Does anyone go to Spain for six months at a time

[Yorick]

“Loads of my friends” sounds like excellent evidence! The actual facts and what you can get away with aren’t the same thing.

Seems like you are calling me a liar. Shall I get them to join here and prove what I said ?

Be nice.

 

[Yorick]

We have spent 6 months in Spain every year for the last 10 years and I can definitely tell you that using your EHIC during this period of time is quite normal. We have used it and I know quite a few who have used it even for urgent heart surgery.

He seems like a troll. Maybe I'm wrong.

 

[Grianan]

As far as I understand it the EHIC card gives you the entitlement to the same treatment / costs as people resident in that country.

So if Spain, as I believe, has free health care EHIC card carriers should be entitled to it too.

In France my card hasn’t entitled me to anything - I’ve had to pay both for GP appts and prescriptions for my daughter and for emergency callout to have my son’s knee stapled. I presume that’s because locals have to pay for this too.

 

[138go]

Seems like you are calling me a liar. Shall I get them to join here and prove what I said ?

Be nice.

You are misunderstanding me, I’m not calling you a liar. I believe what you say your friends do. There are posters on here that do the same. What I’m saying is, the facts about using the NHS and EHIC aren’t the same thing as what you can get away with. There are others on this thread who have posted pretty much the same view.

 

[gus-lopez]

I dunno about anyone else buy my bloody dentist you can't get an appointment for about 3 or 4 months anyway lol

And the doctors isn't much better.

far cheaper & easier to have your teeth done here.

So if Spain, as I believe, has free health care EHIC card carriers should be entitled to it too.

They are . Just that after 90 consecutive days legally they have nio entitlement to UK health care & so no right to use the EHIC.
But it goes on

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[Val 3 dogs]

Last year out here I needed routine pills for my MS, despite EHIC they cost me €80per month.
Two weeks ago and a neighbour fell whilst on his way here on holiday, he smashed both knees, was taken by ambulance to hospital as an emergency, is still there recovering after an operation on Wednesday
It is believed (hoped) the EHIC will cover the costs of his emergency treatment, and possibly, maybe, the cost of transferring him from Burgos, (where the accident happened ) to his holiday home here outside Alhama de Granada, where his car, non -driving girlfriend and two dogs were recovered to at considerable expense.

 

[Val 3 dogs]

Correction to the above :it is hoped he may be transferred to hospital in Granada pending his discharge.

 

[jumartoo]

Last year out here I needed routine pills for my MS, despite EHIC they cost me €80per month.
Two weeks ago and a neighbour fell whilst on his way here on holiday, he smashed both knees, was taken by ambulance to hospital as an emergency, is still there recovering after an operation on Wednesday
It is believed (hoped) the EHIC will cover the costs of his emergency treatment, and possibly, maybe, the cost of transferring him from Burgos, (where the accident happened ) to his holiday home here outside Alhama de Granada, where his car, non -driving girlfriend and two dogs were recovered to at considerable expense.

Are you resident? If so haven't you got an S1 from the UK?

 

[Val 3 dogs]

I am resident now but wasn't last year when I needed the pills

 

[jumartoo]

Correction to the above :it is hoped he may be transferred to hospital in Granada pending his discharge.

I hope he's lucky enough to be transferred but the EHIC wouldn't normally cover that.

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[jumartoo]

Some years ago our motorhome insurance brought Martin home from a hospital in Zaragoza to Totana in Murcia. Private ambulance with a nurse. His accident insurance finished when he was being discharged.

 

[Val 3 dogs]

Oh well, I think the poor guy is pretty resigned to whatever happens to him now, but we are wondering if they will /can discharge him when he has no relatives and nowhere to go? Not a happy position to be in.

 

[jumartoo]

Oh well, I think the poor guy is pretty resigned to whatever happens to him now, but we are wondering if they will /can discharge him when he has no relatives and nowhere to go? Not a happy position to be in.

Fingers crossed for him.

 

[Val 3 dogs]

This guy just had his standard car insurance as far as I can make out, with no holiday or health insurance of any sort.

