Residency in Spain for EU Citizens

If you are an EU or EFTA citizen, you don’t need a visa to visit Spain, and you don’t need a visa to become resident in Spain. However, for stays of longer than 90 days, you need to formalise your residency in Spain by carrying out some official processes. This page explains what you have to do. If you are not an EU or EFTA citizen, read about the process for you by clicking this link

Residency in Spain: EU and EFTA Citizens

To get residency in Spain, the same rules apply to citizens of EU countries and to citizens of the European Free Trade Agreement countries (EFTA). The EFTA countries, which are not in the EU but enjoy the same benefits when it comes to residence in Spain, are Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland

Formalising your residency in Spain

In order to remain in Spain for more than 90 consecutive days as an EU or EFTA citizen, you are required to obtain the following:

Certificado de empadronamiento – this is a document issued by your local town hall which shows where you live. You will need to rent or buy a place to live before you can get this

Certificado de registro (‘Green NIE’) – this is a document issued by the police which shows you have registered to live in the country and displays your NIE number. After you have had this for 5 years, you become a permanent resident.

Note that Spain reserves the right to ask for proof that you have a job or enough funds to support yourself, or (if you don’t have a job and social security number) that you have health insurance or the right to claim from another EU country’s national health system. However, these are not uniformly asked for across the country.