Shocking news for retirees in uk

The joy of Brexit. It seems it's only the Brits that will be negatively affected by the loss of Freedom of movement. 

You can understand why there's a huge stampede of people trying to get residency by the year end.

Yes, Britain voted to stop Britons having freedom of movement. Brexit has already happened, by the way, it took place on 31 January when the U.K. left the EU. However the Withdrawal Agreement with the EU means that the existing conditions to immigrate here still apply until Transition ends on 31 December. After that very few will be able to afford to come here. I am sorry for those like my children in the U.K. that did not vote to make life more difficult.

Chris

That article is slightly wrong in length of time and purpose, stating NIE is for any foreigner intending to stay longer than 6 months - a NIE is in fact for anyone making a substantial purchase or transaction and residence is what is required for anyone intending to stay longer than 90 days, not 6 months and residence will give you the magic NIE.

That aside, conversational ability in Spanish was mooted for migrants but I don’t believe that’s now a solid requirement - I haven’t heard anything more about it - have you, Chrisso?

Another thing to be wary of - assuming a visa is obtained and you move here; you now find perhaps funds are running a little low and decide you need to supplement your income with some casual work - NOPE.  Your non-lucrative / retirement visas do NOT give you permission to also work in Spain - only reside.  To work here you’d then also need a work permit and that will be a whole different mountain to climb.

For a British National to obtain a work permit in Spain post transition period, you will either need to have skills not found in Spain and likely be sponsored by a Spanish company, or set up your own business, which in order to obtain a work permit, is a very very very costly affair.

I truly feel sorry for those left behind, their plan of retiring to the warmer / more open / less stressful climate of the continent now denied them.

But hey, we “remoaners” keep getting told that it was “the will of the majority”. I have to say, if the majority had realised what it really meant, I’m not so sure the outcome would have been the same ... 

“conversational ability in Spanish was mooted for migrants but I don’t believe that’s now a solid requirement - I haven’t heard anything more about it - have you, Chrisso?”

Dario, I believe it is a requirement for third country nationals(including U.K. citizens that arrive after 31 December).

Chris

Maybe it is reasonable  to expect that people who live permanently in a country should speak that country's language well enough to communicate - Spaniards in Britain and English in Spain? 

Maybe people who voted for 'Brexit' were considering more than the importance of making it easier for people to live somewhere other than Britain?

Indeed. There are plenty of Spanish courses in the U.K., we attended ones run by the local high school for adults, and later went to more intensive ones run by the Cervantes Institute in Manchester, which promotes the use of Spanish in many countries.

It all depends on the standard required under the new regime. There are free classes supplied for immigrants here in Roquetas and also paid classes albeit it’s difficult to attend classrooms at present because of the pandemic.

Chris 

“The Spanish” are suffering no loss.  Income from tourism will stay the same (excluding this year, which was of course exceptional), and while UK has its new points-based migration laws which now make it all but impossible for your average EU citizen to move to England, the chances of Spain changing entry requirements for Brits is nil.

Spain is a different country to UK .... if anyone is coming here expecting England with sunshine, you’ll be very disappointed .... it has its own culture, customs and yes, language - all very much different from UK.

To really enjoy Spain to its fullest, you have to embrace those customs, cultures and language or indeed you may very well feel left out in the cold when having to deal with things in an unfamiliar language.

Spain is a beautiful permanent residence for some, a holiday destination only for others ... its wise to figure out which bracket you fall into before investing in a permanent move.

Hi. We have a house in spain already . I’m retiring at 55 and have no intention at all of working . We are fully self sufficient financially with no mortgage and quite a lot above average savings . I intend to buy a new car, have local builders in to construct a pool and live in spain until I die . Therefore contributing a lot to the Spanish economy. At 55 Spanish won’t be the easiest thing  to learn as the old coggs aren’t as well oiled at when I was 21. I have been told by other people , professionals, who work in Spain, that they don’t feel it will be a requirement to speak Spanish to get residency in 2021 . Fingers crossed . I want to learn Spanish , but at my own pace . 

Not at all. 

1. Currently Spain’s income from tourism is 12% of its GDP. 18 million U.K. tourists contribute about a quarter of that and are likely to keep coming in 2021. 

2. U.K. citizens that are residents are primarily below pension age and working, with families. Only about a quarter are pensioners.

3. ‘300,000 pensioners die annually’? Not sure where that figure is from - is it just for Spain? Is it UK pensioners in Spain? There are not 300,000 U.K. pensioners in Spain dying annually... 

4. This sounds rather like the fanciful claim that ‘the U.K. is special and Spain relies on it so will make special arrangements’. Not going to happen. Why? Because Spain is an EU member and because there is a steady replacement here of pensioners that die or leave and sell/vacate property to other EU nationalities, the Dutch and Scandinavians in particular.

Chris