Carta de Invitacion. - Page 2

A Carta is not / will not be required for Australian passport holders who also have the 90 day visa free entry situation.   UK will be the same . There was also the ETIAS that was supposedly starting from 2021 but no sign of that yet either. 

That's what doesn't make sense, Cfell - there's a long list of Third countries whose citizens have visa-free travel to Spain, so a precedent has existed for many years.  Of course, friends and family are unlikely to be citizens of the country they're visiting, but let's hope that Spain will not take the same position as France - although, at €30 a time, it will be a helpful contribution to the Town Halls' post-Covid coffers!

Kind regards, 

Kim

WE travel to Spain via car via France so we do not have an address other than first hotel in France.

As others state visa free travel is that, not visa free travel with restrictions, under these regulation you cannot have a holiday touring in Europe, anyone can book cancellable accommodation (hotels) and then change them.

I think Simon Calder should check more carefully and he has the means to get answer from the relative authorities.

Just had notification of an update to entry requirements from gov.uk.

Looking at them I see the Carta is mentioned. Not sure if it was there before

At Spanish border control, you may need to use separate lanes from EU, EEA and Swiss citizens when queueing. Your passport may be stamped on entry and exit. You may also need to:

• show a return or onward ticket
• show you have enough money for your stay
• show proof of accommodation for your stay, for example, a hotel booking confirmation, proof of address if visiting your own property (e.g. second home), or an invitation from your host or proof of their address if staying with a third party, friends or family. The Spanish Government has clarified that the “carta de invitation” is one of the options available to prove that you have accommodation if staying with friends or family. 

I saw that too. I think it’s new but the key wording is “one of the options” which suggests that a simple invitation will be enough. 

Shaun

Good Post

Kim,

Have we seen definitive response from the Embassy yet or are we all still working on "other" information sources?

Mind you, Embassy info says you can arrive in Spain / Alicante with an old green paper residencia and that seems to be clearly incorrect based on people being turned away should they fail to produce a TIE!

Hi Greg,

No, nothing yet - unless today's update on Gov.UK isn't a coincidence, as this is the first time I've seen the 'Carta de Invitacion' mentioned.  See the 'Summary' and 'Entry Requirements' sections:

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/spain?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=govuk-notifications&utm_source=22baab0a-36ac-4615-9fa2-56c01a32fb91&utm_content=immediately

A formal Carta has to be applied for at a National Police station and costs Eu 74, but if it's only "one" of the options available, it's not clear to me what the other options are, or why anyone would pay Eu 74, if there's an alternative.  I will continue to pursue a definitive response from the Embassy.

Kind regards,

Kim

Hi Kim

Really interested in the 'alternatives' as I have 3 friends coming from the UK to visit mid July and stay at my property for a couple of weeks and wouldn't want them being stopped at Alicante.

Can you post as soon as you find anything out

Really grateful for your help as always

Regards

Colm.

Hi Colm,

The British Embassy just pointed me to the information on Gov.UK - which I had referenced in my email to them!

Personally, I believe that if you arrived in Spain with a return ticket and sufficient funds for the duration of your stay, you're unlikely to be asked for the invitation letter.  If you wanted to cover all bases for friends or family visiting in Spain, I'd just send them an informal letter to that effect.  

I can't believe, certainly in the current climate, that Spain would expect visitors to wait up to 4 months to get an official document from the Policia Nacional.  Perhaps, if a traveller arrived at a Spanish border with no return ticket and insufficient funds, border control would ask for an official invitation letter - not least because the 'carta de Invitacion' makes the individual who requests it responsible for their guests' costs and ensuring they leave Spain within the mandated time period.

Kind regards, 

Kim