Brits in Catalonia stuck in residency ‘nightmare’ process

The ‘TIE’ identity card (Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero) is the foreigners’ identity card that UK nationals who wish to reside in Spain following Brexit will need. The Spanish government states that it is the one and only card which demonstrates that the holder is a beneficiary of the Withdrawal Agreement between the UK and the EU.

Brits living in Spain, therefore, must have a TIE if they want to become, or remain, legally resident in the country. Although, for many UK nationals, getting a TIE has not been as simple as it may seem, leaving many people in legal limbo awaiting confirmation of their residency status. 

The Spanish Government Delegation in Catalonia told Catalan News that from June 2020, when the process started, and May 1, 2021, their foreign office in Barcelona has received 3,034 TIE applications, having approved 93.5% of them. They have not yet commented on the other three in Catalonia: Lleida, Girona and Tarragona.

However, none of the British people in Barcelona that Catalan News spoke to have been successful yet in getting a TIE, despite having sent their applications off months ago.

Emma Johnston, an ERASMUS student in Barcelona, told Catalan News: “I can’t think of anyone who is British who has not had an absolute nightmare in getting it done.”

She moved to Spain to study in July 2020, attended her first meeting for her TIE on December 6, and after 5 months, is still in the process. Beatrice Damon, who has been living and doing an internship in the Catalan capital since September 2020, had her meeting on December 2 and is equally yet to progress further with her application. She said: “They told me it could take 3 months, but it has obviously taken quite a bit longer than that.”

“I’ve heard stories of it taking people 6/7 months to get [a TIE],” Beatrice added. However, the Spanish executive office in Catalonia told Catalan News that for Barcelona, the normal time spent receiving and responding to applications is three months, and the average time for resolution is 31.07 days, which includes cases in which people have had to provide additional documentation which was absent with their initial request.

Olivia Millard, who lived in Madrid before moving to Barcelona, on the contrary, has said that she had to wait for almost 3 months just to get a first appointment. She told Catalan News that when applying in Madrid “they normally say that their replies will take a few days if not a few weeks''. 

“I waited a month the first time I emailed them, no response. So I e-mailed again, waited another 3 weeks, no response. So I emailed them again and then on the third time they replied and offered me a [meeting],” she added. 

People going through the process have told Catalan News that there is a lot of inconsistency regarding the waiting times and speed of responses from the government. Olivia said that “there is no kind of rhyme or reason to how the system works”, adding that some of her friends in Madrid who applied at the same time as her “have just picked up their cards, within the last few weeks or so”. Yet, Olivia has yet to move onto the second stage of the three-step process, each with an established waiting time. 

While Beatrice also knows people with successful applications who equally began the process in December, she confirmed that “most of the people who applied around that same time still haven’t got it.”

Bradley De Abreu from Age in Spain, an information bank aimed at British nationals living in the peninsula, confirmed to Catalan News that there have been significant delays. While officially the government has said that it can take “up to 3 months” to receive a response for your application, he said: “In some areas in Catalonia it's taking a lot longer than that.”

Above all, he highlighted that the Girona office is having significant difficulties, telling people that it will take at least 4 to 6 months to process an application - “one issue is that they’re understaffed, the other issue is that they are only offering four appointments a week for UK nationals,” De Abreu emphasised.  Even around 140 people were driven to the Girona office to protest its “collapse” on May, 21, complaining about these consistent systemic issues. 

Across Spain the delays are not much better, De Abreu highlighted that in the South of Spain, in regions such as Alacant, Murcia and Andalusia, there is a “minimum 6-month wait”. In the Balearic Islands, there have been “no appointments available in Mallorca”, and it also seems to take “4-6 months to process applications”.

Age in Spain have held discussions with the British Consulate and the Spanish government over these long waiting times and will have continued meetings with them if issues persist.

Travelling between the UK and Spain 

The long waiting time to receive these cards has presented problems for Brits living in Spain who want to temporarily return to the UK. This was the case for Beatrice and Olivia who returned at Christmas but found that their application was not ‘processed enough’ for them to prove their residency status in Spain. It seemed that like waiting times, granting permission to travel has also been defined by inconsistency. 

“When we were all coming back in early January, it wasn’t a black and white situation at all”, insisted Olivia: “Different airlines were saying different things and different websites were saying different things. The official UK government website was saying something different to the Spanish one [regarding what document provided sufficient proof of Spanish residency]”.

“I think there was just a lot of it pending on who was checking your documents when you were trying to get back in,”, agreed Beatrice. “So some people were told their documents weren’t valid and some people with the same documents got through”. 

Age in Spain brought up recent cases to Catalan News about people being deported and fined for not having the right documents, encouraging people not to leave the country while their residency application is being processed. 

Emma, on the other hand, refused to risk it: “I know I’m as legal as I can be, but I don’t know if I’m legal enough”, since she believes that ‘complete legality only comes with possession of the residency card.

Olivia stressed: “it’s not my fault”, because “if the process had been much more streamlined and well thought-through I would definitely have my card by now.” She insisted that there is nothing more she could have done to be any more legal than she is now, and finds it “totally unreasonable” that her current status is not yet a complete proof of residency.

What to do if you need to travel without a TIE

The Spanish embassy has recently updated their list of the necessary documentation needed to prove residency status when trying to enter Spain from the UK. Whilst one does not need the TIE card, those in the process do need a resuelta favorable, which comes after a first meeting has happened, all relevant documents have been checked and then the person has received a confirmation from the government. For those who were residents before Brexit, EU green certificates will still be accepted as relevant documentation.

From Monday, May 24, the Spanish government will no longer impose restrictions on UK nationals trying to enter the country. Spain, however, is not on the UK's 'green list', but rather it is considered an 'amber' country, meaning Brits will be required to quarantine for 10 days once they return.

Catalan News spoke to Age in Spain who explained what Brits trapped without a TIE should do in order to travel between the UK and Spain: 

“We don't recommend that UK Nationals travel whilst their residency application is still in process”, they confirmed. However, if it is essential, they recommend looking at the UK government’s website, which lists possible exemptions regarding the current rules for international travel between the UK and Spain. 

“We would also recommend that if UK Nationals do need to travel to the UK, they apply for an 'autorización de regreso' which is an official authorisation that allows them to leave and return to Spain whilst their residency documents are in process. They will need to provide proof of why they need to go back to the UK,” they added. The form is accessible online from the Spanish government’s online portal.

After all the effort that the students that Catalan News spoke to have expended in applying for a TIE, they think it is unlikely that they will receive the card before they return permanently to the UK.

Although she did everything right, Emma lamented: “I’ll be almost ‘TIEd’ and ’I’ll be able to legally live in the country probably within the next two months, but then in the next two months I’ll be gone so I won’t have the card that says it.”