Customs problems ? - Page 2

Thanks for some constructive advice. - Roland is a pedant !  I will look on the Gov. website for her as she does't have access herself.

I am trying to persuade her to change her Gestoria now. She has been waiting for more than 9 months for something,/  anything to move.

She already has her residencia, and made the decision to stay here specifically in the EU some time ago. She was held up in UK for months last  year due to a visit she made just before covid restrictions; and qualified to keep her English GP then. She is in a difficult position with no one to look out for her. -  I'm doing my best to help.

Nine months is very long time. I did see a while ago a report that it is possible to register with a local doctor, and from then obtain prescriptions, once you have acknowledgement that your S1 has been registered with INSS, and while awaiting delivery of the health card. I have no reference for this, it is just one of those pieces of information that are stored in that useless archive of knowledge, otherwise known as my brain.  The other thing you may like to do is speak to someone like Debbie Shaw, who is used to dealing with this type of issue and looked after the process for our S1 registration an health card acquisition, in a very short timescale a couple of years ago.

Good luck

'All you old men' is insulting, sexist & ageist. How would you like it if a poster dismissed comments made by 'a bunch of old women'?

Just because you don't like the advice & comments that your post has prompted, doesn't mean that they are incorrect or intended to be offensive.

Myself and several other posters (who collectively have received 000's of helpful votes for helping others on this forum) have taken the time to advise / warn your friend that she may be committing two separate criminal offences. If this is, as you state, 'obvious', then that is even more concerning as it would imply that she is knowingly committing fraud, etc. This also appears to be a fact that you simply don't agree with.

Your friend may well be 'asking for what she is entitled to' in Spain, but that is not a good reason to take unlawful actions in other countries!

If the lady is a resident, then she should have contracted private health care when she made her application, if she didn't qualify to benefit from the Spanish health-care system. The Spanish system is available to everyone who pays or has paid, into the system and those who have a reciprocal health agreement via the country of origin. Since Brexit has removed many of these previously agreed reciprocal agreements, this is the reason that applicants for residency must now show that they have their own healthcare contracted privately. The lady in question has not been forced to do anything illegal. With private health insurance, she would have arranged to have a Spanish doctor prescribe her the medication and then she would have had to pay for it, if she does not yet qualify for free or reduced prescriptions. It's not up to the Spanish government or taxpayer to be "compassionate" for someone who could easily have just done things properly had she followed the rules.

This is true. I have been buying good quality vitamins and supplements from the UK for the past 30 or so years and now even they, cannot now be sent to Spain!

To get residencia/TIE your friend must have had to produce evidence of health provision, either private insurance or S1. It doesn’t take long to get onto the health system, my daughter applied February/March time and she was on the system by May with temporary card. As far as I know it is illegal to send certain drugs/medication through the post, this packet could have been checked and the contents destroyed. Why doesn’t your friend take her UK prescription to Either a private doctor or a health centre and get the medication in Spain? Until officially in the system she will have to pay but  most medication is cheaper here than in the U.K. regarding driving licence it took my daughter 3 months from start to finish. I would seriously ask the gestor’s what they are doing an, if necessary, move to another company.

The point is Mags - she qualifies on all grounds, yet due to system delays here she is receiving nothing she's entitled to.

She is" in application" for it all, but how long will it take ? The frustration of no information being given, and no interim permission being granted makes  it unacceptably stressful.

By the by, since when is it insulting etc. etc. to call old people "old" . I'm not dismissive of any old people - I'm one  myself ! -  I think I've struck a nerve there eh ?  Being pedantic and judgemental does seem to come naturally to some old men thogh.. l.o.l.

ANY drugs coming into Spain from the UK are subject to import & Correos restrictions.

https://aplicaciones.correos.es/ss/Satellite/site/informacion_cliente-1363189238637-1363200403116/includeTemplate=COR_DetalleGuiasAyuda-sidioma=en_GB

Extract: 

List of prohibited objects:

1. Products subject to reservation and with no special authorisation to circulate in the postal network.
2. Opium and its derivatives, cocaine, and other illegal drugs, unless sent for medical purposes and accompanied by official authorisation.
3. Items whose packaging or cover contains text or illustrations that violate fundamental human rights.
4. Weapons, as established in Royal Decree 137/1993, of 29 January, approving the Weapons Regulations.
5. Explosives, inflammables, and other hazardous materials, except for perishable biological materials sent between officially recognised laboratories, and radioactive materials sent by duly authorised issuers.
6. Live animals without special authorisation or sent between officially recognised institutions.
7. Objects whose traffic is an offence.
8. Those determined by international agreements to which Spain is a signatory.

Hmmm..?

OK. Doing it right definitely has advantages.

We came to Spain 3 yrs ago with the intention of staying. We left the UK with 3 months supply of prescribed medications, having explained to our GP what we we going to do.

Within 3 months of our arrival, we had sold our UK registered car (it went back to the UK), bought two Spanish  registered cars, acquired Spanish Residensia and were registered in the Spanish Health system.
Shortly after we became Spanish Fiscal Residents (pay tax in Spain) and had swapped our UK driving licences for Spanish ones.

All of the above were in line with what our reading and legal advice had been. It wasn't difficult.

I have little sympathy for those who ignored what was happening because of Brexit and / or their desire to be 'under the radar', and only started corrective action at the last minute.
I strongly suspect that the Spanish authorities feel the same way.

It was not rocket science folks. It was just necessary admin to comply wil local law..

I understand your frustration in this matter but the point remains that people should have a current private health insurance policy until such a time that they are offered reciprocal healthcare in Spain. Your friend isn't entitled to anything until her paperwork has been processed and approved by the Spanish government. Things take time and people need to accept that they have chosen to relocate to another country and must accept the rules that that country stipulates - especially if they have existing medical conditions!

Your friend and those supplying/posting her prescriptions should be arrested. I think your friend is a disgrace. I can't even post my grandchildren a chocolate bar with their birthday cards now.