Well I think any UK resident who has a property in Spain and wants to stay there ought to seriously consider whether it is a- must have. After all if we have a vote in the UK that results in us leaving the EU the option will no longer exist ! I don’t think it confers quite as much security as obtaining Nationality but with a command of the language suggest you would probably get easy acceptance. Obviously if you are an ‘illegal’ and have paid no Spanish taxes and have no intention of paying them -its not for you ! I am dubious about being able to get this if you are currently No Residente .If you were to change status from that to Resident I am not sure they might allow the No Residente time to qualify -if you have paid the tax – I think not. So if we did leave the EU in less than 5 years it is difficult to benefit from this if you are not currently openly resident. The question that finally arises -if we left the EU could existing residents who acquired the status by virtue of our existing EU membership be deprived of it -either as a matter of pure ‘nationalism’ or because of other reasons of behaviour or failure to pay taxes. So the acquisition of permanent residence would provide more protection and most probably a right to Spanish Social Security if elderly and you fall on hard times due to say future rampant inflation. Finally once you have the certificate I suggest you ARE an EU citizen whatever happens in UK.
