Applying for Residency in Spain - Page 2

Looking at the quoted link https://iasservices.org.uk/es/residency/permanent-residency-in-spain/#:~:text=If%20you%20want%20to%20move,to%20apply%20for%20Spanish%20citizenship.

"Renewing Permanent Residency in Spain

Once your application for Permanent Residency has been approved then you will be issued with a residency card that is valid for five years. You must apply to renew this card before it expires otherwise you could risk your immigration status in Spain.

To renew you will need to complete the appropriate form and submit with the following documents:

• Proof of address in Spain
• Original residency card
• Passport

You are also required to resubmit your fingerprints and pay the Permanent Residency renewal fee.

When you apply to renew your Permanent Resident status you are not required to prove you have lived in the country for the five years preceding the renewal. However, you may have your application to renewl your Permanent Residency card refused it you have spent more than 12 months outside of Spain or another EU member country"

I think that there's some confusion here with the temporary residency card (TIE) given to people applying for permanent residency which is valid for 5 years, and the permanent residency card (TIE) which is valid for 10 years.

I am fully aware if this. My point was that under the withdrawal agreement my residency status now (5 years) should be treated as renewal to the permanent status. However as most people didn't get their TIE until 1 or 2 years later then that means the permanent status will not be applied until 6 or 7 years. There is no confusion about the TIE just that technically if I had not replaced my residency card with a TIE it would have been due renewal in Dec 2023 but the TIE is later. I have just had to go through the process you point out ie finger prints etc to renew my TIE after a change of address.

Would it be worthwhile renting your UK property out, maybe to friends or family, and use the proceeds to rent a property somewhere cooler in the summer months?  This would satisfy your insurance company's conditions.

Once you have been legally resident in spain for 5 years, with residency card or TIE, you will be considered a permanent resident, even though you might still hold the "temporary" TIE card. 

You can try to renew the "temporary" TIE card before it's due to expire, to get your "permanent" TIE card but you may be told to wait until it's due to expire. 

Hi swc,

You're correct, those of us who have TIE's annotated with the Withdrawal Agreement Art. 18.4 on the reverse should not have our passports stamped on exit entry from Spain - providing that, or course, we present our TIEs with passport at border control, but even if we forget and end up with a stamp in our passport, it means nothing.

On the other hand, those who have post-Brexit residency, with a TIE on the basis of, for example, a Non Lucrative Visa, they should have their passports stamped - assuming the border guard on the day bothers to look at the reverse of the TIE.

Kind regards,

Kim

Ideally that's what should happen but you are told you can't renew until the expiry date on your TIE. Mine runs out later this year so was hoping that the change of address would prompt the new TIE to permanent status. Instead I have to renew now for the new address and again when it expires later this year.

Sorry, should have explained better. If you have a TIE under the withdrawal agreement you won't get your passport stamped as you don't have to go through the renewal at 1, 3 and 5 years. Only those who have a non lucrative visa in their passport should have their passports stamped to show they have stuck to the absence from Spain rules which don't apply to those under the withdrawal agreement. 

Hope that says it better. But, again, I have met people with an NLV who haven't had them stamped whereas others have. 

Plus those under the withdrawal agreement have no need to change to a permanent one after the 5 year point as it is automatic and no further paper work is required although it is advised to do so. It's why UK got into trouble by making those on the right to stay if they were living in UK before Brexit having to update to the permanent right to stay when the withdrawal agreement says they don't need to.

I would be astonished if the only "check" on whether or not you have complied with the absence criteria is whether or not the stamps on your passport show non-compliance.

If that were the case and you had chosen to deliberately not comply, then the simple next step would be to conveniently lose the passport and be issued with a new one.without the stamps.

I assume it would form just one part of the "check" whereby they could, if they wished, look at bank accounts etc to see a pattern of spending in Spain etc etc as opposed to a pattern of spending in some other country.

Hi swc,

I don't know who told you that, but they're incorrect.  If you've achieved 5 years' temporary residency, you are entitled to apply for permanent residency - it's the initial date of your residency that counts, not the date on your TIE, which is just the expiry date of the card.  Coincidentally, I've just put together my own application for Permanent residency, with which I've included a print-out of the Spanish Government guidance which states that right.  I'll find the link and add it to this post.  

The only difference between your application and mine is that you'll need to have a Padrón certificate confirming your new address.

Kind regards, 

Kim

Thats exactly what I thought and tried to clarify. I already have the padron. I have already been to the office for the new TIE, done the application and fingerprints etc and told to go back for the replacement TIE in a few weeks. The TIE will be replaced like for like even after asking. I have also read on other forums that the renewal will not be done until the TIE expires and the offices are turning people away til the expiry date.