The Spanish Non-Lucrative Visa offers residency to British nationals who have the financial means to support themselves without working. The Spanish Non-Lucrative Visa scheme is therefore ideal if you are retired, or have passive income, for example income from rental properties or other investments. The Spanish Non-Lucrative Visa is intended for full-time residency in Spain, i.e. 6 months or more per year.
The UK is no longer in the EU and the process and costs to register a UK car in Spain are a lot more than they were before Brexit.
This is because UK cars now are now treated as vehicles from third countries and must clear customs, have import duty and VAT paid, or get a waiver if your car qualifies for customs exemption.
The process you follow will depend on your situation, as will the cost. You’ll need to budget for costs of around €1,500 with taxes as applicable on top.
Now that BLS International have taken over processing of Non Lucrative Visa Applications, it is no longer possible to track your application through the Spanish Consulate portal. BLS have their own tracking system, however at the moment its being worked on so is not available at the moment. We’ll update this page when it comes back online.
You can however still check the progress of your residency application on the Spanish immigration website.
All EU and EEA (European Economic Area) citizens and their family members have the right to visit, live or work in Spain. A Spanish residency certificate confirms your status as a resident in Spain. For stays of up to 3 months there is no need to register or obtain any Spanish documentation unless you are going to be working, or for example buying a property, in which case you’ll need an NIE. After that period, or if you intend to stay more than 3 months, you are expected to register as a resident.
You are given a residency certificate, or ‘certificado de residencia‘, when you successfully register. The issue of certificates is controlled by the National Police, (Cuerpo Nacional de Policia).
There are a few steps involved in the process to register a car from an EU country in Spain. Fortunately because of European standardisation, or homologation as it’s known, in most cases, provided you know the steps, it’s relatively straight forward.
The following is a basic run through of the steps and process.
When buying holiday money or sending money abroad, many banks and brokers include hidden fees and or a mark-up in the exchange rate. Not surprising, a recent study into international money transfers and payments found that 75% of consumers do not know about, or do not understand currency exchange rate mark-ups.
In recent years specialised currency exchange companies have broken the monopoly on the supply of currency exchange services. Banks and high street exchanges are no longer the go to choice for changing currency.
These currency exchange companies deliver much more competitive exchange rates to consumers, more personalised service, and faster transfer times than banks offer. It’s no surprise than savvy overseas property buyers and expats choose these companies to get a better deal.
A high street bank may seem like the easy or convenient option, and may be your choice through habit, however using a specialist foreign currency exchange provider is just as easy and more importantly works out much cheaper!
If you’re not a Spanish citizen and want to live in Spain, you have to obtain Spanish residency. The process that you have to follow to get Spanish residency depends on your nationality, whether you are from an EU country, and if not, what you plan to do whilst you are a Spanish resident.
Nationals of member states of the European Union and Switzerland, as well as other countries party to the agreement on the European Economic Area, have an unconditional right to reside in Spain. Nationals of countries aside from these, are able to gain residency based on achieving other qualifying conditions and in most cases need to obtain a visa.
For someone planning to live long term in Spain, temporary Spanish residency is the first step towards getting permanent resident status, which can be applied for after 5 years. Thereafter if someone so wishes, they can apply for Spanish citizenship after completing 10 years of permanent residency in Spain.
Spain’s Digital Nomad Visa is now available following the passing of the new Startups Law, ‘Ley de Startups‘. This visa which allows the holder to live in Spain and work remotely or online, can be applied directly in Spain, or via the Spanish Consulate in the country in which you currently reside.
To get Spain’s Digital Nomad Visa, applicants must have sufficient funds to support themselves, proof they can work remotely from Spain, and must already have been working in their current ‘remote worker’ employment or self-employment prior to applying.
Holders of the Digital Nomad Visa are eligible for a special income tax rate fixed at 24% for the first 5 years, offering higher earners reduced income tax compared to normal residents.
A Private Medical insurance policy for Spanish visas and residency has to provide a level of healthcare cover equivalent to that provided by the state healthcare system. For a lot of private medical insurance providers this will mean taking out their top level fully comprehensive policy. Co-payments policies that have much lower monthly or annual premiums and you pay a small fee when you need treatment or to see a doctor, are not acceptable.
The general requirements for Private Medical Insurance for Spanish visas and residency are much the same across all the different types of residency, however that are some differences between what’s needed for some.
A Private Medical Insurance for a Spanish Non-Lucrative Visa, has to pass the equivalent to state healthcare test. The policy has to be annual most Spanish Consulates expect the policy to be paid in full up front. Some even insist on there being a full year paid up front from the date you expect to enter Spain with your visa. When you don’t know exactly how long your Non-Lucrative Visa will take to process, getting the Private Medical Insurance policy start date right can be tricky, and sometimes if there are delays, extra months of insurance have to be paid for added to the end of the policy to make up a full 12 months of cover.
For a Spanish Non-Lucrative Visa application, it is best to take Private Medical Insurance with a Spanish provider. Policies from other countries may provide an acceptable level of cover, but if the policy documents are not in Spanish, it can end up quite costly getting the policy documents translated into Spanish to prove this.
Get a quote for Private Medical Insurance for the Spanish Non-Lucrative Visa
Along with the general requirements of Private Medical insurance for Spanish visas and residency, a Private Medical insurance for the Spanish Golden Visa and investor residency, has to be from either a Spanish insurance provider or an insurance provider that is authorised to operate in Spain. So, international or global healthcare policies which may even have superior cover to a Spanish policy, will not be accepted, unless the provider is registered with Spain’s insurance regulator the DGSFP. (Dirección General de Seguros y Fondos de Pensiones). Foreign insurance companies registered in Spain can be searched on their website: http://www.dgsfp.mineco.es/en/Entidades/Paginas/rrpp.aspx
Get a quote for Private Medical Insurance for the Spanish Golden Visa or Investor Residency
The requirements of a Private Medical Insurance Citizens of EU countries applying for their Spanish Residency Certificate, are much the same as for the Non-Lucrative visa, i.e. the policy just needs to meet the general criteria. Because the EU citizen Residency Certificate application is handled on a municipal level at the National Police station, there are variances from place to place as to what may be accepted, and the proof of insurance documents that will be required.
In most places a certificate of cover for a residency application from the provider along with proof of payment of the policy is sufficient. In some places however, they insist on a copy of all the policy documents including the lengthy terms and conditions!
Taking out the wrong Private Medical Insurance policy for your Spanish visa or residency application, can end up in a lot of wasted time and money. We recommend that you use an insurance broker that has lots of experience arranging Private Medical Insurance for Spanish Visas and Residency, as well as knowing which policies are suitable, they will most likely also know a fair bit about the variances in requirements for the different type of visa and residency, the differences from one Spanish consulate to the next, and from place to place.
We handle all the above types of Spanish Visa and Residency applications, and work with a specialist insurance broker to arrange suitable Private Medical Insurance for our clients. If you need to take out Private Medical Insurance for your Spanish Visa or Residency application, we can help you.
Click the link below and fill in the short enquiry form.
The TIE, Tarjeta de Indentidad de Extranjero, is the Spanish identification card for citizens from third countries (non-EU) who reside in Spain. The Withdrawal Agreement TIE is a special version of this card, issued to British UK nationals who have retained EU rights under the terms of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement.
The qualifying requirements for applicants e.g. for proof of means remain the same as they were when the UK was in the EU. British UK nationals living in Spain who had not obtained a residency certificate, had until the 31st December 2020 to apply for the the Withdrawal Agreement TIE.
You can now apply for the Withdrawal Agreement TIE in these circumstances: