British residents in Spain ‘confused and alarmed’ about post-Brexit future

Britons living in Spain are confused and fearful about their post-Brexit futures “to a quite shocking extent”, according to the author of a study, with poor support and communication from British and Spanish authorities mainly to blame.

Despite the withdrawal agreement securing the basic rights of UK citizens legally resident on the continent, Karen O’Reilly, a sociology professor at Loughborough University, said her research revealed “enormous levels of uncertainty and worry”.

O’Reilly, who has been researching the British community in Spain since the 1990s, carried out more than 100 interviews on the practical and emotional impacts of Brexit as part of the 18-month BrExpats programme at Goldsmiths, University of London.

“Information has become clearer over time and many are now getting registered, as advised,” she said. “But that process is in itself worrying for many, and many others are still confused and alarmed about how one-size-fits-all regulations will apply to what are often complex family and living arrangements.”

O’Reilly said the makeup of the British community in Spain – estimated at between 300,000 and 1 million full- and part-time residents – was widely misunderstood and the stereotype of the white, retired working-class Brit was “completely out of date”.

Since the advent of free movement in 1992, the community has radically diversified and now includes “every kind of diversity that exists in the UK”, she said – including many young Britons living and working in major cities and bringing up families.

“Many Britons living in Spain have quite complex lives,” she said. “Some have relatives with serious medical conditions in the UK, and are worried about whether they will be able to come and live with them if necessary in the future.

“Others may spend only part of the year in Spain, and are really concerned about the implications of that – which are indeed quite considerable. Some have children who would like to study outside Spain, but aren’t sure whether they’ll be allowed to.”

For years, the British and Spanish authorities have treated the British community in Spain as “long-term tourists”, O’Reilly said, adding “Neither the UK government, nor the Spanish government, nor the EU are taking proper responsibility for these people. They suffer from a triple absence.”

Many Britons in Spain were not officially registered as Spanish residents, O’Reilly said, partly because different Spanish local authorities have interpreted free movement policies differently. The situation is exacerbated because Spain does not allow dual nationality for Britons.

“Lots of people have just buried their heads in the sand,” O’Reilly said. “It’s not hard to pass under the radar, halfway up a mountain in Spain. There are people here really living on the breadline: pretty much undocumented migrants.

“People are afraid to register because they’re worried they will be told they aren’t legal, that they won’t meet future income requirements, that they will be told to go back to a country they maybe left decades ago and where they have nothing.”

Some had concluded there was no option but to return to Britain, O’Reilly said, citing an 85-year-old woman who left after 35 years “because she felt she was just too old to wait around to see how Brexit would turn out”, and a man with a chronic illness who also felt he could not postpone the decision.

There was now a clear and urgent need for both governments to “get clear, individually tailored information to people as soon as possible”, perhaps through drop-in centres, O’Reilly said: “There has to be a proper support system … I’m afraid there’s going to be quite a lot of suffering.”

Michaela Benson, the BrexPats project leader, who compiled a similar study on British residents in France, said the two reports had laid bare the alarming extent of British citizens’ uncertainty and confusion in both countries.

“Their needs have not been a central part of the negotiations, and since neither the British nor the French or Spanish governments know much about them, communication about how Brexit will intervene in their lives has been poor,” she said.

The withdrawal agreement has also left several important issues unresolved, notably the question of continued freedom of movement within the EU, the case of posted workers and several other complex individual circumstances, Benson said.

“People are still seriously worried about what the future holds,” she said.