Brexit advice...but officials have no crystal ball
Informative talks for expats were held in Dènia, Altea, Calpe and Finestrat this week
EXPATS were this week again urged to register as officially being resident in Spain and becoming 'Brexit ready' ahead of the UK leaving the European Union.
The Alicante British Consulate’s ‘road show’ was in Calpe on Wednesday and more than 200 people packed into a meeting room at Hotel Ifach to learn the latest news about the withdrawal agreement and how it could affect the lives of Brits living in Spain.
Obtaining a residency certificate was said to be 'key'; the consulate team also advising people to go to their local town hall to join the civic register, known as the ‘padrón’.
And the meeting was told there was no 'crystal ball'. In the event of 'no deal' ahead of Brexit, both the British government and the EU had laid out contingency plans over what would happen in such situation.
A sea of hands met Lorna Geddie’s question about who had heard of the withdrawal agreement; but people were less sure of how it would personally affect them – and most admitted they were a 'little confused' by Brexit.
Lorna, who is the British Embassy’s expert on citizens’ rights, said the agreement was from the first negotiations, while the future relationship between the UK and its former 27 partners had still to be drawn up.
She said most areas of citizens’ rights were agreed last December and covered UK nationals living in the EU and European citizens in the UK – and the transition period between Brexit on March 29, 2019 and December 31, 2020, meant 'nothing will really change until after the end of 2020.'
Residency
And she said: “It covers really important rights, probably the most important is residency. Anyone legally resident here by the end of 2020 will have the right to remain living here in Spain.”
The agreement covered UK state pensions, exportable benefits, and healthcare under reciprocal arrangements. “They have said these rights will only apply to people legally resident by the end of 2020.
“Those becoming resident after that date will not necessarily have those right – that’s part of the future relationship and not yet agreed.”
Onwards movement into other EU countries was also part of the future relationship and yet to be negotiated – an issue people still feel strongly about”.
Lorna said voting rights were not part of the current withdrawal agreement and Spain had not yet agreed to give British residents a vote in local elections, although the British government was seeking a unilateral agreement and had promised EU expats a voice.
“We don’t yet have that information,” added Lorna. “Those who wish to vote, you are under current rules still entitled to vote next year – make sure you are registered.”
Should there be a ‘no deal’ Brexit, she admitted it was not known what would happen. “I am not a politician and don’t have a crystal ball.”
However, she said both the UK and the EU had drawn up contingency plans in case the UK left without a deal.
Healthcare
Lorna said the UK government was also introducing a Healthcare Bill to allow Britain to put laws in place to seek bilateral agreement over healthcare in the event of no deal.
She also highlighted what prime ministers Theresa May and Spain’s Pedro Sanchez had said about UK expats and European nationals living in Britain.
“Theresa May said EU nationals would be welcome to stay in the UK, she didn’t mention UK citizens because she cannot unilaterally give that guarantee, that is for individual countries,” said Lorna.
Pedro Sanchez appreciated and thanked Prime Minister Theresa May for her undertaking and said: “We will do the same for 300,000 people living in Spain.”
However, Lorna stressed the 300,000 were the people legally registered with the Spanish authorities.
Consul Sarah-Jane Morris said everyone had the opportunity to ask questions that were personal to their own situation – including ‘swallows’, people who divided their time between the UK and Spain.
“It is a very challenging time at the moment and it can be very unsettling, there’s a lot that we don’t know,” she said “We will do our very best to keep you up to date but you will appreciate, it can be very difficult.”
People were advised to go to the pages of ‘UK nationals in the EU’ and the ‘Living in Spain’ guide on www.gov.uk to keep up to date with information – and sign up for email alerts for the latest news or follow the Facebook page ‘Brits in Spain’.