>"They were indeed allowed to keep residency rights, but they had to register for them"
Some of them said that they did apply for that residency but were denied. Wonder why?
Some of them said that they did apply for that residency but were denied. Wonder why?
The group of people in the article either: have chosen not to apply for residency in Spain (noting that the technical deadline to apply is not until July 2021); were not resident in Spain before February 2020; and/or were not meeting EU rules for residency in Spain anyway.
Edit: I went reading. If you didn't get a padron (local residency certificate for your municipality) and hadn't formalised your status before brexit, (which, if you were working cash in hand is very likely), you would be behind a wall of prove-it processes which are based in paperwork, in Spanish. Where's your spanish drivers licence. Where's your tax file number. Where's your pre brexit registration. Prove you've been here.
Various expat assistance agencies have spent months offering people $ services to help them get through, including handy advice like be polite and dress smart and don't shout at the officials..
The overwhelming majority of longterm residents will have gone through the steps. The newspaper story is about the people who were never going to get over the line I suspect.
My language test theory has little to do with it.
Worth noting that local registration (padrón) is a requirement in Spain for all residents, including EU resident citizens, and also that there was 11+ months notice before this agreement came into force (if you don't want to count the 4.5 years notice since the referendum).
Meaning, people who were present in Spain but not legally resident could have chosen to "move" from the UK to Spain at any point until Dec 31, 2020, just by registering at the town hall like they were supposed to all along.
Your description of heavy paperwork seems to be a highly exceptional case which allows people who didn't register (but can prove they were resident) to now appeal.