This month’s article is dedicated to two important issues:
Carta de Invitación
A subject causing consternation for British passport holders which has surfaced as Brexit changes take hold, is the Carta de Invitación for British expats and holiday home-owners who wish to host family or friends from the UK in their Spanish homes, as opposed to UK holidaymakers staying in paid-for accommodation (hotel, rented villa etc).
Since the UK officially left the EU, UK passport holders have lost the rights they previously had to cross EU borders as EU citizens and are now subject to ‘Third Country’ regulations which differ in each EU member state. For instance, in France a similar document to the Spanish Carta de Invitación is called an ‘attestation d’accueil’ which may be required for visiting UK friends and family entering France.
The Carta de Invitación has to be obtained from the Police (see link below) and involves providing the required information and documentation, anecdotal reports from other ‘Third Countries’ (USA, Australia etc) suggests this document is rarely requested, but Spanish Border officials do have the authority to refuse admission without it.
The Official UK Government website has included the following information:
“The Spanish Government has clarified that the Carta de Invitation is one of the options available to prove that you have accommodation if staying with friends or family. More information is available from the Spanish Ministry of Interior”.
Local Council Helpline LINEA VERDE
Mazarrón Council has an online facility for reporting a wide variety of problems that would usually involve filling in forms and delivering them physically to the Town Hall for registration. Problems can be reported on the following subjects, ONLY if they take place in PUBLIC AREAS/STREETS:
- Pavements and roads (aceras y calzadas)
- Street lighting (alumbrado)
- Refuse (basura)
- Street cleaning (limpieza varia)
- Urban furniture, such as the stone benches etc (mobiliario urbano)
- Parks and gardens (parques y jardines)
- Water points (puntos de agua)
- Signs and traffic lights (señales y semáforos)
- Vandalism (vandalismo)
- Sewerage (alcantarillado)
- Seagull/pigeon control (control de gaviotas/palomas)
- Insect and rodent pests (plagas de insectos y roedores)
- Water supply-drinking water (abastecimiento-agua potable)
- Abandoned animals (animales abandonados)
- Beaches (playas)
- Collection furniture and furnishing (recogida de muebles y enseres)
- Removal of abandoned vehicles (retirada de vehiculos)
- Noise (ruidos)
- Traffic and mobility (tráfico y movilidad)
To report a problem you need to register on: http://www.lineaverdemazarron.com/lv/incidencias_online.asp then click on the subject you want to report.
On the next page, click: ‘Regístrese’.
On the next page enter a user name (usuario) – no spaces, a Password (8-12 characters with at least one upper case letter, one lower case letter and one number).
Repeat the Password (repetir clave) and enter your email address.
Click to accept the privacy policy (acepto la política de privacidad).
If required in Spanish, click on ‘Política de Privacidad’.
Click to confirm you are not a robot, then click on ‘Registrar’.
You will receive an email at the address you provided, confirming your user name and password. You can then report problems online in Spanish or English.
You can contact your Councillor on silvanaeb@mazarron.es