RESIDENCE CARD CHAOS
Confused applicant turned away even though she had an appointment
COSTA Blanca News has established that British people attending certain National Police foreigners’ offices in Alicante province are being given conflicting and confusing information by officials.
The situation arose after a British resident attended the foreigners’ office in Benidorm police station on Wednesday for a previously arranged appointment with all the relevant paperwork for her 'residencia' request.
Upon arrival with a translator, they were told that the appointment no longer existed and the interior ministry had ordered that the process has to be handled via the main foreigners’ office at the National Police station in Alicante.
A sheet of paper was stuck on the door of the National Police station in badly translated English, which told them the ‘green card’ process could only be carried out in Alicante.
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The notice stated that they would be able to get an appointment via the internet ‘in few time’ and that 300 are available each day.
Translator Jo Hollingworth told CBN that her client had made the appointment on August 1, to hand in the papers.
“I sat down with a lady, all her paperwork was perfect, the policeman stapled it together and I advised my client that she had to renew it in 5 years, she mustn’t laminate it etc and the policeman went to print it off but it wouldn’t let him. So he passed it to a colleague at the desk next door and she couldn’t get it to print either."
"Wondering if it was the application or computer system he asked Jo if she had anything else and handed over an NIE application, which all went through perfectly.
"They tried the residencia again with no joy then tried a residencia renewal which was also blocked”.
The officer suggested that they go and have a coffee whilst they sorted it out and when she came back was told that “Madrid had blocked every police computer from issuing British nationals’ residencies” – but this was first they were aware of this new dictate.
Jo said she has 25 appointments for next week in Benidorm and now has to re-book them all in Alicante. She said: "They have suddenly turned away appointments that were made months ago and left many British residents worried "
However, this flies in the face of information which is being given out by other offices in the province.
A National Police officer at the foreigners’ office in Orihuela told Costa Blanca News that they are continuing with appointments made for UK nationals in Orihuela city and Orihuela Costa.
“Both offices are running as usual and UK nationals with a prior appointment for any of these two offices are being attended to,” he noted.
The spokesman denied that their two offices were diverting Britons with existing previous appointments to the headquarters in Alicante.
“Only those asking for new appointments are sent to Alicante,” he said.
A spokeswoman for the National Police foreigners’ office in Elche also assured that they are still attending to people who have already made appointments at the office in the city.
She said the system is in the process of being changed and believed that no new appointments would be made available there.
An Embassy spokesperson told CBNews: “The Spanish authorities have put additional staff in place to deal with the number of UK nationals applying for residency appointments in Alicante province. As a result, we understand that all appointments for UK nationals have now been centralised in Alicante city to enable them to better deal with the demand. There are still appointments available using the Certificados UE – Reino Unido option and we would encourage people to continue trying to secure one as soon as possible. If they are not able to do so, the Spanish Government has provided a grace period of 21 months for UK nationals to regularise their residency if we leave the EU without a deal – people just need to ensure they have evidence, such as a padrón certificate or rental contract that they were living in Spain before Brexit.”