Covid 19 – the Corona virus has suddenly thrown Brexit into a distant memory as it has rampaged through Spain. For a lot of Brits who have recently come to live and take advantage of the transition period, or are planning to come, a massive spanner has been thrown in the works. With the sudden closure of all public offices and the cancellation of all of Residency appointments, getting Spanish residency on lockdown is impossible. Lots of us are left wondering what´s next and what to do.
The police have published the following statement –
VERY IMPORTANT:
Procedures for Immigration Offices
Given the situation generated by the evolution of the Coronavirus COVID 19, and to adopt measures aimed at protecting the health of citizens, all appointments are cancelled for all procedures across the Immigration Offices. We have cancelled all appointments reserved from today onwards.
The Royal Decree 463/2020, of March 14, declaring the state of alarm for the management of the health crisis situation caused by COVID-19, establishes the suspension of all administrative deadlines, declaring the suspension and interruption of services until the lifting of the state of alarm – declared
in the aforementioned royal decree and any extension that is applied to it. Therefore, once the situation is normalized, normal activity will be resumed, and we will inform of new procedures.
So is there any good news? Well, whilst getting spanish residency on lockdown, isn’t possible there is still plenty that can be done to prepare your application for when the appointments reopen in the future.
Once we have assessed a residency application, we decide what documentation is needed to prove the two main components to the application, which is – proof of healthcare and income/wealth.
Most healthcare documents you can still prepare, if you need private healthcare providers and agents are all working and the documentation and payment is all done remotely.
It´s worth remembering though that there are strict requirements for private healthcare when attending a residency appointment.
For those already pensioners from the UK, you can still order your S1 form the pensions department.
Self employed and people with an employment contract, proof of healthcare can be download using your digital certificate or requested from your Gestors or accoutant, Most are still working, albeit behind closed doors.
Proving your income and wealth can involve getting documentation from banks and with most banks only attending to urgent and necessary operations, this could be tricky. That said, online portals have improved for most banks over the last couple of years allowing you to download most documents and most banks are attending to people by phone or email and certificates can be ordered and picked up once needed.
If you need a Nota Simple for your property these can also be obtained online.
When proving income using bank statements from the UK, or if you need to include a beneficiary in your application, often a literal legal translation is needed. Translators are currently working and can send you translations via courier.
So, it’s not all bad news. There is still much that can be done. Eventually appointments will re-commence and there will be a mad rush to book them up, so its best if you’re at the front of the queue with a well-prepared file – ready to go