British residents flying house to Spain had been prevented from boarding a joint BA/Iberia flight to Madrid on Saturday evening after airline workers stated their pre-Brexit residency papers had been not legitimate.
A complete of 9 individuals weren’t allowed to board at Heathrow, amongst them journalist and photographer Max Duncan, who was instructed his inexperienced residency paper was not legitimate, though each the Spanish and British governments have stated each the outdated Overseas Nationwide Identification (NIE) doc and the brand new Overseas ID Card (TIE) stay legitimate.
In a tweet from the British embassy in Madrid, Duncan was assured that the inexperienced paper was legitimate. “This should not be happening, the Spanish authorities have reconfirmed once more this night that the inexperienced residency doc will probably be legitimate for journey to return to Spain as said in our journey recommendation,” officers stated by way of the embassy’s @UKinSpain account.
Duncan tweeted in response: “Thanks @ukinspain for confirming the inexperienced card is legitimate, that Spain has reconfirmed this too and that this shouldn’t be taking place.”
Duncan interviewed one couple on the airport who stated they had been “completely gutted” after being instructed they’d the mistaken residency doc and wanted the TIE card. “We’re going house. Spain is house,” stated the unidentified lady, including that her husband was operating out of significant medicine.
One other couple stated they had been instructed on the check-in desk that the inexperienced NIE card was not legitimate. Once they contacted the British embassy, they stated workers instructed them they’d acquired a variety of calls about the issue.
It was not simply the Madrid flight that was affected. An individual with the deal with @daisyqueen tweeted: “My daughter and her accomplice affected. Been in Heathrow for 12 hours – refused journey preliminary BA flight to Barcelona then instructed might journey tonight so waited solely to be refused as BA say passengers had been returned from Barcelona.”
The Spanish authorities introduced final yr that within the gentle of Brexit, British residents in Spain can be given a photograph ID card that may change the previous residency paper carried by EU residents.
Tens of hundreds of Britons have registered for the brand new card and the appliance course of seems to have gone easily. Nonetheless, there are not any obtainable dates to gather the cardboard as a result of the system is so overloaded.
The British embassy said on its Fb web page on Saturday evening it had acquired many messages from UK residents in Spain who didn’t but have the documentation they wanted. It stated it had “requested larger flexibility” from Spain within the circumstances of people that had not but been capable of accumulate their TIE card, college students who’re as a consequence of resume research , and for individuals who could also be caring for aged or weak members of the family.
There are round 300,000 British residents in Spain, though the quantity could also be a lot greater as many dwell exterior the Spanish system.
