Living in Spain After Brexit: What You Need to Know

On the 1st January 2021, the UK officially left the EU. It’s now been more than 3 years since this colossal change, and it means that moving to Spain at a Brit looks very different.

The first and most obvious change is that Britons hoping to buy property in Spain are only entitled to remain in the country for 90 days out of every 180-day period unless they secure a visa. Whilst this might make living in Spain trickier than it was in the pre-Brexit world, it doesn’t make it impossible. There remains a host of visa options available for Britons in Spain.
The Golden Visa, which was once the visa of choice for wealthy British expats, is due to be removed. But visa options such as the non-lucrative visa, student visas, and the new digital nomad visa are all great options for Brits. In fact, despite the widely publicised ‘Tourists Go Home’ protests the country has experienced this summer, Spain is still very much open, and ready to welcome Britons to the country.

But Brexit has left Brits with many questions: How will Brexit impact those Brits currently living in Spain, travelling to Spain regularly to stay in their holiday home, letting holiday homes, or planning to buy a property in Spain in the future? Here we will outline the latest information about how living in Spain after Brexit is different, and how the shift may (or may not) impact on your way of life:

A Note on: Taking Holidays to Spain

Regardless of how you feel about Britain’s decision to leave the European Union, Britain is no longer a part of the EU. And for the vast majority of British people this will have very little impact on their visits to wider Europe. If you are a British person who spends your holidays in Spain, or otherwise visits the country for short periods of time then very little will change about the way you enter or exit the EU: if you spend less than 90 days in Spain over the course of 6 months then you will not be impacted by entrance or exit visa requirements and you can continue to enjoy your holidays as you always have right now. Known informally as the 90-day rule, this allows you to spend a maximum of 90 days in any EU country (not just Spain) in any 12-month period: this means that if you have already spent 90 days in France, you would not be able to visit Spain for the weekend until the 6-month period is completed.
However, there is one new change coming into force that you need to be aware of. Europe is introducing new EES and ETIAS rules. Much like applying for an ESTA before you visit the U.S. this is a simple online visa waiver form that you will need to complete before you visit the EU.

The same rules that apply to tourists also apply to second home owners, provided you only visit your property for relatively short periods of time. Provided you spend less than 90 days in Spain in each 180 day period, you will still be able to enter and leave the country as you always have, without any extra paperwork. When you are clearing immigration at your Spanish arrival airport you will need to enter the non-EU passengers queue rather than the passengers arriving from the EU line. Your status as a non-EU resident will not stop you owning property, or investing in a holiday home, in Spain.
While it is always recommended to secure travel insurance before you visit any new country, including countries in the EU, British travellers will retain free healthcare across Europe, including in Spain. Your current EHIC card will remain valid until it expires, when you can apply for a GHIC card instead. This card is valid only in EU countries, rather than the wider Schengen area but it does offer free protection for any health emergencies that arise during your trip.

If you are living in Spain though, or spending longer than 90 days in each 6 month period in the country, then you are likely to experience some more dramatic changes to those outlined above, and these will be the focus of the rest of this piece.

Taking Business Trips

For Britons who need to or wish to conduct business in Spain the good news is that you don’t need to secure a separate business travel visa. Provided you are in the country for less than 90 days in each 180 day period, you will be treated the same as any other tourist.

Prepare Your Passport

It’s worth noting that, whether you live in Spain or are just visiting for a short trip, you will need to have at least 3 months validity remaining on your passport in order to enter Spain. That’s 3 months from the date you leave the country (your date of departure) rather than your arrival date.

You should check the validity of your passport, and if necessary apply for a new one, before you book your trip: passport applications in the UK are being processed at a normal speed right now, following the delays of the pandemic, but you should still allow plenty of time for any unexpected delays.

You can apply for a new passport online, or request a paper form here.

