A year or so ago, yes Brits were leaving Spain in large numbers.
But a lot of them had been living under the radar for many years. Avoiding paying tax in any country, driving around in U.K. registered cars that had no insurance or test certificate. Having to get health care back in to U.K. as they didn’t want to be in the Spanish system. Working for black. Generally sticking two fingers to society.
The same thing often happened in France to a lesser degree.
I’m happy they’ve gone back to the U.K.
Most Brits in Spain now are genuine folk who have integrated well. |
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"A year or so ago, yes Brits were leaving Spain in large numbers.
But a lot of them had been living under the radar for many years. Avoiding paying tax in any country, driving around in U.K. registered cars that had no insurance or test certificate. Having to get health care back in to U.K. as they didn’t want to be in the Spanish system. Working for black. Generally sticking two fingers to society.
The same thing often happened in France to a lesser degree.
I’m happy they’ve gone back to the U.K.
Most Brits in Spain now are genuine folk who have integrated well. "
Yes I would agree with that.
When I came out here in 2004 the expat community was a bit like the wild west.
There were lots of dodgy characters who came out here thinking that the streets were paved with gold and telling tall stories about who and what they were.
I started to think that the SAS was bigger than the US and Russian military combined and the Kray's must have had more drivers than London transport. 
Even the burglary epidemic then, which was often (wrongly) blamed on Moroccans, was fuelled by a few families from hell who came out here.
The roads were teeming with old UK plated cars that I wouldn't have driven to the top of the street, let alone down to Spain.
Thankfully a few crackdowns on the cars and some of the worst offenders followed by the financial crisis and property collapse of 2008 onwards did out a good number of them but a few did stick around.
Brexit seems to have finished the job. There are still many UK expats here but the ones we know have been here for years and the vast majority (if not all) are fully legal.
Some will drift back to the UK for various reasons, missing the grandkids seems to be the most common, but the majority will stick around. As has happened for years.
I think the Brexit effect will be felt more by the people who have yet to come. For them it will be much more difficult. |
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By *drianukMan
over a year ago
Spain, Lancs |
What happened was that Britain and the EU agreed to protect the existing rights of citizens in each country.
This meant registering Spanish people living in the UK and also UK people living in Spain.
It had the effect of flushing out those who had been living as tax dodgers in Spain...those who spent more days per year in Spain had to register in Spain and be liable for Spanish taxes. And vice versa.
This had always been a legal requirement but Brexit made the issue more visible and people had to make a choice where they paid their taxes... for many people taxes are lower in the UK |
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By *andb69Couple
over a year ago
leeds |
Perhaps off topic but always wondered why foreigners in Britain are immigrants, but the British abroad are 'expats'. Even met British 'expats' in Spain who came to Spain to get away from the 'immigrants' in the UK! |
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By *drianukMan
over a year ago
Spain, Lancs |
"Perhaps off topic but always wondered why foreigners in Britain are immigrants, but the British abroad are 'expats'. Even met British 'expats' in Spain who came to Spain to get away from the 'immigrants' in the UK!"
Not so. They bear the same status, regardless of how keen you clearly are to insinuate 'racism' where none exists |
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By *andb69Couple
over a year ago
leeds |
"Perhaps off topic but always wondered why foreigners in Britain are immigrants, but the British abroad are 'expats'. Even met British 'expats' in Spain who came to Spain to get away from the 'immigrants' in the UK!
Not so. They bear the same status, regardless of how keen you clearly are to insinuate 'racism' where none exists"
Oh my! The insinuations are entirely yours. |
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By *drianukMan
over a year ago
Spain, Lancs |
"Perhaps off topic but always wondered why foreigners in Britain are immigrants, but the British abroad are 'expats'. Even met British 'expats' in Spain who came to Spain to get away from the 'immigrants' in the UK!
Not so. They bear the same status, regardless of how keen you clearly are to insinuate 'racism' where none exists
Oh my! The insinuations are entirely yours."
Not at all...the opposite in fact |
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"Perhaps off topic but always wondered why foreigners in Britain are immigrants, but the British abroad are 'expats'. Even met British 'expats' in Spain who came to Spain to get away from the 'immigrants' in the UK!
Not so. They bear the same status, regardless of how keen you clearly are to insinuate 'racism' where none exists
Oh my! The insinuations are entirely yours.
Not at all...the opposite in fact"
Yes  |
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"Perhaps off topic but always wondered why foreigners in Britain are immigrants, but the British abroad are 'expats'. Even met British 'expats' in Spain who came to Spain to get away from the 'immigrants' in the UK!
Not so. They bear the same status, regardless of how keen you clearly are to insinuate 'racism' where none exists"
I wouldn’t say it’s racism, but indeed an interesting question and probably one worthy of a thread in itself to debate.
Like a lot of words and questions, they can be loaded for people to interpret or misinterpret, if you like. And sometimes words get, rightly or wrongly, branded as meaning the same, used interchangeably, or people use in a different way to perhaps how a dictionary defines. And that could be in a number of ways. Be it culture driven, defined by slang, racist or xenophobic (another two words that often are interchanged) as some examples.
A quick example would be footballer’s partners being referred to as a WAG. This was simply an acronym for wives and girlfriends that fast became a derogatory term (if I recall correctly a successful partner of a footballer in their own right did not like being categorised as a WAG as they believe it lost their identity and they were seen as someone to leech on to their success and riches. As such, the narrative then switched the simple acronym to a negative adjective/noun).
Immigrants versus refugees versus asylum seekers. There are distinct differences but again, these get used interchangeably.
I understand an immigrant to be someone who comes to live in a foreign country. An expat (expatriate) is someone who lives outside their native country (again native could open up a can of worms, but let’s use native as someone who is someone who has resided in a country from birth for this post).
So both describe someone who lives outside their native country or someone who goes to live in a foreign country.
They mean something different but arrive at the same result, so yes I agree that they do bear the same status, and perhaps how they are (or should be) used depends on the person discussing the subject.
By that I mean that I see a native talking about another native may define someone as an expat. Whereas discussing someone who isn’t native as an immigrant.
But I also see how the words could be taken out of the defined context and meaning from a dictionary and then used in a way that is deemed positive, negative, hip, cool, trendy, racist or otherwise. |
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By *ralpleaseMan
over a year ago
El Campello, Alicante |
"A year or so ago, yes Brits were leaving Spain in large numbers.
But a lot of them had been living under the radar for many years. Avoiding paying tax in any country, driving around in U.K. registered cars that had no insurance or test certificate. Having to get health care back in to U.K. as they didn’t want to be in the Spanish system. Working for black. Generally sticking two fingers to society.
The same thing often happened in France to a lesser degree.
I’m happy they’ve gone back to the U.K.
Most Brits in Spain now are genuine folk who have integrated well. "
Well said. Plus the fact that non residents have less flexibility of their time spent here. |
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By *batMan
over a year ago
Alicante, Spain. (Sometimes in Wales) |
I’ve lived here for about 14 months. A Brit couple have just left the village I’m in, so by that maths in a very localised sample, the leaving rate is twice that of arrival!!!
The most surprising thing for me is how little Spanish language some of the longer term immigrants have.
Gbat |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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immigrants/migrants are people who come to your country, expats are people from your country who live in another country.
As far as the Spanish are concerned the Brits we call expats are immigrants or migrants.
Neither term is racist except to snowflakes |
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