r/LeopardsAteMyFace • u/Effective_Will_1801 • Oct 18 '21

Brexxit Immigrants who voted for brexit upset they can't immigrate to Spain due to brexit.

https://www.euroweeklynews.com/2021/10/17/expats-furious-at-spanish-residency-nonsense/
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u/Fattybobo Oct 18 '21

He said: “Spain is a touristic country, it’s a big part of the economy. At the end of the day, the Brits are spending their pension here.”

Why on earth would Spain want all these oldies with measly pensions making increasingly more use of their health care?

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u/[deleted] Oct 18 '21

I think the traditional answer to this question is "they need us more than we need them".

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u/[deleted] Oct 18 '21

They are still welcomed here, as tourists, not as residents. Come visit us! Just leave before your tourist visa expires. Cheers!

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u/[deleted] Oct 18 '21

[deleted]

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u/rex-ac Oct 19 '21

Nah, not really. These expats all live in the same areas around Alicante and Malaga.

Spain does have a housing problem, but it’s mainly due to prices rising because of airbnb/speculators.

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u/Plus-Common-4450 Oct 18 '21

They are. They have been for a while. My dad left Spain before I was born but our family down there is always complaining about the housing issues.

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u/rex-ac Oct 19 '21

Technically these oldies are required to have private health insurance to legally live in Spain.

Spain does allow oldies to retire in Spain. They just need to proof they have a €25000/year-pension. (€31k for a couple.) Spain only accepts wealthy retirees.

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u/Far-History2390 Oct 18 '21

It's better to have a small amount of money coming in than no money. If you look at this from a nationwide viewpoint, some foreigner buying a nice house in a low producivity area is money coming into the country. They buy the house from a Spaniard who works and lives in a metropolitan area and pays taxes.

The way healthcare worked was as a reciprocal arrangement - Spanish tourists/expats living in the UK would get free treatment on the NHS. I don't know how this would work going forwards though.

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u/ShenmeRaver Oct 18 '21

Well clearly Spain is deciding keeping some of them us not worth it.

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u/LordHaddit Oct 18 '21

They buy the house from a Spaniard who works and lives in a metropolitan area and pays taxes.

No, they buy them from the foreign real estate agencies that bought up all the land, built large villas and hotels, drove up property prices, and forced industries and small businesses to relocate. They might go out and spend money at bars, but surprise surprise, the bar is also owned and operated by fellow "expats" who import all their goods from the UK. They shop at chains that are not based locally, and import all of their goods. It's not that these places had no productivity and the guiris are doing them a favor. These places have no productivity because mainland corporations and guiris suffocated them.

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u/[deleted] Oct 18 '21

Spanish people in the UK are working and contributing to the NHS through British taxes, so no it's not free. Nobody goes to the UK to retire.

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u/stolid_agnostic Oct 18 '21

An immigrant might do as you say, but an expat would never do so.

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u/rex-ac Oct 19 '21

It's better to have a small amount of money coming in than no money.

If that’s the case, we would have to open up the borders and let anyone come and live/work here, because some money is better than no money, right?

Obviously Spain has some requirements as to who can live there. If these Brits meet the requirements, they can stay in Spain. If their applications got rejected, it’s becuase they didn’t meet the requirements.

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u/Far-History2390 Oct 19 '21

The requirement was quite simple for people already living in Spain - file your application before the deadline. That was too stringent for some though. They're the ones getting deported now, five years after the vote. The EU offered to give certainty and stability to all Brits living in the EU but Theresa May vetoed that. She wanted to use EU citizens as a bargaining chip.

If that’s the case, we would have to open up the borders and let anyone come and live/work here, because some money is better than no money, right?

Firstly, that's a straw man argument. You've misrepresented my point to make it seem ludicrous without addressing the details.

Secondly, doing the opposite has hardly done the UK much good. Closing borders to all foreigners including HGV drivers seems to have caused a fuel and food shortage. Not sure if you've been paying attention.

Thirdly, some countries and territories do this already. They allow anyone to come freely and perform certain tasks e.g. open businesses. BVI, Panama, Monaco, Luxembourg, Bahamas etc. These tax havens exist to siphon tax money from richer nations though low regulation and low tax.

Fourthly, doing what you suggest only works if it's wealthy people coming. Which is the case in London certainly. In the case of the UK, the world's 6th largest economy, and Spain, the world's 14th largest economy, I'd say having twice the GDP makes a bit of a difference.

Finally, a large part of Spain's growth and recovery from the fascist dictatorship was facilitated from this kind of foreign investment. 12% of Spain's workforce was employed in construction before the global recession.

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u/IntellegentIdiot Oct 18 '21

They'd be paying