EU border entry requirements because of Brexit - need to prove you have £85 per day to spend

[cakeorwine]

In theory of course.

EU Border staff such as in Spain, can ask to check that you have enough spending money, a return ticket / onward ticket as well as all the passport checks ensuring it's in date, valid during your time in the EU and that you haven't been in the EU too long.

I guess they aren't doing this in full - but they have the right to. It's what we should be doing at UK immigration. Just so we know that people coming here can stay and aren't trying to sneak in for work.

This is what being a 3rd country out of the EU means. Before hand, at ferry ports, we were waved through or a brief scan. Potentially these checks will be time consuming.

And if the EU or any country in the EU wishes to make a point, this is what they can do.

www.msn.com/en-gb/travel/news/spain-introduces-new-85-rule-for-british-holidaymakers-entering-country/ar-AAZVRVQ?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=dde0bb90bf474bc3ad00ae5097ea7424

@MrsAvocet
Many many misconceptions in your post, but it is quite common. If your PILs were originally Spanish by birth they would have been allowed to keep their Spanish citizenship if they signed a document (‘Acta de Conservación de la Nacionalidad’) at the Spanish consulate before the third anniversary of acquiring a second citizenship.
Spain does not recognise dual citizenship with the UK but this just means for Spain I am Spanish and for the UK I am British.
If you are originally Spanish, born Spanish, you are allowed to take other citizenship and the only rule is to sign the ‘Acta’ document with the Consul and exercise the nationality (reviewing ID documents and voting every now and then). What I think is discriminatory is that someone who is not born Spanish or is not a citizen of Portugal and the old Spanish territories cannot acquire Spanish citizenship without formally renouncing any other citizenship, but that is another story.
My children have several passports (by birth) and Spain is fine with it. PM me if you want to know more on the subject.

We're not long back from a multi country holiday in Europe. Took a ferry to Amsterdam. NL border control scanned our passports, before stamping them. I assume that's the critical part, with an official record of when we entered the Schengen area. They asked where we were going, but didn't ask for proof. Maybe we look honest.

On leaving, also from Amsterdam, passports were scanned and stamped again. I assume the stamp is for our benefit, so we can work out when we can go back and for how long.
Scanning definitely took longer than stamping.

We do it at UK immigration for some people. It's a bit random. I was questioned before I got leave to remain. Even on short visits occasionally, frequently when I came to be a student. But not always. The thing is that they can do it, when and if they choose, to make sure people aren't getting in who aren't entitled. And sometimes that will end up being a random check, so that they aren't targetting certain groups.

Just because UK tourists are a large proportion of tourism in certain countries historically doesn't mean it will stay that way; those countries might well want to increase tourism from elsewhere, because it's just so much easier to process.

Eventually there will be an equilibrium reached between cost, numbers of crossings/flights allowed, how many people get questioned/visas checked, etc.

With a lot of international rules on visas, money, vaccines etc, the complications are in the researching it all and getting it sorted. You don't often get asked for a lot of things. But you can. And the consequences of not having them can be high, so people do comply, even if much of the time they aren't asked.

Yes, if they chose to insist tourists needed 100 euros a day, they could, and you'd have to be prepared to show that, by whatever means they asked for - could be some kind of pre-authorisation, or being prepared to show banking apps, or printed statements, whatever they decide. Doesn't matter if you don't think you need it or will spend it, doesn't matter if you're staying with someone, if that's what they've decided, you wil lhave to be prepared to show it, because they have the power over you coming in - they will want to make sure people don't come in who can't support themselves, and this could be an easy way to check that. No, they probably won't check most people. But you don't have any right to holiday in any other country, so you'd have to be prepared to show that documentation if they wanted it, regardless of whether you think you need that much money.

@cakeorwine as I said EU citizens can use EGates so for them to be refused entry, something must have been amiss with their passports. I honestly couldn’t give a shit if any EU country wants to get as strict as the US. It’s half an hour out of my life a couple of times a year. It doesn’t stop me visiting the US so it wouldn’t stop me visiting France or any other EU country if I really wanted to go. In reality, there are many EU countries which rely on tourism and will continue to deal with U.K. citizens as efficiently as they can on entry. That’s why two of the most popular destinations have allowed U.K. citizens to use EGates on entry.

I feel sorry for people that waste their life looking for problems that don’t exist!

Spain and France need the tourists to keep their economy afloat so are very unlikely to bankrupt themselves just to point score: People will simply book elsewhere.
As it is millions must be reconsidering ever going to France again by Eurotunnel and ferry after this weekend’s fiasco created for no reason.by the bitter French.

@MrsAvocet
Children born Spanish out of Spain and not resident in Spain keep all nationalities until they are 18. Then they have to do the ‘Acta’ before they turn 21. At this moment their Spanish citizenship is kind of confirmed and Spain will not mind any other citizenships as long as the Spanish citizenship is exercised. My two eldest have already done this. What we do is always enter Spain on the Spanish passports, so there is a register, and they will vote in the National election when the time comes. Passports and DNIs (ID cards) are also renewed in time.

I do think it's a little odd to be looking forward to being stuck in a theoretical queue knowing that there are other theoretical leavers stuck in that hypothetical queue with you and hoping that the theoretical leavers in the hypothetical queue have the cheek to be complaining.

