EU residency in Spain

01EU residency rights in Spain §

As a citizen of an EU or EEA country or Switzerland you may enter Spain and stay for up to three months with nothing more than a valid passport or national ID card.

Beyond three months, the right continues but it becomes conditional. Broadly, you need to be in one of these situations: working (employed or self-employed), studying with cover and means, or economically self-sufficient with healthcare cover. Family members can derive their right from yours, including in some cases family members who are not themselves EU citizens.

The certificate is not what gives you the right. It records it. But without the certificate you cannot practically do very much — and after three months, registering is not optional.

02Proof required for EU residency in Spain §

The document list is short. Satisfying the office that you meet the conditions is the real work, and what counts as enough varies by situation and, in practice, by province.

• Working for a Spanish employer — usually a contract or a certificate of employment, plus your social security registration.
• Self-employed — registration as autónomo with the tax office and social security.
• Not working — evidence of sufficient means for yourself and any dependants, plus healthcare cover that is valid in Spain. Public cover via an S1 form, or a full private policy.
• Studying — enrolment, healthcare cover and a declaration of sufficient means.

There is no single published figure for “sufficient means”, and offices apply it with some discretion. This is a good reason to arrive with more evidence than you think you need rather than less.

03How to register for EU residency in Spain §

1. Get an appointment. In busy provinces this is the longest part of the whole process.
2. Prepare the EX-18 and pay the 790/012 fee at a bank, keeping the stamped receipt.
3. Assemble your proof — employment, means, or study — plus healthcare cover if you are not working.
4. Attend, submit, and in most cases walk out the same day with the certificate.
5. Register on the padrón at your town hall, which needs your address.
6. Then healthcare, bank, schools — all of which want the padrón.

The dependency worth noticing: the padrón needs an address, and healthcare and school places need the padrón. If you have children starting school, work backwards from the enrolment deadline, not forwards from your arrival date.

04Permanent EU residency in Spain after five years §

Legal residence in Spain for a continuous period of five years generally leads to permanent residence, recorded on a certificate of its own, with fewer conditions attached.

That is also the point where many people start thinking about citizenship, which is a different process with its own residence requirements — considerably shorter for nationals of some Latin American countries, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea, Portugal and Andorra, and for people of Sephardic origin.