Briefly, if you are an EU citizen, you must now register at your local Oficina de Extranjeros – usually in the local Comisaria (Police Office).  Our local one is just off the bypass near Al Campo in Motril.

You will need to complete a form and pay a fee, and you will be rewarded with a certificate which shows your name, address and NIE number.

You will need a passport style photograph, copies of your passport, copies of your work contract or self employment tax return.  If you have neither and are not retired you will need to prove you have health cover via private medical insurance.

• Proof of employment.
• Proof of social security registration or private medical insurance
• Your (in date) passport
• Finally if you are married and one of you will be dependent on the other it would be best to take copies of your marriage certificate.

After filling in a form you will be sent to the bank to pay €10.20 per registration.  Take this stamped form back and within a few minutes you will have your new shiny (lifelong) residencing.

As the tax and health system computers are now linked, without residencia you will be considered a tourist for all matters.  Therefore doctors and hospitals will only be required to (patch you up) sufficiently to travel back to the UK.

Drivers of Spanish vehicles without residency will be very suspicious and will probably incur some sort of fine for some infringement by the traffico (money collectors).

I can also forsee many other issues with living in Spain permanently without residency, so maybe best now to decide where you LEGALLY live, Spain or the UK?

So for all those people who having been living in the black, working for cash, not paying taxes and sitting under the radar, I hope you’ve saved plenty of those black Euros for your medical bills as I gather they can get a bit pricey!

The town council have said the work will be completed “within a few days” which will allow construction to begin immediately.

Banyan Tree Holdings are investing 230 million € in the project which is expected to employ around 600 people.

a Whopping 37% of all votes placed online at the FACUA consumer action group’s third annual award for the worst business in Spain went to the Spanish telecommunications giant. Movistar also won the award on the two previous occassions – 2010 and 2011.

This year’s runners up in this category were Vodafone (In 2nd Place with 32%) followed by Bankia; CAM Bank and Ryanair.

Movistar also took first prize in a second category at the awards : The “Worst Ad of the Year”, taking 35% of the vote.

Sadly, the Telecomms giant was unable to do the triple by winning the third catergory : The “Worst Business Practice of the year”, with 37% of all voters choosing to vent their ire at the Executives of many of Spain’s bailed out Banks. Consumers were angered by their decision to award themselves Million-Euro payouts at the expense of the tax-paying public through the public money sponsored FROB (Fund for orderly bank restructuring) fund.

Photo – cashpassport.com/ryanair

Ryanair is to introduce a six Euro surcharge on all flights purchased in Spain from April 15.
This will appear as ‘coste de gestión’ (management charge) and will be added to the final ticket price with the rest of the charges.

The charge is a strategy to promote the airline’s new Ryanair Cash Passport, a MasterCard debit card which will give passengers, yes you got it, a six € discount. The card also can be used to take money out of cash machines and to make purchases in stores.

Michael O’Leary used the launch of the card to encourage Spanish consumers to get a card ‘As quickly as possible to save the management costs’.