Malaga is second province in Spain with the most British residents who have taken out post-Brexit TIE cards

Nearly 40,000 British residents in Malaga province (39,462, to be precise) have applied for the TIE foreigners ID card that recognises their pre-Brexit residency rights. This figure makes Malaga the province with the second largest number of Britons who have exchanged their green EU certificate for a TIE card since January 2020, when the UK left the European Union.

According to the statistics prepared by the Spanish ministry of inclusion, social security and migration, Malaga is only surpassed by Alicante province, where there are 56,196 British residents with a TIE under the new bilateral relations between London and the EU.

Between July 2020 (when the cards were first issued to UK residents) and December 2024 (for when latest data is available), some 222,061 UK nationals who were resident in Spain before Brexit have obtained their Tarjeta de Identidad Extranjera (TIE).

This procedure is not compulsory but is heavily recommended by the authorities. In the case of these British residents in Spain before Brexit, the card specifies that their status includes the rights agreed in the Withdrawal Agreement signed between Brussels and the British government following the referendum to leave the EU held in June 2016.

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From all these numbers it can be deduced that of all British residents in Spain who have obtained their TIE after Brexit, just over 25% live in Alicante and about 18% in Malaga province. In third place, but a long way behind are the Balearic Islands, followed by Barcelona. In Andalucía, the second province after Malaga in which most British residents have applied for TIE cards is Almeria (just over 11,800 or 5.3%).

These figures do not include the people who have come from the UK to live in Spain after Brexit on resident visas and who are automatically required to have a general (non-Brexit) TIE as part of Spain's immigration law.

It is worth looking more closely at how this bureaucratic step works for Britons in Spain before Brexit, what the deadlines are, whether it is mandatory or not and what the implications are.

On 31 January 2020, the UK left the EU. The terms of the break-up were set out in the Withdrawal Agreement signed by both London and Brussels. By virtue of the agreement, all persons with British nationality and their families who had resided in Spain before the end of the transitional period ending on 31 December 2020 would maintain their rights deriving from European Union law (with the exception of the right to vote and stand for election to the European Parliament).

People from the UK who before 31 December 2020 were already listed in Spain's central register of foreigners and already had their green-coloured certificate of registration as a person with free movement within the EU, or a family member card of a national of the EU or Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland - could automatically be recognised as beneficiaries of the Withdrawal Agreement, and, if they so wished, could apply at a valid National Police station for a foreigner identity card, or TIE, instead that explicitly states this.

Although obtaining this document or swapping from the old EU green card is not mandatory, the authorities strongly advise it, because the document explicitly states that the person is a beneficiary of the Withdrawal Agreement and contains their biometric data. Moreover, it will be a particularly important document when the EU entry and exit system (EES) comes into force at airports and ports: the TIE exempts residents from the need to register for this system. The TIE can be requested at any time, although the British Embassy is urging UK residents who do not have it to do so as soon as possible.

It is also possible that some pre-Brexit British residents in Spain were not registered in the central register of EU foreigners and therefore could not show they were automatic beneficiaries of the agreement after Brexit. In such a case, the Spanish regulations give them the possibility to apply for the special TIE by presenting documentary evidence that they were resident in Spain before 31 December, 2020.

On a national level, of the 222,061 Britons who have obtained their TIE according to the exit agreement between the EU and the UK, the majority, 171,229, already had their residence authorisation to exchange for the card; the remaining 50,832 did not have a previous registration certificate but have proved that they were residing in Spain before the required date.

As applying for a TIE for pre-Brexit Britons is not compulsory, the number of British residents in Spain is likely to be higher. Other figures corroborate this. According to Spain's continuous population survey, as of 1 January, 2024 (the most recent data available), 285,093 people born in the United Kingdom were residing in Spain, a figure very similar to that prior to Brexit (in January 2016 there were 288,166) and prior to their effective exit from the EU (there were 280,477 in January 2020). But the number according to INE statistics is higher than that of those who have applied for a TIE to prove their residence in Spain (222,061).

What is happening in Malaga province? The data is not so recent. The latest foreign population data separated by nationality refers to 2022. Then, British nationals resident in this province were just over 56,000 and their number had indeed grown since the year of Brexit (when there were about 51,000). After 2016, the number dropped to 46,563 in 2018, and from there, it grew again. But, there is a gap between the 56,019 residents and the 39,462 who have obtained their new documentation that better proves their right to reside in Malaga as if they were still EU citizens.

From the data published by the ministry, it is also clear that the socio-demographic profile of British nationals with the TIE document is quite aged: the largest age group is made up of people aged 65 and over, who represent 35% of the total.