Legal Brits

The reason I am amazed is because I find it rather strange that British citizens didn´t have their paperwork in order because it is a pretty simple and easy process. British citizens had been advised to get their paperwork in order before the Brexit deadline by the British government because there is a fear that those who were not legal could have a problem after Britain leaves the European Union.

Over the last few months hundreds of British citizens have been “legalising” their status in Spain. Better late than never. It will be interesting to see whether there is now a big growth in the number of citizens officially living on the island. At the moment just 16,000 British citizens are legally registered with the Spanish authorities across the Balearics. There are far more British citizens living here and I believe that the figure is close to the 30,000 mark across the islands.

One of the good points about Britain´s membership of the European Union was that the paperwork to live here was relatively easy. I remember when I first started working here the paperwork was a nightmare with a work permit and a residence certficate being needed. Who knows what will happen after Brexit but at least the Brits are getting legal in the Balearics!