UK Embassy says green residencias exempt Brits from EES and ETIAS requirements
The British Embassy in Madrid has issued a statement reminding its citizens living in Spain that their “Green Residencia Certificates” issued by the Extranjero office or the National Police office are still valid. They added that exchanging it for a Spanish Foreign Identity Card (TIE) is advisable, though still not legally required.
According to the statement, holders of the A4 green certificates, or those holding the certificate in credit-card-sized version, retain the right to reside and work in Spain, including the Canary Islands, under Spain’s implementation of the UK-EU Withdrawal Agreement, as reported by SchengenVisaInfo.com.
At the same time, the Embassy notes that these certificates also exempt British nationals living in Spain from the new travel requirements that are set to be introduced by the EU countries in 2024 and 2025.
As a result, this document exempts UK nationals from the upcoming Entry Exit System (EES) and European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS), from any visa requirements, and the 90/180-day Schengen Area rule.
According to Statista, a German online platform that specializes in data gathering, the number of British nationals living in Spain peaked in 2022 at 313,975, excluding 2013, when there were 316,362 UK citizens living in the country.
Data point out that while the number of Brits in Spain continuously dropped from 2013 until 2018, it then started to increase year-on-year from 2019 and on.
The coastal region of Andalusia ranks the top favourite for UK nationals in Spain with 92,180 ex-pat residents, followed by the region of Valencia with 87,700 residents originally from the UK. Next is the Canary Islands with 29,631 British residents, Catalonia with 24,689, and the Balearic Islands with 19,569.
Spain is also the favourite tourism destination for Brits, with 15.1 million visiting Spain in 2022 alone.
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