Your Rights in Spain After Brexit

If you were lucky enough to be living in Spain before Brexit, and able to prove your residency in the country when they change of Brexit took place then you would have been issued with a TIE residence card. Formally known as the “Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero” card, this is an identity card that was issued to non-EU residents of Spain. The newest version of this card contains key biometric data about the card holder and can be used to make overseas travel more straightforward. It is worth noting, however, that the card that is issued to Britons will be slightly different to the one that is issued to other third country nationals. Britons who were living in Spain before the end of the transition period had an easier route to residency than those residents of other third party countries, but if you are looking to move to Spain now, after Brexit has taken place, then you will be in the same position as any other third party national, and you will need to secure a visa before you enter the country.

If you are still a green card holder then you are strongly advised to apply for a TIE card to replace this. You can do this by visiting your local town hall and upgrading your green card for a new and more durable TIE card as soon as possible.

If you were living in Spain before Brexit, and have not yet secured residency, there’s no need to panic. Many residency appointments have been delayed, or are difficult to secure, as a result of both excess demand and the coronavirus crisis. But provided you can evidence your pre-Brexit residence in the country, you will still be eligible to stay in the country and to receive a residency permit. Please do this sooner rather than later, as this loophole is likely to close soon.

Your Right to Buy Property

In more good news, your right to buy property in Spain is completely unaffected by the country’s decision to leave the EU: whether or not you can buy a property in Spain has nothing to do with your residency status, so there are no new barriers in this regard.

What will change, however, is your right to live permanently in the property you purchase: you can’t do this without residency. You can still purchase a holiday home to stay in for 90 days out of every 180 day period, or purchase property as an investment to either let out on a long-term basis or as a short-term holiday let (many Britons who own property in Spain let it out when they are not occupying it, so that the rental income covers the bills and other expenses of the property).

If you do choose to let out your home, then you are obligated to register your property with the regional authorities. If you let out your property on a long-term basis then you would come under the regulation of the LAU (Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos) whilst the regional authorities regulate short term rentals. As a Briton after Brexit, you will also find that tax owed on your rented income will also increase.

Applying for a Spanish Visa

It has recently been announced that UK citizens registering as residents in Spain will now be issued with a TIE residence card.Formally known as the “Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero” card, this is an identity card that is currently issued to non-EU residents of Spain, and soon that list of non-EU residents will include residents from the UK. It is worth noting, however, that the card that is issued to Britons will be slightly different to the one that is issued to other third country nationals.

If you are currently residing in Spain but don’t have a green card, or any kind of residency status, you will now be required to register for a TIE in order to secure residency and obtain any of the benefits offered by the Withdrawal Agreement. You can’t now apply for a green card instead, and will be expected to go down the TIE card route instead.

This isn’t a negative! The TIE card is smaller and plastic rather than paper, making it easy to carry with you at all times, enabling it to serve as photo ID. It will be valid for either 5 years or 10 years.

If you haven’t already moved to Spain, then unfortunately the relatively straightforward route to Spanish residency outlined above won’t apply to you. Instead, you will need to apply for a visa if you wish to spend longer than 90 days in each 180 period in Spain. There are several different visa options available, but almost all of these are very difficult to secure as a third party national. Some of the options currently available to you include:

Non-Lucrative Visa. A non-lucrative visa is effectively issued to individuals who can demonstrate they have sufficient funds in place to support themselves in Spain, without working or studying (neither or which are permitted under the terms of this visa). Instead, you show that, either through savings or monthly income from pensions or investments, that you can support yourself whilst living in Spain. (You should be able to demonstrate an income of approximately €27,115 (£23,436) as an individual and €33,894 (£29,300) as a couple for this type of visa to be the right choice for you).
Golden Visa. The Spanish government are fazing out the Golden Visa scheme but it is still currently available for applications at the time of writing, and being able to secure this visa before it is withdrawn has spurred many would-be expats to make their applications quickly. To be eligible for this visa type you will need to invest €500,000 in a Spanish home or homes, or other property investments.
Digital Nomad Visa. This is a still a relatively short term visa and is aimed at those able to work remotely whilst living in Spain. You will need to earn €2,646 in monthly earnings to be eligible, and the visa enables you to live in the country for five years maximum.

