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The process of moving to Spain

Kevlar21

Hi all, we are seriously considering making the move to Spain, can anyone tell us what process we have to take in order to be able to live in Spain. Also we found a house in a place called Sax not to far from Alicante, can anyone tell me what the area is like?

Thanks in advance, Kev.

See also

Living in Spain: the expat guideWhere should I live in Spain?Most common scams in SpainDual USA/ Ireland citizens Needing Health Insurance in SpainShort Term Student Visa
RibeiraSacra

is none of the information here any of use?
/en/guide/europe/spain/

claxnes

Sax is a nice town. My son has a number of friends there. I do not think there are a lot of expats living there, although one of my son's friends from Sax was from the UK.

RibeiraSacra

mistake

fbrunelleschi

I moved here coming from UK, back in 2010. I do remember that the process to get the NIE (Expats National Identity Number) and for the "empadornamiento" were painfully complex and long.
Passed that pain point, it won't be difficult to adapt.
Customer service in general is very bad comparing to UK, however the quality of the food is slightly better.

Bee Eater

Hi everyone. My partner and I moved to Spain just over two years ago.

Perhaps we were lucky, but we found getting our NIE´s was quite straightforward. We went to the Police Station in Malaga where we filled out a form; took it to a local bank for payment; returned them to the police station and three days later picked up our NIE´s.

When getting our residency cards, we did engage the services of a Gestor, but this was completed within about a week. Similarly, we got our Spanish Driving Licences and health cards with the help of the Gestor. The cost of the Gestor was in the region of 200€ for us both.

Sorry, but we are not familiar with the Sax area as we live on the Costa Tropical.

Johncar

‘Residencia’ or ‘NIE’  can be misleading.   
People who do not intend moving to Spain but want to buy  a property, a car, open a bank account etc need a Foreigners tax number. That is a numero identidad  de extranjero an NIE.   

Those who want to live in Spain

EU Citizens are required to apply for EU Citizen Registration. They get a certificate, a piece of green paper, which is not an ID document and which must not be plasticised.  The first certificate has a validity for years and if renewed after that time is permanent

Non EU Citizens are required to apply for permission to reside (Permiso de Residencia)   The plasticised card, usually referred to a Residencia,  bears an impression of just one of their index fingers and a photograph.  That card is legal ID thought the EU.   The card is valid for 5 years, when renewed it is valid for 10 years and must be renewed every 10 years.

The application requirements for the Residencia card or the green paper certificate are very different and initially are made at different offices.

Doepoe

We are in process now of moving from the states to malaga. The visa process can be daunting but doable. My tip is start early, three months out as a lot of your documents (marriage certificate, birth certificates , health insurance, etc) can only be out three months from visa meeting.
Of course this all pertains if you are getting a long term visa. Good luck!

ReggieZ

which consulate office did you go to? what type of visa did you apply for? we are applying for a retirement visa through the chicago consulate office. we have had one appointment there - just to ask questions - and they seem very helpful.

Doepoe

We are in Portland so San Fran is he less. We have an appointment next month.

This is a great website I’m using to help.
billdietrich.me/MovingToSpain.html

Doepoe

And we are going for the non lucrative visa as well. Equivelant for retired. Husband works out of country so neither of us will be working or earning income from Spain.