THE thing which struck me when we interviewed the Central Government Delegate, Aina Calvo, was her attitude and politeness. The first thing she said was “sorry for the delays at the Foreigner’s Department in Palma, the staff there are overworked and the system could work better.”
I was amazed, because I have heard that the system works very well and there are few delays especially when it comes to Britons and their paperwork ahead of the Brexit deadline. Regarding British residents she said that she wanted to make the whole paperwork process as easy as possible. More staff have been recruited at the Foreigner’s Office. Of the 24 members of staff dealing with paperwork from citizens from across the world, at least three are solely involved in helping Britons get their situation in order.
The Spanish government have spent a sizeable sum of money on recruiting more staff and up-grading offices so that they can cater for the thousands of Britons who are getting new residence cards. In Mallorca alone, 3,000 of the new TIE cards have already been issued with a further 2,000 being processed. Calvo also pointed out that the green certificate residence permits will still be valid despite the introduction of the new cards. The Government Delegate said that her door was always open to help British citizens who were having trouble with their paperwork. You can read in the full interview in Sunday’s newspaper.