My name's Alex and this is my website all about Salinas in Spain. Register now for free to talk about Brexit and the EU: living, holidaying and moving to Salinas and much more!
Carol299 wrote on Sat Nov 12, 2022 11:33am:
I was under the impression that 90/180 rule applied pre-Brexit and does to all countries, the EU just chose to turn a blind eye to it as long as they were getting their billions every year.
Hi Carol,
Although the UK never joined Schengen, as EU citizens we had Freedom of Movement, so it wasn't an issue for us. However, we should always have been complying with Spain's residency laws, which required us, as foreigners, to register our presence here if our intention was to stay more than 90 days. That would have meant holiday-home owners wouldn't have been able to stay longer than 90 days without applying for registration - so it was Spain's residency laws, rather than Schengen, to which the Spanish authorities turned a blind eye.
The funny thing about the Brits who believe Schengen has been imposed on us out of spite for Brexit, is that they don't seem to know that the UK (and Ireland) could have joined Schengen, but chose to opt out in 1997; nevertheless, Spain (and the EU) has allowed us to maintain, post-Brexit, visa-free travel, unlike many Third Countries who have to apply for a visa to travel here for their holidays. But, of course, they no longer turn a blind eye to overstayers.
Kind regards,
Kim
