EU Citizens, right of residence and restrictions in Spain

By: JACOBO PREGITZER ZERPA

The citizens of the member states of the European Union and the European Economic Area Agreement in regard their conditions of entry and residence, are regulated by the community regime projected from the EU, in its application in Spain as a result of the implementation of that system is through the Real Decreto (Royal Decree) 240/2007, of 16 February, which in recent months has undergone reforms that have restricted the rights of residence of EU citizens in Spain as well as their families members.

Since the entry into force of Real Decreto-Ley (Royal Decree-Law) 16/2012, of 20 April, about urgent measures to ensure the sustainability of the national health system and improve the quality and safety of their services, better known as health care reform, in referring to citizens of the European Union through the fifth final provision of the reform modifies the parameters for obtaining the registration certificate of the Union citizen whom are established in Article 7 of the Real Decreto (Royal Decree) 240/2007, providing ways to obtain the residence permit in Spain for those EU citizens who wish to stay longer than three months in Spanish territory, which is called Certificate of Registration as a citizen of the Union (Certificado de Registro de Ciudadano de la Unión).

¿What is the Certificate of Registration of Citizens of the Union? It is a document issued by the General Direction of the Police and Civil Guard in which is stated that a citizen of the European Union has been registered in the Central Register of Foreigners, stating your details and giving the Foreigner Identification Number, better known as NIE.

This regulatory change which in turn literally equates the directive from which emanates the right of all countries of the Union in this area, is appears that the requirements for obtaining the mentioned certificate are clearly more complex, derived from the current process of Spanish government reforms in which the citizens of the Union who want to stay in Spain for more than three months should prove one of the following conditions for obtaining the mentioned certificate:

Being a worker in Spain (can be proved with a statement of engagement from the employer or employment certificate including data of the employer, also with an employment contract registered in the Public Employment Service or a communication of such recruitment and their conditions through the platform contrat@. Or a document of sign up or equivalent situation in the corresponding social security regime).

Being self-employed in Spain (can be proved with any of these documents: enrollment in the census of economic activities, commercial registration, sign up or equivalent situation in the corresponding social security).

If you are not employed in Spain must demonstrate therefore sufficient resources for themselves and their family members by property titles, checks, bank certificates and other documentation. This is according to the newsletter of the foreign office according  with the directive 2004/38/EC to avoid becoming a burden on the social assistance system of the host Member State (Spain) during their period of residence. To this should provide a public health insurance or private equivalent to the Spanish national health system, in case of pensioners have a certificate of health care from the state for receiving the pension.

Being a student and be enrolled in a public or private educational institution accredited or financed by an education authority, in this case must also provide a health insurance and responsible for having a statement of funds for himself and his family, must also be submitted the enrollment or documentation that proving the participation in a program of the European Union (Erasmus, Socrates, and others such as student or teacher).

Relatives (spouse, a partner as registered partnership, direct descendants who are under the age of 21 or elderly dependents and direct ancestors of his o her spouse or partner, the dependent direct relatives in the ascending line and those of the spouse or partner) must submit the documents that establish the link with the Union citizen and economically dependent on it, and the documentation attesting that is self-employed, employed, or who have sufficient means as stated, and the health insurance.

If the EU citizen meet these requirements, that  every day is assimilated more and more to the system of non-EU foreigners, after pay the prescribed fee, the UE Citizen will obtain a Certificate of Registration of Citizens Union, although it should be noted that the document is a paper card format that by itself does not serve to establish an identification if it is not accompanied by the id card of the country of origin or passport, however maintained the same drawbacks, but in a more practical size of previous Certificate of Registration, which was issued on a sheet of A4 paper, unlike the vast majority of European countries that give to citizens of the union a valid identity document to identify and fully able to use it for everyday situations.

In the case of students,  by example the Erasmus, there is no major difficulty, but for the European immigrant under other features certainly have more restrictions to access to the residence permit that is limited to their status or quality as a worker.

It may be understood that under the current unemployment situation prevailing in Spain and the problems generated by the health tourism of the citizens Union make these reforms a protection of the spanish state, as measures to protect the Spanish welfare state, nonetheless these kind of measures have turned restrictive for the basic rights of Union citizens in Spain and an for the principles that  the Spanish government  decided to accept once and now it seems that they don’t care, although under the principle of reciprocity the Spanish citizens have no such restrictions in EU state members.

Meanwhile, it should be remembered that in addition to obtaining the certificate of residence, the citizens of Romania receive a residence permit without a work permit, this practically forbids these citizens to be more than three months in Spanish territory. The mentioned requirements are for all EU citizens including a work authorization, but in the case of the Romanian citizens, they have to obtain the work permit with another administrative procedure; and in the case of Autonomous communities (regional governments) with competence for work authorizations (as Catalonia) the situation is even worse, given that Romanian population in Spain with links of two or even three generation due to Romanian immigration in Spain that dates back more than two decades.

In the case of citizens of the Union that already being in Spanish territory and have previously obtained a certificate of registration as a citizen of the Union, can hardly be of applicability of these situations, although precisely within these legal loopholes is where we found arbitrary situations, especially in the case of a citizen who has lost his certificate, when they have to apply for a new one, surprisingly the process to get it is like an initial procedure because there is no renewal procedure.

For family members of an EU citizen in Spain that has no nationality of one of these countries, the procedure for obtaining authorization of residence is equally complex, having to prove the link with the citizen of the European Union and documentation that prove that the person live under charge of the UE citizen relative, so the main requirements are those relating to economic resources which are not clearly defined in law or instructions of foreigners office, therefore depends on the discretion of each region where the procedure takes place, that being an individualized study wich becomes an element of uncertainty for the whole person when it should be the opposite.

Finally, EU citizens and their family members should keep in mind all these situations whenever they want to settle in Spain for a period exceeding three months, and know that the current government as well as many Spanish regions with competence for work permits are restricting the rights of EU citizens and gradually the Community system has a thinner line of difference with general regime, that beyond the idea of a common area called Europe and Europeans, still wish to make feel the Union citizens as aliens, creating different levels of European immigration in Spain and securing a strategic restriction of the right to residence because right now they cannot restrict entry, just in this moment when Spain begins with high emigration rates, so we only have to wait if their European neighbors will set the same requirements to them.