BRITONS in Spain face anger and frustration as delays soar in securing vital residency paperwork needed to live legally in the country.
Authorities have warned of waiting lists of up to 14 weeks as bots snap up appointments for TIE cards, the residency permits required for all British nationals since Brexit.
Staff shortages and soaring demand are also fuelling the growing backlog, authorities added.
TIE cards are biometric residency permits proving a foreign national’s legal right to live in Spain, and they are mandatory for all non-EU nationals living in the country for more than 180 days.
They contain the holder’s photo, fingerprints, residency number and immigration status, and are needed for everything from opening bank accounts to accessing healthcare and signing rental contracts.
Applications are made at designated police stations and immigration offices across Spain, but demand for appointments has surged in major cities since post-Brexit residency rules came into force.
In Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia, waits are stretching between eight and 14 weeks, officials said.
In smaller cities and less-populated provinces, appointments can still be secured within one to three weeks.
Brits moving to Spain are normally required to apply for a TIE card within 30 days of arrival.
If no appointments are available within that period because of mounting delays, applicants can simply book the earliest slot they can find, officials said.
If an applicant needs to travel outside Spain while their TIE card is delayed, they must apply for a ‘return authorisation’ (autorizacion de regreso) at a local police station.
Their fingerprint receipt, known in Spanish as a resguardo, will be required for the process.
The warning comes after Spain’s central government approved a controversial scheme set to grant legal status to around half a million migrants.
Applications for the programme, which opened on April 16 and are due to close on June 30, have sparked huge queues outside immigration offices across Spain.
Applicants have been seen sleeping rough in a desperate bid to secure appointments, while violence erupted in Murcia last month as tensions boiled over among queuing migrants.
In Madrid, migrants were filmed scaling the walls of The Gambia’s embassy in late April in a frantic attempt to bypass queues and secure paperwork for citizenship applications.
The scenes prompted Spain’s police union, JUPOL, to warn of the ‘massive pressure’ being placed on local law enforcement.
Ibon Dominguez, spokesperson for JUPOL, said in April: “We are seeing public order issues, exactly as we predicted.
“There has been a complete lack of foresight and coordination. Local councils are overwhelmed because they haven’t been involved at all,” he added.
Authorities have not confirmed whether the delays in securing TIE appointments are directly linked to the regularisation scheme.
Spain’s Supreme Court said earlier this month it would consider suspending the controversial programme, with a decision expected tomorrow (Friday).
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So, basically nothing changes!