Spain has this week approved the mass regularisation of some 500,000 undocumented migrants.
It’s a bold move that I can see the merits of. Spain understands that its thriving economy relies on immigrants – and it’s not afraid to buck the trend of blaming all the world’s ills on people seeking a better life for themselves.
The government has demonstrated political will, administrative flexibility and a clear understanding that rigid immigration systems can cause real damage, not just to individuals, but to the wider economy and social cohesion.
To me, it raises an obvious question: If Spain can do this, why can it not also fix one of the quietest, messiest injustices left behind by Brexit?
I’m talking, of course, about British homeowners who legally bought property here years before June 2016 – and continue to pay fortunes in taxes and community fees – only to be downgraded to tourists.
There are thousands of Britons who bought homes in Spain years, sometimes decades, before Brexit.
They did so in good faith, under EU free movement rules, often planning their retirement around spending extended time here.
Then the rules changed. They now find themselves limited to 90 days in every 180, regardless of property ownership, tax contributions, healthcare cover or deep personal and family ties.
While there was a window for them to become residents, for many of them, it simply was not possible due to work commitments or the fact that they simply weren’t ready to take the plunge yet.
The injustice is that they bought their homes in Spain with the promise of coming and going as they please, and now they can only enjoy them three months at a time – while paying the same taxes as their full-time neighbours.
Meanwhile, EU nationals can enter the UK for 180 days straight, double the number of days Brits are allowed in the Schengen Zone.
At least France has considered the idea of giving British homeowners extra staying rights. In November 2023, Martine Berthet, an MP, put forward an amendment to the French Immigration Bill.
It suggested allowing them to either come and go as they please or give them freedom in how they utilise a 180-day allowance in France in a year – i.e. let them come for six months in row if they want to.
There was a renewed push to make the legal change last year, but nothing concrete has been agreed.
I’m not calling for the return of free movement, but Spain could offer extended stay rights to pre-Brexit homeowners, or create a simplified long-stay permit tied to property ownership.
Or even introduce a transitional residency for those demonstrably resident before Brexit
This would not open the floodgates but would simply close a loophole that Brexit ripped open.
Spain is now preparing to regularise people who entered the country without papers – a move many Britons will quietly applaud on humanitarian grounds, and fair enough.
But those same Britons may reasonably ask why they, who followed the rules, invested legally and committed to Spain long before Brexit, remain stuck counting days on a calendar like overstaying backpackers.
If Spain can recognise that rigid systems sometimes need correcting, it should be brave enough to recognise this too.