Maybe missing something here but all the comments about exemption for those on package holidays or going 'somewhere touristy': London is 'touristy'. If a group of say, Americans or Japanese citizens rock up to Heathrow on such a holiday they present themselves to Border Force and prove they qualify for entry for that purpose. That is the position you are now potentially in as a Brit if you take a Tui deal to Malaga surely?

@GellerYeller citizens of Japan and USA can use the Egates at Heathrow so it will be quicker for them to enter than for British citizens entering with kids (who cannot use the Egates).

The French are doing is a massive favour by allowing us to have UK border control on French soil. If they ended that agreement then pretty much anyone could enter this country and would have to be dealt with in Britain.

France gets nothing but hassle from the arrangement. They could get rid of the migrant camps around Calais with one fell swoop.

We need to be careful who we criticise really.

I mean if your worried just holiday outside the Eu and still end up with the same rules simple.

Just because UK tourists are a large proportion of tourism in certain countries historically doesn't mean it will stay that way; those countries might well want to increase tourism from elsewhere, because it's just so much easier to process.

Spain is not backwards in tourism. They're not just advertising in the uk. They have promotions across the whole of the EU. But they still want British tourists. What is in it for Spain to start doing checks of people, luggage, bank accounts? Are UK visitors such a particular delinquency problem that they're leaving a trail of debt everywhere? Why has it not been a problem for 2½ years since Brexit came into force but suddenly needs to be?
My question is not that they don't have a right to do it, but how practicable, practical or even worth their time is it to actually carry it out.

Good. We have plenty of jobs and not enough workers.

Perfectly summed up the OP 😂

Thanks @LaBrujaPiruja - that makes sense. My DH would be potentially able to acquire Spanish citizenship by virtue of his parentage, (and then I would become entitled) but the Spanish Consulate told us that we would have to give up our British citizenship. We don't want to do that, especially as our children would remain British so we decided not to pursue it.
My PILs have been British citizens for many years so it's too late for them - they would need to reapply like anyone else we were told - and my DH was born here and has only ever had British citizenship. Of course up until very recently we never imagined it would really matter as we were all European anyway, but if dual citizenship were an option now we would definitely take it.

The reason why France entered the agreement was because they are concerned if the centre closes and the border is returned to Dover, it will actually increase the amount of immigrants moving across the country to Calais and make the immigrant and criminality problem even worse.

@BunsyGirl fair enough but I read the comments as 'but I'm a tourist, and exempt from border control because that is more convenient' 😊
Parents and children being checked out us likely to be an anti kidnap/trafficking safeguarding type measure. As in the Spanish child upthread who was asked questions to make sure he was with his mum.

When people who aren't aware of the consequences of their actions suddenly get hit by the consequences of their actions, I do feel a a bit of schadenfreude.

The queues at Dover haven't been helped by the new arrangements. And yes, I would hope that the potential requirements at Border controls aren't asked for - but they are there.

This is interesting. My friend is on a UK passport but lives in Holland. He came over here on holiday this week and he said the queues were massive going through the UK and EU control. So he sloped off to the other e-gates and went through those. He had no problem. I wonder if he'll have a problem when he comes to leave?

@MrsAvocet
Maybe your husband was born Spanish (if your PILs were still Spanish by then) but he would have lost citizenship at 21. Many people do as they do not know the law.
Yes, if applying for citizenship now he (or you) wouldn’t be allowed to keep the British one. If his parents were Spanish when he was born he could try to get the Spanish citizenship he would have list at 21 but I don’t think he could keep the Brit one. It is worth asking, however not possible if your PILs never registered his birth at the Spanish consulate, as there will be no record in the Central Registry in Madrid.

Oh, sorry, @BunsyGirl , I've just reread your post and I think you're saying it's kids that can't go through the egates? Oops. As you were. 😄

I think we have missed the boat unfortunately @LaBrujaPiruja - the consulate were adamant that he would need to give up his British citizenship. Of course when we were younger we had free movement and never dreamed that it would end so citizenship wasn't something that seemed important at the time. If only we had known what was coming I think the whole family would have made different decisions. But it can't be helped now. 😪

@GellerYeller I know why U.K. border force ask the questions to those with DCs. It’s just interesting that no other country that I have ever visited has done this. Re “tourist exemptions” to an extent, they have a point. Immigration officers all over the World “profile” people. They don’t ask detailed questions of everyone because they don’t have time. 18 million U.K. visitors to Spain each year (pre Covid). They aren’t going to start interrogating every person! They will look at the average British family, scan the pasport and stamp it. That’s it! The new visa will be linked to your passport so there will not be a need for lots of extra questioning.

@MarshaMelrose yes, that’s correct. Your friend was right to use the eGate. Only people with kids should join the long queue! It’s so ironic given the tone of this thread that the longest queues that U.K. citizens are likely to face is arriving back into their own country if they travel with kids! Earlier this year I came back without my DCs for the first time in over 12 years and it was such a breeze!!!

I haven’t had any issues going into eu countries and I think I have generally been in the same queue as people with eu passports, a bit like Swiss passport holders. I haven’t really registered though, as I haven’t had any hassle. I don’t think countries are petty minded just because they are part of the eu. I never felt any resentment or bitterness against Norwegian people when we were in the eu, even though they voted against joining. Maybe I have just been lucky!