Holiday in Spain needing to prove sufficient funds - help!

[MamaRoly]

https://www.dailymail.com/travel/article-15900561/spain-entry-rules-finanical-british-tourists.html

We have 10 days in Mallorca booked for August, 2 adults and 2 tweens. This article seems to say online banking records not sufficient evidence but for the last few years, I haven't bothered with foreign currency and just taken a fee free debit card to withdraw cash (if needed)and pay contactless. Help!

’Not clear how the rules are being enforced’. Well I can tell you: they aren’t. I’ve travelled a few times to Spain since 2021 (when this came into force). Usually with my late teen to adult) kids and not once have I been asked about money.

I got asked for proof of our return flight and for my hotel bookings when we entered Germany in May, first time ever in the EU, but they didn't ask about funds.

They trot out this sort of nonsense every year.

Do you really think the Spanish authorities are scrutinising the finances of the thousands of Brits who go there on holiday each year?

Put that rag down and don't worry about it.

This was one if the questions on the new entry machines when we went to Spain in April.

Except the machines had a glitch and showed a HUGE amount of euros when it asked whether we had enough funds for our stay - a laughable amount!

We just clicked yes and went on our way. :)

It’s just a Q on the entry machines. You just say yes no proof needed

I went to Spain last month no one asked how much money. We just had to enter how long we were staying for. They are not going to quiz every traveller and ask for proof of their finances.

I went to Mallorca 2 weeks ago. Never got asked about funds or money. Your probably on a package holiday so have proof of accommodation etc anyway so if anyone did ask you are covered.

Amusingly this is what they campaigned for during the referendum...chaos is good business it would appear.

I was asked for the date of my return flight when I flew to Germany in May but no proof was required, nor was I asked about my funds. Getting through security did take an awfully long time though.

Authorities around the world have pretty much always had the right to establish a visitors travel plans and ability to support themselves whilst in country....

In reality they rarely bothered but every now and again they do ask, every now and again the DM decides to run a story on it.

We were in lanzarote at the end of May. Weren't asked for any info about money

Yes, but they didn't mean us Brits did they?

I went to Spain last month and the non EU line was labelled 'third countries', which caused a lot of confusion. And yet we're in this mess due to the wishes of a load of people who probably haven't got a fucking clue what a third country is.

Exactly this. I have been four times since COVID, three times to mainland Spain and once to Majorca, and no one has asked such questions

In the last 5 years I've probably been to Spain at least half a dozen times, along with Italy, Germany, France, Poland (twice) and Portugal.

I've never been asked how much money I had, and the only time I was asked about accommodation, I answered, in a panicked voice 'in a camper van' which was true and the border guard didn't think anything of it.

I'm in Spain now. Had the machine on the way in and one of the questions was whether you had sufficient funds for your trip and could prove if needed. I pressed yes.

Machines are awful, questions didn't really make sense and it asked where I was staying, with friends, I was worried it'd ask for the address, she was picking me up so no idea.

I 'failed' the machine but that didn't appear to lead to anything.

Dont worry, enjoy your holiday.

If you are on a package tour or have hotels booked plus return flights home then I strongly doubt that they will ask. I’ve entered Spain by air multiple times and not been asked. I’ve never even been asked to prove hotel bookings or a return flight/crossing. I’m currently in the eu and wasn’t asked a single question entering France, i didn’t have accommodation bar the first night or return crossing booked!

the whole point is they can ask ask but will only do so if they suspect you don’t have sufficient funds

These are not news rules they have been in at least 50 years- back in the day if customs stopped you they would ask you how much currency you had to check you had enough money for the stay, it has always been possible for them to ask- but they never do, if it means interrogating your bank accounts they are even less likely to check- it's just the Daily Mail doing what it does.

Flew into Valencia a few weeks ago and was asked this on the automated border control, just said yes, no need to prove it. Australia on the other hand they may ask for proof and will boot you back if you don’t have it! BUT they will accept a credit card limit as proof of funds.

Maybe stop reading the Daily Mail?

They aren't being enforced. Just take a credit card with yoh you just in case

We’re in this mess due to a man who himself has an eu passport.

This story from the Mail is total and utter scaremongering bollocks.

Yes, under the Schengen area rules, member states can specify that non-EU citizens prove that they have the resources to support their stay. For Spain this is about €120 per person per day.

But checking this is a total pain. It is only ever applied at Spanish consulates for people who need visas to visit Spain. If you want to go to Madrid for a month from Bangladesh, they want to see evidence that you have a couple of thousand Euros available. You have to provide bank statements. If you plan to stay with a relative who lives in Spain, that relative has to get a letter of invitation signed by the local police, which you submit with your application.(*)

This requirement is never, ever, ever, ever checked for nationals of any Schengen visa-waiver countries. There are 60 or so of those, including the UK.

Think about it, how's it going to work? Every person would have to go to a desk (whereas most people go to an e-gate). The officer would need to you to open your entire online banking. You might have to bring up the cash ISA that you've got with another bank. It would take 10 or 15 minutes per family.

Since Brexit, Brits have made over 100 million trips to Spain. And not a single one has ever been asked for proof of resources in this way. How do I know? Because that person would be all over the tabloids. "New EU lunacy PUNISHES hard-working Brit family for Brexit with CRAZY money requirement", etc etc.

Spain is not a police state. Nor is it in the business of making it difficult for tourists to come and spend their money. Indeed, during Covid, Spain bent a semi-formal EU agreement about vaccine requirements to breaking point so as not to lose too many UK visitors. They greatly pissed off Greece and Portugal in the process, as wall as Brussels. The same government is not about to start deporting bona fide holidaymakers with voucher for all-inclusive stays at 4* hotels because they don't have £6,000 in spending money on them.

Sadly the extremely (and I mean, homeopathically) theoretical possibility of such checks (based on the most literal reading possible of Regulation (EU) 2016/399, aka the Schengen Borders Code) enables the clickbait media to wheel out this scare story year after year. And because going to another country is a stressful prospect for many people, some get anxious about this, and waste time and energy on what is, again, total and utter scaremongering bollocks.

(*) Guess what? The UK clickbait media regularly wheels out scare stories about this too, suggesting that Brits need a letter of invitation for a long weekend visit to their uncle who retired to Malaga.

Couldnt you just log into your online banking and show that

No, because in the Daily Mail, that well known expert in the workings of the Spanish equivalent of Border Force, it says you can't do that.

I fly in and out of Spain pretty regularly and have never had to physically prove anything. Prior to the E-Gate for passport control, at Murcia they now have an initial computer system - it asks you your travel dates, where you are staying and whether you have sufficient funds (it generates an amount based on your length of stay), it also finger prints you and scans your passport. It is a simple yes or no answer on screen, I just say yes to everything it wants a 'yes' answer to, and go on my way. Never been asked for proof of anything.