for those registered as living in Spain is confirmed within the citizens’ rights agreements reached with the EU. And if the UK leaves without a deal, the UK government has very publically stated it wishes to continue reciprocal healthcare until the end of 2020 (more on what happens after 2020 below)...