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| Camilla Hillier-Fry and John Richards before the meeting. |
On Monday
10 February, three committee members of EuroCitizens attended a meeting
at the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Madrid. Also present were top civil
servants from the Interior Ministry, the Ministry for Inclusion,
Social Security and Migration and from the UK Embassy.
We put
forward a series of questions relating to the registration of British
citizens in Spain covered by the Withdrawal Agreement (WA). We were told
that the implementation of the new system is still pending confirmation from
the European Commission about certain aspects of the special third-country-national
ID card (TIE) for Britons covered under the WA - the objective being a
standardized EU27 format for the card. However, this will occur 'within a short
period of time'. Until the new system is in place, unregistered Britons can
continue to apply for the green EU residence certificates, using a 'cita
previa' route on the Interior website dedicated to 'solo britanicos'.
After the launch of the new ID card, information about registration will be provided
on the Moncloa website and ministry websites.
Civil
servants reiterated to us the declaratory nature of the registration process
in Spain (the confirmation of our status as opposed to a re-application for a
new status). They also highlighted that registered Britons will be facing no
deadline of any kind at the end of the transition period on 31/12/20.
Our green EU residence certificates will be
valid for a long time afterwards, though the new ID card, while valid only
for our rights in Spain, will potentially also make travel
into and within the EU easier.
In March
EuroCitizens hopes to have further contacts with department heads in the
Interior Ministry and Ministry for Inclusion responsible for the roll-out of
procedures for registering the 340,000 Britons in Spain.
