GREEN CARD MADNESS

By Jason Moore I am afraid to say that I might have some bad news regarding our infamous “green certificate” the useless piece of paper which has replaced our residence permit. I was told that a high ranking official in Madrid has complained to the Spanish government about the problem but the government said that they would not be changing the system anytime soon. This is obviously a major blow because the person who made the complaint is of senior level and therefore would have access to senior ministers. So it looks as if we are going to have to live with the certificate for some time yet. Local politicians here have promised to take the issue both to Brussels and Madrid. There is no easy way around this problem. Perhaps as I short-term fix the authorities could include a photograph on the green document so at least it would serve as some form of identification. So it means that we are going to have to carry our passport at all times. This stupid state of affairs is going to cause all sorts of problems. Unfortunately it was a group of non-Spanish Europeans who wanted to change the system in the first place. So perhaps we should blame them. Let us hope that the government sees sense and reverses their decision and brings back our old residence cards with a photo.