 

[Val 3 dogs]

Thanks, I think it has been/still is a stressful time for him and folk both here and back in the UK. As you say fingers crossed.

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[Steadycam]

I still hope for a 2nd referendum to put a halt to all this nonsense.

But what happens after the 3rd referendum as I assume if we vote to stay in on the second referendum then the government and the BBC and the rest of the media will spend 2 years saying you can't go off a referendum result as the people are not qualified to make complex decisions like staying in ?

 

[Purple2]

It’s possible to get a non lucrative visa when we become a 3rd country to stay for longer than 90 days. Pretty stringent conditions..personal visit to Embassy in UK, DBS check covering last 5 years, personal medical cover which operates in Spain( Sanitas for example) and an income for a couple of about 2600 Euros per month which has to be without working for it. In order to maintain the privilege of that visa I think at least 187 days in any of first year needs to be spent there to then apply for an extension of 2 years. They only want to see proof of the income at that point. The problem is however the motorhome because it needs to be registered in Spain however on return to UK if you are technically still a resident in UK then you are ‘importing’ a foreign registered vehicle. There are also some tax hurdles to overcome.

 

[nicholsong]

It’s possible to get a non lucrative visa when we become a 3rd country to stay for longer than 90 days. Pretty stringent conditions..personal visit to Embassy in UK, DBS check covering last 5 years, personal medical cover which operates in Spain( Sanitas for example) and an income for a couple of about 2600 Euros per month which has to be without working for it. In order to maintain the privilege of that visa I think at least 187 days in any of first year needs to be spent there to then apply for an extension of 2 years. They only want to see proof of the income at that point. The problem is however the motorhome because it needs to be registered in Spain however on return to UK if you are technically still a resident in UK then you are ‘importing’ a foreign registered vehicle. There are also some tax hurdles to overcome.

I understand that if that vehicle has previously been UK-Registered that it is not a problem to re-register it in UK.

Geoff

 

[jumartoo]

I understand that if that vehicle has previously been UK-Registered that it is not a problem to re-register it in UK.

Geoff

The problem would be the hassle and cost of registering it in Spain!

 

[Val 3 dogs]

@jumartoo I am about to complete the registering of my 14 year old, UK registered Hymer "tramp " to Spanish plates and it will have cost me a fraction over €1000.
I appreciate that many or most will have younger vehicles and the cost will therefore be substantially more, but for me without family or ties in the UK it was a no-brainer and I believe will save me a substantial amount, instead of the annual trip back for the MOT.

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[jumartoo]

@jumartoo I am about to complete the registering of my 14 year old, UK registered Hymer "tramp " to Spanish plates and it will have cost me a fraction over €1000.
I appreciate that many or most will have younger vehicles and the cost will therefore be substantially more, but for me without family or ties in the UK it was a no-brainer and I believe will save me a substantial amount, instead of the annual trip back for the MOT.

I was thinking about someone registering a motorhome for short term, not long term like you've done.

 

[Val 3 dogs]

OK sorry, I imagine that would be a time consuming costly exercise.

 

[Purple2]

The other issue as I understand it is also getting through the Spanish system with a hab door on the near side. Sounds like that varies region to region.
My point about ‘importing’ is not a huge problem legally it’s just that when you return to Spain, being a non lucrative visa holder means you then have to register it again in Spain if you’ve changed back to UK plates in the meantime.
The paradox is that for those very few people that travelled around Europe before the EU ‘system’ on a long term basis they could just ‘country hop’ 90 days at a time to stay in Europe for effectively as long as they wanted!

 

[Hilewaychile]

That Schengen Zone staying rule is perhaps one of the biggest reason politicians and the Brussels unelected officials should all be relieved of their positions, I always thought this was a free world!!!!

Why on earth if you could afford to go on holiday for more than 90 days should you be limited, what purpose does such a rule achieve other than control.

It's high time the people told these control freaks enough is enough.

