As we all must know by now, the UK scheduled to permanently leave the EU on 31st January 2020 under an agreement signed between both parties.

The agreement ensures a transitional period for English citizens living in Spain until 31st December 2020.

Spain and the UK are currently negotiating their relationship and new conditions, including on immigration matters.

Until December 31st 2020, both UK citizens who registered in Spain and non-EU citizens who obtained their visa as family members who are part of the EU, will keep their residence card along with the rights that go with it.

They will be granted a TIE “Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero” regulating their situation, while maintaining the same rights they had.

A special type of residence permit has been enabled, and both UK citizens and their families who aspire to obtain the EU community card (otherwise known as “the green card”) which will be available from July 6th to December 31st, 2020.

Moreover, in case of already having a NIE “Numero de Identidad de Extranjero” and green card, they must make the transition to this special permit.

Residence for English citizens after January 2021

After the negotiation period, two possible situations can be reached.

One option is that Spain and the United Kingdom will come to a special type of agreement with conditions unlike any other treaty with any other non-EU country.

However, the other and most logical result would be that the United Kingdom and Spain will begin to have a relationship similar to the one that Spain has with Canada or the United States.

Spanish and British nationals can travel as tourists without obtaining a tourist visa, but with the limitation of 90 days maximum per semester.

We can suppose that it would be a reciprocal relationship and so the moment that one of the two countries begin to apply a visa, the other will begin to do the same.

In this case, in order to live more than 3 months in Spain, any UK citizen will have to apply for a valid residence permit: the EU registration certificate (green card) will no longer be an option.

This means that UK citizens in Spain will have to start considering other options such as the non-profit visa, the investor visa or a regular work permit however, with a more complex list of requirements.