Antonio Flores’ Blog

The Spanish Government was left reeling following heavy critizism by the European Union when they published an automatic house-for-residency programme last November. The reason? The very low property price threshold set by the impending law of €160,000.

Now, that value has been set at €500,000 and it appears that this time it is going to happen, according to El Economista.

The draft proposal establishes that the family will also be eligible and the residency will be indefinite for as long as the investment is maintained.

An additional possibility contemplated by the law establishes that a minimum investment of €1,000,000 and 2 workers will give the right to automatic residency, or €500,000 if the investment is kept yearly.  There is also the possibility to combine different types of investments to attain the half  million mark.

According to the sources, the residency programme will not be retrospective, “as demanded by the Russians”.

Finally, the draft leaves out the right to Spanish State medical cover and education, social beneftis and, rather strangely, the freedom to travel around the Schengen countries (which would breach EU laws on the matter).

Antonio Flores Immigration Immigration to Spain, Residency with Property, Spanish Immigration, Spanish Residency

Morocco’s Exchange Control Office has issued a statement warning citizens of this country against buying property in Spain; according to them, you can only buy property in Spain if you have a special permit issued by the Government in Rabat, and that buying without the said safe-conduct is a matter for the Criminal Courts.

We have some questions for the Office des Changes:

• Have you made a search on the public Spanish Land Registry website www.registradores.org to know who has, and hasn’t, property in Spain?
• Do you have enough space in your prisons to accommodate the tens of thousands of Morrocan families that have a second home in Spain?
• Does this law also apply to the  hundreds of Morocco’s Government officials who have traditionally acquired real estate on the Costa del Sol, inclusive of Government ministers?Is this law real, or is just a way to make prospective purchasers uncomfortable with what is verifiable reality?
• Are you going to ask the Spanish Government to request that investors produce the permit, as a prerequisite for buying,

And there is a question I personally have: has anyone ever seen this permit? 

Antonio Flores Immigration Morocco Investment, Office del Changes, Property Spain, Spanish Immigration

The Spanish Government has officialy released its plan to bring Spain out of the recession by offering residency to non-EU citizens who buy property worth over €160,000. The specific conditions are yet to be legislated on but the Secretary of Commerce, Jaime García-Legaz, has indicated that the property value is “balanced” and will not give rise to a massive demand for residency permits. He also said that the proposition is directed at the Chinese and Russian markets.

Three things we would like to comment on:

1. If this is to happen, Spain risks being again a victim of its own success because the demand for property in Spain can be unprecedented, far more than in the boom years.
2. China and Russia will only be tip of the iceberg as their citizens currently find less problems in obtaining tourist visas than citizens of countries like say Iran, Pakistan, Egypt etc.
3. If this proposition is finally approved, raising property taxes may not be a bad idea altogether.

We can hope is that Spain will now be able to learn from its previous mistakes and manage the potential masses of property buyers more intelligently by implementing rigid controls on property developers – banning the dodgy ones of course-, real estate agencies and other connected professionals.

Antonio Flores Immigration, Property business residence permit, Spanish Immigration, Spanish Residency

The story of a Sony Executive from Morocco detained at the Malaga airport by overzealous Spanish National Police, who refused to let her into the country, even when she had been coming to Spain regularly, for business and pleasure (Madrid, Barcelona etc.), shows us that it is not enough to just a have a valid visa, as you will also have to bring with you €577,26 at the very least, a return ticket, and proof of having secured accommodation (other than under a bridge).

Unfortunately for (lets call her) Zineb, she was never told when being granted her 10^th visa by the Spanish Immigration Desk at the Consulate in Casablanca of what the border control police expected her to bring when arriving in Spain and, by application of the existing laws, was about to end up being sent back to Casablanca on a next-day early flight.

The Policia Nacional are known for their kind use of legal words: they arrested her but meant to have simply “detained” her, and further communicated that she was being “refused entry”, when a proper deportation was imminent (so then, summary execution, in their euphemistic use of words, would presumably be translated as to be “put out of order” or to “disrupt the existence” of someone).

The laws applied were not being incorrectly quoted but perhaps too harshly applied. I cite the provisions:

Foreigners entering Spain will have to show, if requested to do so, that they have sufficient financial resources equivalent to a minimum amounts, as stated below:

1. For their maintenance, when staying in Spain, the minimum amount to show, as approved for year 2011, will be of 64,14 Euros per person and day, with a minimum of 577,26 Euros.
2. A valid return ticket to their country of origin or a third country.

Proof of funds will be made by showing cash or credit cards, in the latter case having also to show bank certificate of proof of balance. Accommodation will also have to be proved, upon request of the border control officials, by either showing an “invitation letter” by a private individual, a hotel booking or a rental contract.

Zineb was short of €377 as she only had €200 in her pocket. Also, she had no proof of accommodation, other than the undertaking from her Bentley-driving boyfriend that he would lodge her in his Marbella home to celebrate St. Valentine (nice of him), who was anxiously waiting outside the “sterile area”, where she was held to avoid “external contamination”, which I found out to be her boyfriend or myself slipping a €500 note in her back pocket.

After using every trick on the lawyers book, i.e. starting off with an angry lawyer’s call invoking police abuse of discretionary powers and arbitrary arrest, to then apologizing for a rather disrespectful first-call approach (ego-restoring exercise), as well as throwing in the timely Valentine´s day to generate pity and affection, and calculated doses of weeping by Zineb, we managed to persuade them to find a crack in the law to pull her in, it being that she complied with just over 50% of the above requirements, whichever way this was calculated!

Antonio Flores Immigration Schengen Visa, Spanish Immigration