The queues in front of the immigration office in Palma are already long in normal times. But in these months there are also the many British who want to secure their further stay in Mallorca in view of the imminent end of the Brexit transition period on December 31st. After the kingdom left the European Union, the so-called green Residencia card is no longer sufficient. The British need the “Tarjeta de Identificación de Extranjero” (TIE), which is intended for foreigners from third countries. At the end of last year, the agency set up a separate area in which three colleagues deal exclusively with the concerns of those affected by Brexit British care.
They have been able to apply for the TIEs since July 6, and the offer has been accepted since day one. According to the responsible inspector of the national police, Ester Ribas, the immigration office issues around 60 of the cards every day. More than 5,000 appointments had been made by the end of the year, and around 3,500 Brits had already applied for their foreigner card at the end of November. “The immigration office is doing a great job here,” Kate Mentink praised the Spanish authorities on the phone.
The founder and long-time chairwoman of Ciudadanos Europeos has lived on the island for almost 40 years and headed the Europe office of the Balearic state government under the PP government. For years, she says, the immigration authorities and the British consulate have appealed to their compatriots on the islands to register regularly. For years, all appeals fell silent. Suddenly things have to happen very quickly.
In addition to the TIEs, in the middle of the corona pandemic, the immigration office issued another 800 appointments in the summer for Britons who previously did not have the green Residencia card but still want to stay on the island and therefore need a TIE. And despite the race against the clock, a large number of Britons will still be without a residence permit at the beginning of the new year. According to the Spanish government, as of June 30th there were 29,532 British residents in the Balearic Islands. Kate Mentink estimates the actual number at around 60,000.
Mentink does not believe that there can be an agreement on an orderly Brexit with the EU in the remaining four weeks until the end of the year. “Too many important questions are still unanswered,” she says. At the moment there is “restlessness, fear and a great deal of insecurity” among the British living in Spain, reports the Scottish woman, who has high hopes for Spain. “I have full confidence that Spain will not put any obstacles in the way of the British who live here. At least the treatment so far in the Brexit process has been exemplary. “
Nevertheless: Especially among the British, who were already retired and wanted to spend the last phase of their lives on the islands, a return to their former homeland has started. “There are many people there who came to the island 20 years ago and often spend up to ten months of the year here, but have never officially registered,” says Mentink. Especially in view of the corona pandemic, they are now afraid, to drop out of health care in the Balearic Islands.
At the same time, Mentink has noticed a constant influx of British people to Mallorca. It is mainly people between the ages of 35 and 45, many with children, who have been pitching their tents on the island since this summer, she says. “There is a real generation exchange taking place in Mallorca right now,” says Mentink. For the younger British, the epidemological situation in the Balearic Islands compared to Great Britain was an important factor in moving. Many of those who now decide to have their primary residence on the islands already owned a property here.
“Another aspect, also favored by the pandemic, is the new possibilities of working from home,” says Mentink. This makes it possible for many to travel to Great Britain only eight to ten times a year to maintain contacts and do the rest of the work The latter are mainly British from the middle and upper classes who can afford British private schools for their children or private health insurance. And for these people a disorderly Brexit is not a hurdle because they are doing well would register as residents in Spain, so Mentink. “The younger people have a different awareness.”
A hard Brexit will not change much for holidaymakers, however. Because the British do not need a visa for holiday trips to the European Union that are shorter than 90 days even after the end of the year, experts expect little impact on the travel activities of the British. Whether the numbers of British holidaymakers in the future will level off on those of the previous year depends more on how the corona pandemic continues, how strong the purchasing power of the British population remains in the crisis and how the British pound compared to the euro in general behave, so the résumé of a conference at the Chamber of Commerce in Palma.
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