{"id":105482,"date":"2026-07-08T08:00:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T06:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fotocasa.es\/fotocasa-life\/?p=105482"},"modified":"2026-07-08T08:00:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T06:00:10","slug":"moving-to-spain-mandatory-procedures-requirements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fotocasa.es\/fotocasa-life\/hogar\/moving-to-spain-mandatory-procedures-requirements\/?lang=en","title":{"rendered":"Moving to Spain? The 7 mandatory procedures you must complete to live in Spain in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<table class=\"table table-striped table-color-200\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<ul>\n<li>The <strong>residency permit, NIE, and TIE<\/strong> are the mandatory procedures for stays exceeding 90 days.<\/li>\n<li>Registering for <strong>Social Security and registering with the town hall (empadronamiento)<\/strong> are essential steps if you want to access the social protection system, obtain free public healthcare, and register your address.<\/li>\n<li>Opening a <b>bank account<\/b> is essential for setting up direct debits for bills, paying your taxes, or formalizing a property contract.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>Spain is one of the most popular destinations in the world to move to. However, settling in the country legally requires planning and fulfilling a series of mandatory legal requirements.<\/p>\n<p>At Fotocasa, we have analyzed all the necessary procedures to move to Spain, whether you are a European Union citizen or coming from outside the EU, and <strong>we explain them in this guide to make it very easy for you.<\/strong> In addition, we detail what documentation you will be asked for if you are thinking of renting an apartment or buying a house in Spanish territory.<\/p>\n<p>What is the first mandatory legal step you must resolve before crossing the border and staying in the country for more than 90 days?<\/p>\n<h2>1. How do you process a residency permit in Spain?<\/h2>\n<p>Having a residency permit is essential to move to Spain. The procedure for obtaining a residency permit in Spain varies completely depending on whether you are a European Union citizen (EU) or if you come from a country outside the EU (non-EU). If your plan is to <strong>stay in Spanish territory for more than 90 days<\/strong>, the law will require a completely different administrative procedure and requirements depending on your nationality of origin.<\/p>\n<section class=\"mini-posts\"><div class=\"row align-items-center\"><div class=\"col-4 col-md-3 pt-2 pb-2\"><div class=\"mini-posts__image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fotocasa.es\/fotocasa-life\/buyers\/how-long-can-i-stay-in-spain\/?lang=en\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.fotocasa.es\/fotocasa-life\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Gemini_Generated_Image_l7k54fl7k54fl7k5-1-355x230.png\" alt=\"What is the maximum amount of time I can stay in Spain in 2026?\" title=\"-\"><\/a><\/div><\/div><div class=\"col-8 col-md-9 pt-2 pb-2\"><h3 class=\"mini-posts__title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fotocasa.es\/fotocasa-life\/buyers\/how-long-can-i-stay-in-spain\/?lang=en\">What is the maximum amount of time I can stay in Spain in 2026?<\/a><\/h3><\/div><\/div><\/section>\n<h3>Visas for non-EU citizens (Outside the EU)<\/h3>\n<p>If you come from a country outside the European Union, you must <strong>apply for your corresponding visa at the Spanish consulate in your home country, or from within Spain in specific cases such as remote work.<\/strong> The most common options in 2026 include student stays, employment or self-employment visas, non-lucrative residency, and the digital nomad visa.<\/p>\n<p>For the latter, the law requires proving that you work remotely for foreign companies and having a minimum income of \u20ac2,765 per month. In all cases, a <strong>copy of your passport, a clean criminal record certificate, and health insurance<\/strong> will generally be required.<\/p>\n<h3>Registration certificate for European Union citizens<\/h3>\n<p>Citizens of an EU member state, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, or Switzerland <b>do not need a visa or a temporary residency authorization to settle in Spain<\/b>. They have the right to circulate, work, and live freely in the country, and are only exempt from paperwork if their stay is less than three months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fotocasa is the expert real estate portal if you are looking for your home in Spain and want to resolve your doubts about housing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":282,"featured_media":105494,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"yes","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4285,2285],"tags":[13692,13548,14821,13552,13551,13549,13550,15054,15836,15833,15835,13547,15834,15628],"class_list":["post-105482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-consultorio","category-hogar","tag-buy","tag-buy-in-spain","tag-foreign","tag-housing-doubts","tag-housing-experts-in-spain","tag-housing-purchase-market-spain","tag-live-in-spain","tag-moving-to-spain","tag-moving-to-spain-2026","tag-moving-to-spain-checklist","tag-nie-spain","tag-real-estate-market","tag-spain-paperwork","tag-tramites-para-vivir-en-espana"],"modified_by":"Patricia Andr\u00e9s","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fotocasa.es\/fotocasa-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fotocasa.es\/fotocasa-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fotocasa.es\/fotocasa-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fotocasa.es\/fotocasa-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/282"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fotocasa.es\/fotocasa-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fotocasa.es\/fotocasa-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fotocasa.es\/fotocasa-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fotocasa.es\/fotocasa-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fotocasa.es\/fotocasa-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fotocasa.es\/fotocasa-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}