Being British in Spain

TOWN HALL councillors with responsibility for foreign residents received a lesson in being British last Thursday when they met with members of the consulate team.

Politicians from Orihuela to Javea swapped ideas and problems with members of the British Consulate team in Alicante at the headquarters of the Red Cross in the city - discussing better ways of supporting UK citizens.The councillors – some British themselves - were told of some of the differences between Britain and Spain and how some expats struggled to understand what they had to do in their host country – how in the UK people did not need to carry identification or a passport or to register on a town hall ‘Padron’, or get an NIE number.
They agreed that on the whole Brits were keen to volunteer for charity work, were polite and interested in getting involved – although more needed to be done to encourage expats to learn Spanish and integrate.
And an important part was explaining the different ways of accessing medical care depending on whether a person was a resident or a visitor.
Consul Sarah-Jane Morris said the top 10 towns in terms of British resident numbers had been invited as well as smaller towns with a high percentage of UK nationals on the Padron – the town hall register of residents.
She said: “Getting the councillors together has been really beneficial. We have both looked at how to better support British nationals by working together, and learnt from each other and shared ideas.
“We want to insure British nationals and English speaking charities get the best possible support from their town halls.”
She said they had looked at key problems. “For example, health care – it is all about the councillors knowing how to point people in the right direction to get the information they need.
“This focuses on the towns that have the most Brits and how we can work together to make sure they are plugged into the services they are entitled to and how to access them.”