The number of Brits registering as residents in Spain has soared by 10 per cent in the run up to Brexit.
There are currently 365,967 expats living as official residents in Spain according to figures from the country’s Interior Ministry – but the number has rocketed in recent months.
Most of those who have settled in the Iberian country have opted for the popular tourist regions of Andalusia and Valencia.
The increase follows a campaign by British authorities in the country to try and get more expats to register as fully fledged residents.
One of the UK’s three consuls to Spain, Sarah-Jane Morris, said: ‘We are advising British nationals who have been in Spain longer than three months and want to remain here to legalise their status and the data suggests they are taking this seriously’
The number of those signing up as official residents has increased by 10 per cent since December 2018. So far it has been unnecessary for them to register because of the EU’s right to freedom of movement.
The number of UK citizens moving to Spain has risen by 4.6 per cent since the 2016 Brexit referendum, according to data released by Spain’s Ministry for labour. The vast majority of those who have settled in Spain live along the coast, with more than a third of them aged over 65. Ms Morris said: ‘The typical British national on the coast is probably in retirement’.
In March, the Spanish government suggested it was planning to grant residency to around 400,000 Brits in the event of a no-deal Brexit. The offer was made by the Spain’s socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on condition that the same rights are extended to Spanish nationals living in the UK.
However his party has been unable to form a stable government since an inconclusive result in April’s election. The country looks set to return to the polls for the fourth time in as many years on November 10, less than two weeks after the UK is expected to leave the EU. British expats looking to register with the Spanish authorities should approach either a designated immigration office or a local police station.
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