Taking Spanish Citizenship

Many expats are talking very seriously about taking Spanish citizenship as a route to remain in the country. It’s easy to understand why, as citizenship will give you the most secure route to remain. But it is important to note that citizenship and residency are very different propositions with very different routes of access. As a Spanish resident, you remain a British citizen, and retain all of the benefits and sense of national identity that come with this. As a Spanish citizen you give up your British identity and instead declare your loyalty to Spain; this then gives you all of the same rights in the country as any citizen who have been resident in Spain since birth.

It is important to note that you cannot be a resident or a citizen of two countries at the same time, so when you take Spanish residency or citizenship, you are giving up your rights to the same in the UK.

Becoming a Spanish citizen is an obvious route to ensuring that your rights to remain in the country after Brexit are secured, but the road to Spanish citizenship isn’t always a smooth one, and you must fulfill some very strict criteria before you are able to even begin submitting a citizenship application:

You must have been living in Spain, full time, for at least ten years, unless you have any familial ties to the country
You must be able to show that you are a good citizen that has integrated well into your Spanish community
You must have no criminal record, either in Spain or in the UK
You must show that you are financially stable and have the mean to support yourself in Spain (this can either be in the form of a contract of employment, savings, or a pension fund)

There are exceptions to the ten year wait before you can apply for citizenship, but these generally apply to individuals with familial ties to the country. Those exceptions are:

Refugees generally only have to wait for 5 years before they are eligible to apply for citizenship. Nationals from Spanish-American countries, Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea, Portugal, and those of Sephardic origin only have to wait two years.

If you are born in Spain but your parents are foreign nationals you have to wait just one year before you are eligible to apply for citizenship

If you are married to a Spaniard, then you application for Spanish citizenship can also be fast tracked if you live in Spain for just one year. You can also claim Spanish citizenship under the same terms as the widower or widow of a Spaniard, provided you weren’t separated at the time of their death.

The Spanish citizenship application is a vigorous one, but its main benefit is that, as a Spanish citizen, you would not be impacted by any law or policy changes focusing on ex pats.

The Impact of Brexit on Healthcare

Spain is a country famed for its Mediterranean good health, with life expectancy in the country higher than many other EU countries (including the UK) and more people reporting that they are in good health (two out of three Spanish people believe they are in good health, compared to three out of four British people). It also has one of the best healthcare systems in the world, and the hospital and healthcare facilities in the Costa del Sol are a blend of world class private and public facilities. There is already a huge number of multi-lingual medical professionals living and working in the region, and translators are available if needed in many of the local hospitals: this has not changed as a result of Brexit.

What has changed as a result of Brexit is how you pay for your healthcare, or whether any access to free healthcare is available. As an EU member state, visitors from the UK to Spain were entitled to the same level of free healthcare as local citizens, thanks to reciprocal EU agreements. Using an EHIC card (which can be obtained for free from the British Government), access to public doctor’s visits, hospital stays and tests are all free. Prescriptions are charged for, depending on your income level, as is dentistry and eye care. We now know that the EHIC card will remain valid to British Travellers as part of the Brexit agreement (transitioning to a GHIC card when the EHIC is expired) and this should provide basic reciprocal healthcare provisions between the two countries. The New GHIC card provides global healthcare provision for British citizens (GHIC stands for Global Health Insurance Card).

However, you are strongly advised to secure private health insurance when visiting Spain. The EHIC card only covers emergency situations, while private insurance provides the peace of mind that comes from knowing you are protected should the worse happen.

If you are staying in Spain in the long term and if you require a visa to enter Spain and become a resident, then a requirement of securing any visa in Spain is to have comprehensive health insurance cover: this is the case for all visa types currently issued by the Spanish government. Therefore, if you are looking to live in Spain in the long term, we recommend that you factor the cost of health insurance premiums into your financial planning, rather than plan for the unknown of reciprocal agreements that don’t yet exist. Many families in Spain have health insurance policies as standard, and this will provide you with the best level of peace of mind to protect your health in the long term. Wondering how much this will cost you? As a ballpark figure, in Europe an insurance company will charge €200-300 for an individual in his 50s, €500 per month for a young family of four, or 800 per month for a retired couple. If you have a chronic condition, however, such as diabetes or high blood pressure, you can expect to pay considerably more.

