Staff Reporter
By Charlie Mullins
I’VE no regrets about relocating to Spain a year ago, but there are times when it really hits home that you’re squatting in someone else’s country where you don’t get to make the rules.
It’s a bit like post-Brexit Britain, except – whatever the politics of it – the UK can’t just up sticks and move.
We still need to trade with the EU, but now we don’t get a say on the rules. Genius!
Where I’m going with this is the bonkers idea from Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez to slap a whopping 100% tax on non-Spanish, non-EU citizens buying property.
Utter madness if you ask me, and I’m told it’s got a snowball’s chance in hell of becoming law.
Clearly, Señor Sanchez is trying to calm the anti-tourist, anti-second-home crowd by showing he’s on their side.
The good news is that, unlike Brits in 2016, Spanish voters won’t rise up against foreigners… they know which side of their pan rebanado the olive oil is drizzled on!
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Speaking of housing problems, I couldn’t believe what happened to one Scandinavian expat woman recently – some crafty scammers managed to swipe her flat out from under her. The first she heard of it was when she started getting threatening letters ordering her to leave. Talk about bad news in the post.
What I don’t get is how a forged Colombian legal document can allow gangsters to flog your place from under you! If you buy a stolen car you don’t get to keep it, so why is it different when it’s a flat?
It does sometimes feel like expats get second-rate service from the local authorities; meanwhile, back in the UK, it seems the government bends over backwards to help immigrants – the more illegal, the more help, or so it often appears.
I suppose some of us might do better out here if we made more effort to learn the language, but Spanglish does the job well enough for me. Strangely, I hear that back in the UK, Labour are trying to bring in a new law making immigrants take an English test before they can get any sort of visa to stay.
Who knows how that’s going to work. Will the Royal Navy start handing out test papers to illegals on the small boats – and if they fail, it’s a one-way ticket back to France? Next thing you know, Keir Starmer’s Labour lot will be paying to send private English tutors into asylum hotels, just to make sure the illegal immigrants living on the taxpayer’s pound are up to snuff – so they can apply for more benefits!
You may understand the situation better if you called yourself what you are – an immigrant and not an ex-pat
“The good news is that, unlike Brits in 2016, Spanish voters won’t rise up against foreigners… they know which side of their pan rebanado the olive oil is drizzled on!”
Truly remarkable, as your country is being taken over by Islam and not one word from Britons lol. British voters ARE NOT standing up against foreigners in their own country, as its slowly slipping away never to return. I’m leaving my country of birth to get away from multi-culturalism. I’m moving to Spain because outside of Eastern Europe, its one of the most homogenous countries in Europe. So please, when moving to Spain from Britain, do all us expats in Spain a favor and don’t vote in Spanish elections. You’ve already ruined your own country with your irresponsible voting, please leave Spain alone, I’d like to retire in peace.