Spanish visa
Hi
The Spanish Government released this on their website this morning after the agreement over Gibraltar with the UK Government.
A visa for retired persons, tourism etc. has a non-refundable application fee of £516 per person.
An annual income of €26,000 per person or €32,000 per couple and fully comprehensive health insurance.
All visas must be applied for from within the UK, and granted before travel.
Good news i think
Happy new year people
Phil
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That is good news Phil
Feliz Ano Nuevo Mi Amigo
JK
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Forgive me but that seems a lot of money to be able to stay and extra 3 months in Spain or am I misreading it?
David
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Safe travels Phil
We're also furloughed, at least we're on a 36 acre site so plenty of exercise without having to avoid all those covidiots!!
JK
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I think this needs careful reading: visa is for “ purposes of residence, studies for period larger than 90 days, work, professional, artistic or religious activities.” Not for holidays or tourism.
FCO will hopefully clarify, but “residence” is full time, the visa allows a period of time to get “residencia “ paperwork done, not to have vacations. You need a full time address too, with proof.
I have considered “residencia “, but a Spanish solicitor has said it is not feasible for me, or advisable. Do you want to pay Spanish taxes........
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Many frontiers between schengen area countries are almost non existent. In order to monitor length of stay they will have to stamp passports so I wonder if the arrangements at the borders will change - Will they look out for Brits and pull them over?
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I saw a news item in French saying they were going to "composter" UK passports on arrival. It seemed a drastic step, until I grasped that in their language composting means stamping the passports. So when we depart they can see how long we have been inside the free movement Schengen area.
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Don't forget these days you have to show your passport details at most sites even if it is only a copy or the info on a camping card. It would not surprise me if this is all not fed into police computers. I have always believed boarder officials at Calais have a pretty good idea where you have been when on your travels overthere.
peedee
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Internal borders within Schengen zone are often non existent, but not the borders that allow entry to the zone. Technology will easily monitor comings & goings in such places. Somebody deliberately setting out to avoid checks could end up branded an illegal immigrant.
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I haven’t shown my passport at a European site for many years. They accept ACSI card as ID.
Thousands of cars cross, for example, the French/Italian border daily with no checks. Checking passports would cause chaos.
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Yes, I know it well, 2 actively manned border posts within a few yards of each other. I’ve never been seriously held up there, but there is no prospect of just being waved through either control point.
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There would be little reason to check cars at that border, pre or post Brexit.
My only experience of anything other than a cursory check within Schengen was Lichtenstein which is an associate member otherwise it’s the western ports where the majority of Brits can expect to be clocked.
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Lutz (ever helpful) has posted elsewhere that a Schengen area long stay visa for stays over 90 days covers that entire 26 country zone The French government website quotes a price of €99 for such a visa - not the exorbitant price from the Spanish government quoted in the opening post of this thread.
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Deeply sceptical, is there a link?
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I just typed Long Stay Visa France and picked my way slowly through the French government site. The price comes up when you find the FAQs.
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Interesting, scepticism suspended.
So, if I’m reading this right, for the purposes of tourism you can apply for a long stay visa to visit France for a period up to 12 months. Additionally, under the terms of the long stay visa, you can spend up to 90 in 180 days within the Schengen zone.
You must leave the Schengen area by the visa expiry date. So, up to a year in France including a period of up to 90 days in other Schengen countries. All for €99. 🤔
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Getting a French visa wouldn't solve the problem of staying for an extended period in Spain though, which is what I thought most on here wanted.
Obviously it helps in that you can spend a few weeks, or longer, in France both getting to Spain and returning thus allowing you the full 90 days in Spain if accessing it through France.
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We had notification from our Spanish timeshare that the EU will be bringing out a visa an ETIAS its to be called. The cost quoted was around 6€ pp renewable every year.
I seem to remember that being mentioned before on here.
The Spanish will not want to miss all that lovely money they make from thousands of long stay Brits.
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Hi, as mentioned previously does the clock for the 90 days not start when you enter the EU?
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Very interesting, reasons to be cheerful..did some further research:
European Travel & Authorisation System (ETIAS) will be a visa waiver scheme.
However, the implementation of the law is conditional. Members of the European Parliament also said this arrangement is subject to the UK granting EU nationals the same benefits. This means British travellers will only be visa-exempt as long as EU citizens can enter the UK without a visa. Let’s hope Boris and his ERG mates don’t scupper that one!
After ETIAS comes into effect, British citizens visiting Europe will have to apply online for an ETIAS visa waiver before departing. The ETIAS visa waiver for UK citizens will be valid for 3-year periods and will allow unlimited entries into the region.
Although British people will need an ETIAS travel authorisation, they will not need to apply for a visa like many other countries. The 61 nationalities which are currently visa-exempt, including the UK, will remain visa-exempt but will need an ETIAS visa waiver.
The ETIAS application should not take longer than 10 minutes to complete and the process will be straightforward. Applicants will have to fill out a short form with personal information, details of their passport and answer some security questions. They will then have to pay a fee.
The confirmed travel authorisation should be available to the applicant within a few minutes and the whole process is likely to take a total of 15 minutes although this may vary as the final details have yet to be clarified.
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Hi TG, The ETIAS scheme is apparently due to come in at the end of 2022, which is obviously a long way off but, with luck, we may be out of lockdown by then!
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You watch us mess up our reciprocal ETIAS scheme. Whereas it's going to cost us a few Euros, I wouldn't mind betting that the UK one will be an administrative nightmare, issued for free with the cost being borne by us.
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I think you will find that ETIAS will have a 90 day limit for travel within the Schengen zone. Those who want to stay longer willl still need a visa from one EU country or another.
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Yes, reading this afresh, I fear you’re correct - the information out there is quite contradictory and speculative tho’. All ETIAS may provide is a Schengen visa waiver for short stays (90 days), assuming the UK reciprocates with a mirror scheme. It’s not beyond the realms of possibility that UK obsession with immigration and political posturing could make that arrangement impractical and we’ll all require visas for short trips too! It’s not a done deal.
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well we have a ferry booked for April but i think that will be wishful thinking, 2nd dose of vaccine probably not available until May countries such as Spain probably 1 month behind us re the new strain of covid infections. Our BF tickets are flexi so no hassle to move to maybe 2022.
We like Spain April thru June to get some early sunshine and warmth but the risks could be too great this year, still have 1 month booked in Devon for September so will be happy if we can take that
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