Protecting Your Pension

When you are living overseas, regardless of whether you choose to live in Spain or not, the strength of both your savings and your pensions in the UK are closely linked to the strength of the pound. This is because, in the vast majority of cases you will receive your pension payments in pounds and then rely on currency conversion to spend them in Spain.

The good news for Brits living in Europe is that (although negative results were forecast) Brexit actually had a negligible impact on the strength of the pound. This is because of the amount of time it has taken for the deal to take place, which has given the notoriously risk adverse market the time that it needed to stabalise.

So, what does this mean for retirees currently living in Spain, and how can they protect their pensions? In short, if you already lived in Spain before the transition period was complete on 31st December 2020 then you are unlikely to experience any negative changes to your current status quo.

The withdrawal agreement clearly states that both current ex pats and ex pats moving to Spain during the transition period “won’t be disadvantaged in their access to pensions, benefits, and other forms of social security”. These ex pats, known by the British government as the “Protected cohort”, will also continue to receive the statutory annual increment on State Pensions that all UK pensioners receive, meaning that they will not be negatively financially penalised for choosing to move to Spain whilst the UK was part of the EU.

The full State Pension is £185.15 per week; if you have completed 35 years of contributions, you are entitled to the full amount. And in excellent news for expats living in Spain, anyone who is eligible to benefit from a UK state pension, regardless of their nationality, can claim that pension while living int he country. This means you don’t have to worry about losing your pension because you make the decision to move to Spain.

Moving With Your Pets

Britain is a nation of animal lovers, so it’s likely that if you’re thinking of moving to Spain then you’d like to bring your four-legged friend with you. Unfortunately, it isn’t just your own passport requirements that have been impacted by Brexit: your four-legged friends will need to update their passports too! Before Brexit this was possible under the EU pet passport scheme, but this scheme will no longer apply to the UK once the UK leaves the EU.

This has had a big impact on pet owners hoping to travel between the UK and Spain with their pets. Instead, it could take up to four months for pet owners to arrange travel to and from Spain for their pets, meaning that holidaying with your pets has become a thing of the past, for now at least, but that you can still bring them with you if you move to Spain from the UK: it may just take a little longer for your beloved four-legged friends to arrive!

Driving in Spain

If you wish to drive in Spain after Brexit. then the requirements you will need to adhere to will depend on your residency status. Tourists visiting Spain are able to drive in the country using their UK driver’s license and, whilst for a short while Insurance Green Cards were required to drive in the country, this requirement has now been abolished. This means that driving in Spain as a tourist is just the same as it was before Brexit took effect. Hire a car, explore the beautiful Spanish countryside, and enjoy your holiday!

If you live in Spain already, then you’ll know that driving has been a bone of contention for many years under the terms of the withdrawal agreement. It took a long time for a reciprocal driving license agreement to be made, and many expats in Spain had to re-sit their driving test in Spanish in order to get the driving license they needed.

But the good news is that this is no longer needed. A mutual recognition of visitor licences agreement was made between Spain and the UK, although this didn’t come into force until 2023. British citizens living in Spain will be able to exchange their UK driving license for a Spanish one without needing to retake their driving test. What’s more, they will be able to continue using their British driving license for up to 6 months after they arrive in the country, for a period known as a temporary extension period, while they wait for their new driving license to arrive.

It’s also worth noting that new guidelines were introduced changing the number plate national identifiers that visitors from the UK will need to use when they drive in Europe: rather than having to display a ‘GB sticker’ the vehicle identifier will change to read UK instead. This UK identifier can either be placed on the number plate, alongside an image of the union flag, or it can be placed on your car separately in the form of a sticker or magnet.