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Bee2 wrote on Thu Jun 2, 2022 9:40pm:
The UK allows Spanish citizens 180 days so surely it would only be a reciprocal arrangement not affecting any other 3rd country.
Bee
The UK has always allowed Spaniards and a large number of other nationals to do 180 days in the UK in one go. The UK decided its own immigration rules decades ago and decided (as a sovereign nation, therefore able to make those decisions) that a number of nationalities could stay in the UK for up to 6 months a year in one go without applying for residency. Spain decided decades ago that although foreign nationals from a large number of countries (inc UK) could stay for max 6 months in a year without the need to pay tax but no single stay could exceed 3 months without applying/registering for residency (even as EU nationals). That has always been the case, although some Brits ignored it and lived under the radar and evaded tax too. Countries like Australia and a number of other countries have a 3 month max stay for Brits despite UK allowing Australians and others a max of 6 months - anyone saying that is unfair and Brits should petition Australia's government to change their laws too? And what about USA laws on visits, maybe Brits should also petition US to change theirs to the same as the UK too? It isn't about reciprocal arrangements, it is about existing laws made by each individual country about immigration. The 90/180 (which we would not be subject to if we had remained in the EU as would have been automatically exempt) is a Schengen rule, separate from Spanish law, which just happens to fit very well with Spain's own laws on max 3 month stays. So to change the rules requires Spain to make a change in its own national laws and introduce some kind of longer-stay holiday or home owners visa which would need to be available to all foreign nationals and not just Brits, we are not entitled to be treated differently just because we are British. It is not unfair, it is each countries own immigration laws, a sovereign matter that should be respected.
