Spain's Interior Minister and UK's Home Secretary join call for Brits to get TIEs
The push to get UK nationals living in Spain since before Brexit to exchange their old green residency certificates for TIEs has reached new heights, with Spain's Interior Minister and Britain's Home Secretary now both urging Brits to make the swap.
The two most important officials in Spain and the United Kingdom's internal affairs have joined the call to get all Britons in Spain to exchange their old Spanish residency documents for new ones.
This is ahead of changes to the EU's border systems that could mean Brits residing legally in Spain are "treated as overstayers" by border authorities.
The EU's much-delayed EES system of biometric passport checks could begin in October this year, after an agreement was reached in March between member states.
Spain’s Interior Minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, and the British Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, discussed the issue at a meeting held on Wednesday in Madrid.
As such, they are the officials highest up in each country's government to address the TIE matter, as previous calls have largely been made by the UK Embassy in Madrid.
With the implementation of the new EU Entry/Exit System (EES), the TIE (Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero) will become the only valid travel document for UK nationals in Spain so they aren't recorded in the EES and subject to the 90-day rules in the Schengen Area.
READ ALSO: UK Embassy insists Brits in Spain get TIEs or risk being 'treated as overstayers'
Therefore, the Spanish government is now also upping the pressure on Brits who have so far stuck to their green certificates and ignored the countless calls to make the swap. According to Spain's Interior Ministry, the TIE will better “facilitate their international travel once the new Schengen border control system comes into operation next autumn.”
According to a ministry statement, Grande-Marlaska and Cooper agreed on the importance for British citizens who are beneficiaries of the EU Withdrawal Agreement and who have not yet applied for it to ensure that they get the TIE, as the current EU Citizen Registration Certificate, often referred to as a 'green card' or ‘green certificate’ that many thousands still use, will not give travellers exemption from registration once the new EES comes into force.
As per the Ministry website: “The EES will register the border crossing of citizens who identify themselves with the 'green card', which will limit their time of stay in the Schengen area to a maximum of 90 days in 180 days. In order to exceed this limit, these citizens will have to go to a National Police station to prove their resident status and ask for the rectification of the EES registration, otherwise they could face problems at the border when leaving and returning to the Schengen zone as they will be identified by the EES system as ‘overstayers’.”
The TIE, a more durable biometric card that includes and a photograph (unlikely the paper or cardboard green certificates) will be the only document that allows UK citizens residing in Spain to bypass EES and avoid the 90-day limit.
This card "is the identification document for non-EU citizens resident in Spain that gives them access to all the rights recognised by current legislation," said Grande-Marlaska.
Per Ministry figures, between 2020 and June 2025, the Spanish authorities have already issued 138,106 permanent residence cards for beneficiaries of the Withdrawal Agreement and 1,890 for their family members, as well as a further 101,094 temporary residence cards and 3,665 for their family members.
“Estimates suggest that some 50,000 British citizens resident in Spain have not yet applied for their TIE,” the ministry estimates.
The British Embassy in Spain has previously called on British residents specifically in Málaga and Alicante provinces to make the exchange.
In all, some 403,925 UK nationals were officially registered as residing in Spain in 2024.
In order to speed up the process, Spanish police have reportedly increased staff numbers, particularly in areas with a strong British presence, such as Valencia, Andalusia and the Balearic Islands.
However, some of our readers have previously commented that they've found it impossible to get a cita previa (appointment) on the government website, making it impossible to carry out the exchange.
This may be due to the fact that there are organised crime groups which use bots to block all online appointments the moment they're made available, in order to then sell them to desperate foreigners.
READ MORE: €90 for a 'cita previa' - Spain's residency appointment scams worsen
"Because of the time needed to process the applications and issue the cards, Ministers Grande-Marlaska and Cooper encouraged British citizens residents in Spain to start the TIE application process as soon as possible to avoid difficulties and setbacks when the EES system comes into force," the Interior Ministry press release reads".
READ ALSO: UK Embassy singles out Brits in Alicante and Málaga for not getting TIEs
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