As far as I am aware there is not a country on the planet, assuming it has any sort of organised governace at all [which might exclude countries like Afghanistan or Somalia] that does not have rules and restrictions on how long one may remain in that country. It is nothing to do with unelected officials in Brussels - it's world-wide. Pick a country - any country - and see if you can find one with no restrictions. Report back on these pages.

 

[Hilewaychile]

It's still rubbish though ...I don't think it should restrict people wherever they go.

Different if you were going there and living of the state.
But if financially supporting yourself I agree it is all about control

It is indeed about control. And it has existed, in one form or another, ever since nation states formalised their borders with other countries.

Objectively speaking, the first duty of a government is to protect the state and its citizens. Things are different now from the day when Admiral Lord Cornwallis, asked by a government committee whether the French, under Napoleon, would invade England said, "My Lords. I do not say they will not come. I do say they will not come by sea".

More risks - more rules - tighter surveillance.

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[Purple2]

I’m with you, that’s the whole purpose of the visa I described, to make sure that you can afford to stay without being a drain on the host country resources. We moan enough about that here. All it does is expose the weakness of our system.

 

[Hilewaychile]

I don't think that at all, why would you say that, I think that rules to limit anyone who wants to and can afford to should be able to roam this planet unhindered.

If only it were safe to allow that to be the case. But it - unrestricted movement - has not been the case for several hundred years. It is naive to wish it away.

It was 'unrestricted movement' in the form of virtually no security checks on items carried by passengers on domestic flights in the USA, that allowed the 11/09 distasters to occur. I believe it was on the aircraft that failed to hit the Pentagon that a passenger reported on their mobile phone that a stewardess had had her throat cut with what the Americans call a box-cutter - a Stanley knife.

 

[Hilewaychile]

Being British won’t mean much in a Post B...t world.
Travel where you like for as long as you like after the UK leaves the EU and if you fall foul if the Schengen SIS, you could be barred from entering any Shengen country or deported from one you are in.

Quite so. And not just Schengen.

Blimey. If you spent 91 days in France, then 91 days in Germany, then 91 days in Spain, then 91 days in Austria, you'd be legally obliged to register in them all

Quite right. But up to now, in my case I have not done so and not had any problems. I have overstayed 90 days in Spain on two or three occasions and last time I was in Blighty, I 'overstayed' there. If I'd followed the rules I would have been reg as a res in SP and then had to re-reg as res in UK.

Now I am registered as a resident in Spain.

As for re-plating a PVC, I have been in correspondence with a company near Benidorm which does nothing but arrange Spanish registration for GB vehicles. This chap insists, under persistent questioning by me, that replating my self-build will be possible. It will cost about €1000. As he is ex-Royal Marines I am inclined to believe him. I hope I'm right.

 

[Hilewaychile]

You’re not covered by the NHS if you’re out of the U.K. for more than three months.

If you are a UK State Pensioner you are covered by the UK NHS - hospital treatment, GPs et al, as of April 2015.

UK state pensioners who live elsewhere in the EEA will now have the same rights to NHS care as people who live in England. This applies to all pensioners who receive a UK state retirement pension and are registered for health care in Europe with an S1 form.

This ruling is, at the moment, going to continue post-Brexit. The Spanish, for example, have already offered to continue the present full entitlement to the SP NHS as long as UK reciprocates.

It is logical. Treatment in the country where one is registered as resident - say Spain - is as per a Spanish citizen, if one has applied via the magic S1 form, but the bill for the treatment is remitted to the UK NHS, which reimburses the Spanish NHS. As the UK NHS pays for the treatment of UK citizens in EEA, it was considered logical that the UK NHS would treat those people if they happened to be in UK.

Joined-up thinking, for once.

 

[Hilewaychile]

Yes you are. I've pals here who fly home for treatment. The NHS stuff only stops if we get Spanish Residencia.

There is so much false information about and it's spoiling things.

Not entirely true. If you are a UK State Pensioner, as of April 2015 you have been able get the full service of the UK NHS even if registered as resident in another EEA country. It's because the UK NHS reimburses the bills to the NHS of the person's regisitered country, so why not treat them if they're in UK? So they do.

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