Britons and other non-Europeans
A UK passport in Torrevieja: four situations since Brexit
Since Brexit, British citizens follow Spain’s rules for non-EU nationals. Residents from before 2021 hold a Withdrawal Agreement TIE, or can swap their old green certificate for one; owners who live in the UK need only a NIE; newcomers need a visa first. Everything hangs on one date: the last day of 2020.
Request helpLiving here before 2021: the Withdrawal Agreement
If Spain was already your home when 2020 ran out, the Withdrawal Agreement between the UK and the EU protects your right to stay. The proof is a TIE, a foreigner’s identity card, in Spanish Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero, marked to show that you reside under the Agreement. It carries the NIE you already had.
With that card you may go on living and working here as before. When it comes up for renewal, you give your fingerprints again for the new card.
An old green certificate in a drawer
Before Brexit, British residents registered like other Europeans and were given the green certificate. That paper still records the rights you held. Spain now issues the TIE to Agreement residents, though, and a plastic card with your photograph travels better than a sheet of A4.
The swap is one appointment for fingerprints, toma de huellas in Spanish, booked with Alicante as the province. In the folder: the passport, the green certificate itself, a recent photograph, the 790-012 with its bank stamp, and something showing your address. Should anyone ever query your history, older papers help too: a padrón history from the town hall, an early lease, your first Spanish tax returns.
Moving from the UK today
Someone moving from the UK to Torrevieja now is treated as any other non-EU national. Before the removal van, a visa: the Spanish consulate covering your home address issues it, usually non-lucrative residence for retirees, and other categories for work, study or family. Only once you are here does the TIE follow.
Without a visa, every stay is a visit. Visits fall under the Schengen short-stay rule, at most 90 days within any rolling 180, counted across all Schengen states together. A home here does not add a single day.
Owners who stay in the UK
If Britain is still home and the bungalow sees you a few weeks a year, you are not resident and need no TIE. A NIE you do need: for the deed, the bank, the utilities and the non-resident tax returns. It is requested on form EX-15, through a Spanish consulate or at an office of the province that lists it.
Questions
Does a Withdrawal Agreement TIE let me take a job?
Yes, as an employee or self-employed. British citizens who arrived after 2020 need a visa or an authorisation that includes work.
My old green certificate is on A4 paper. Is it still valid?
It still proves the rights you had. The TIE is the document Spain now issues to Agreement residents, and swapping makes airports and banks simpler.
Can I spend six months a year here without a visa?
Only if your visits keep within 90 days in any 180; six months in a row would break the rule. For longer stays, a residence visa is the route.
Will anyone speak English at the appointment?
Do not count on it: officers work in Spanish. A complete folder keeps the exchange short, and before the day we go through the questions that usually come up.
The pages these facts come from
- policia.es, Unidades de Extranjería: every police office of the province of Alicante and the foreigners’ procedures it lists
- Booking an appointment with the administration (cita previa), on sede.administracionespublicas.gob.es
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