Visa Issues in Schengen Countries

[barnakiel]

BTW Beware of Spain, contrary to what has been said above.

barnie
Canary Islands, Spain ...

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

BTW Beware of Spain, contrary to what has been said above.

barnie
Canary Islands, Spain ...

I would agree with that in the current climate...
revenue of any sort is being scavanged together at the moment..
peoples wages cut by 10%... at a minimum wage of 500euro/mth thats a slice that could hurt many/pensions same/schools subsidies revoked/services are being cut so hefty fines for 'luxury lifedtyle' transgressors is attractive.. also locals are gonna be a bit less sympathetic than in the past...

[goboatingnow]

I did make the comment that the recession is changing things, just back from spain, things are very tight there now, all sorts of tax proposals and a talking point is to collect property taxes from all the non-residents ( who are actually residents but under the radar).

Dave

[goboatingnow]

well as an aussie myself who has lived in london for past 17 yrs and sail the med from march to october every yr i have had no probs in greece italy fance and spain in obtaining a visa extension and my yacht has been based on the Island of Naxos greece

what visa extension would a person living in the EU for 17 years need, given that Aussies dont need tourist visas. Explain, cause Im bewildered.

Dave

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Spain

(...)

hefty fines for 'luxury lifestyle' transgressors is attractive

(...)

also locals are gonna be a bit less sympathetic than in the past...

Yes. Spain is in trouble. Huge portion of people work in jobs paid by the govt. Huge numbers are unemployed, studying, on grants, etc.. So with economy down the way for the govt is to tax or to cut. Now taxing people paid by the govt (from taxes) is, well ... not efficient. So there are the cuts or new taxes that would tax the non-govt paid people and visitors. But Spanish govt cannot REPEAT cannot tax the visitors too harshly because huge areas of Spain are all about tourism and residents. Frighten the residents / tourists and in effect your govt income drops ...

No. Locals will NOT be any less sympathetic - because Spanish people are nice and easygoing at heart - they are nice no matter what and I am yet to meet a Spanish who would tell me anything rude because of my being a foreigner.

Even in my beloved Sweden I have been verbally abused by a drunk once. I liked that too, as knowing that I am a foreigner the drunk was swearing at me ... in English. How courteous!

Spanish people will remain the way they are - positive, smiling and super nice, even if things are not as easy now as they used to be last 20 years or so.

b.

[goboatingnow]

No. Locals will NOT be any less sympathetic - because Spanish people are nice and easygoing at heart - they are nice no matter what and I am yet to meet a Spanish who would tell me anything rude because of my being a foreigner.

The locals are the same as ever. But the regional governments are cracking down hard. Reason is that they received a lot of taxes from building . Now that's stopped and they are looking at their tax base and potential revenue streams. This is especially true on the Costas like Valencia, Andalusia, Murcia etc

Dave

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

Yes. Spain is in trouble. Huge portion of people work in jobs paid by the govt. Huge numbers are unemployed, studying, on grants, etc.. So with economy down the way for the govt is to tax or to cut. Now taxing people paid by the govt (from taxes) is, well ... not efficient. So there are the cuts or new taxes that would tax the non-govt paid people and visitors. But Spanish govt cannot REPEAT cannot tax the visitors too harshly because huge areas of Spain are all about tourism and residents. Frighten the residents / tourists and in effect your govt income drops ...

No. Locals will NOT be any less sympathetic - because Spanish people are nice and easygoing at heart - they are nice no matter what and I am yet to meet a Spanish who would tell me anything rude because of my being a foreigner.

Even in my beloved Sweden I have been verbally abused by a drunk once. I liked that too, as knowing that I am a foreigner the drunk was swearing at me ... in English. How courteous!

Spanish people will remain the way they are - positive, smiling and super nice, even if things are not as easy now as they used to be last 20 years or so.

b.

Barnie... man I'm so sorry... I've been wondering for years about the poor buga I threatened to batter for saying excuse me ... may I get to the bar...
But come on.. you should know by now us 'Brits' are territorial.....

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by boatman61

But come on.. you should know by now us 'Brits' are territorial.....

Yeah, I still remember all the 'keep offs' on your lawns. ;-)))

Territorial or not, good people too. I have sailed Scotland and Ireland and everywhere there we were treated very well.

b.