The are quite a few steps and costs involved to import and register and car from a non-EU country in Spain.

First and foremost EU conformity, import and registration costs must be taken into account as these can make the import and registration in Spain impossible or too expensive to be worth while.

This said, under EU rules if you are moving from a non-EU country to live in an EU country, such as Spain, you can bring your possessions including cars, and avoid paying the costly duties and taxes and having to pay for expensive EU conformity certification.

These transfer of residence rules give you up to12 months form the date you get your residency to import your car and avoid paying customs and VAT.  However you only have 60 days from the date you take up residency, to register your car and avoid registration tax (if it applies).  

Importing a high value car from the UK in Spain post Brexit, now comes with added costs.  As the UK is no longer in the EU and the standard process to import and register a UK car in Spain now involves customs.

This means on top of the registration tax which in most cases will be 17% of the vehicle value, 10% customs duty and 21% VAT will apply, unless you can find away around it.

Paying nearly £50k to register a £100k motor is simply not a consideration.  There are however various ways these huge costs can be avoided, bringing the cost of importing and registering high value cars in Spain down to a few thousand Euros, rather than tens of thousands.

Spain’s Golden Visa offers residency to individuals who make a real estate investment in Spain of €500,000 or more.  The Golden Visa scheme has been in existence since September 2013 when legislation for the ‘residency by investment scheme’ was passed.  The aim being to attract foreign investors at a time when the economy of Spain was not in a very good place.  Since it’s inception, over 25,000 foreign investors have benefited from the scheme.

The scheme is open to nationals from non-EU or third countries, and has so far been most popular with investors from China, Russia and the USA.

What does Spain’s Golden Visa Offer Property Investors?

The TIE, Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero, or foreigners ID card, is the Spanish identification card foreign nationals from third countries (non-EU) who reside in Spain.

Once you have arrived in Spain with the relevant residency visa or otherwise meeting the eligibility for a residency permit that is applied for in Spain, you can begin the process to get your foreigners ID card – TIE ,’tarjeta de identidad de extranjero‘.

Applying for the TIE ‘Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero’ Foreigners ID Card

Before you can get your TIE you must have a valid residency visa or residency permission.  Residency visas are applied for and issued through the Spanish Consulate in your home country, and residency permits are handled by the immigration office in the province where you live in Spain.  How and where you apply depends on you situation and the type of residency you qualify for and are applying for.

Once your have your visa or residency permission granted by immigration, you apply for your TIE a National Police Station within the province where you live.  The card takes a few weeks to arrive and is collected from the police station when ready.

You can apply in person or appoint a representative or give someone Power of Attorney to apply for a residency permit on your behalf, however with the exception of the ‘Golden Visa’, residency visas have to be applied for in person.  The application for the TIE itself, also has to be made in person.  You provide your fingerprints and a photograph for your biometric ID card.  The whole process can take anything from 3 to 9 months depending on what type of residency you have applied for.

TIE – Spanish Visa & Residency Application Requirements General Info

Visa applications are applied for in person through the Spanish consulate.  Applications for residency permission can be done in person or can be submitted online.

The online submission system is works well, and the Spain’s immigration office encourages the use of this system.  To submit your application you need to have a digital certificate in place.  The digital certificate is and online ID and signature. If you don’t have one, you can authorise someone else or a company to complete the online submission on your behalf.

Official translations of documents that are not in Spanish must be provided.

Additional documents to support your application

The the consulate and immigration when reviewing applications apart from checking qualification and eligibility, may also request further information validating your arrival and situation in Spain.

When your application is received, a receipt will be issued confirming that it has been presented.  It will then be reviewed accordingly at the provincial foreigners office.  If for any reason your application is not immediately accepted and further information is requested, you have 10 working days to supply the additional information that has been asked for.  Applications are archived or rejected if additional information requested is not supplied in within the given time.

Notification of the approval of your application will usually be sent within 3 months, and you have one month to make an appointment and complete the your TIE application at the National Police Station.

You can read more about the different types of Spanish visas and residency here.

TIE Tarjeta de Indentidad de Extranjero Application – Getting Your Card

The second stage of the TIE application process is relatively straight forward, and appointments are readily available in most areas at the Foreigners Offices and National Police Stations.

For your second stage application you need to have a pre-booked appointment.

You can make an appointment through the following link:

https://sede.administracionespublicas.gob.es/pagina/index/directorio/icpplus

For your appointment you will need:

*EX application form (as with the first stage the form number varies depending on type of visa or residency you have)
*Your visa or residency permit approval notice
*Passport and a copy ( a copy of your passport and the application is acceptable if you are in the process of renewing it)
*Small (carnet size) passport  photo 32mmx28mm
*Proof of your Spanish address (padron)
*Modelo 790 form with €12 tax paid and stamped by the bank, or with payment receipt attached

When you present your application at the Police station your fingerprints will be taken electronically and if everything else is in order, you will be given confirmation of your processed application and told to make an appointment to come back and collect your card in 5 to 6 weeks.  Some Police stations operate collection without appointment, and just have allocated days or times for collection of TIE cards.

Link to all EX residency / TIE application forms: https://extranjeros.inclusion.gob.es/es/modelossolicitudes/mod_solicitudes2/

Nationals of non-EU countries require a visa to enter Spain, if the stay is intended to be more than 90 days.  The Schengen visa in most cases cannot be used to apply for residency in Spain.

There is an exception when an immediate family member is joining a family member who already lives in Spain and holds Spanish residency.   In all other circumstances a citizen of a non-EU country must apply for, and obtain a long stay visa through the Spanish Embassy in their home country.

Since UK has now left the EU, UK citizens / British nationals also have to apply for a visa if they want to live or work in Spain.

Once the visa has been issued, the applicant can travel to Spain and apply for residency and get their TIE, ‘tarjeta de identidad de extranjero‘.

The following is a summary of the main types of long stay visas that citizens of non-EU countries can apply for.

We wrote an article recently detailing that many British nationals living in Spain and other EU countries, have received letters from their UK banks telling them that their accounts will be closed at the end of 2020.  This due to no Brexit trade deal having been agreed.  

That article explained the impact of no Brexit trade deal on financial services providers in the UK.  After 31st December 2020, these service providers will not legally be able to carry on providing services to their expat clients who reside in Spain or other EU countries.

The Brexit transition period ends at the end of the year, and with it the financial services licence EU ‘passporting’ rights which allow UK firms to provide financial services in EU countries. 

As a result many providers, including Financial Advisers, are withdrawing their services as advisers where their client is a UK national living in the EU.  It is only a small minority of financial service providers that have taken the necessary steps to establish themselves in the EU so they can continue providing their services. 

It is therefore quite likely that from 2021, most expats living in Spain or other EU countries will not be able to receive advice or services from their UK Financial Adviser.  Clients and advisers alike who are affected by this, should be acting now to make alternative financial arrangements. 

ISA’s are very tax efficient ways to save or invest, as you pay no tax on savings interest, (not that you get any these days), and virtually no tax on investment returns. They are therefore usually the first type of saving or investment account that people will have.  For this reason, and the fact that there is a generous annual allowance to save into them, you like many other may have built up sizeable amounts in ISA’s.

You may also have reached, or be approaching retirement, and relying on this tax efficient ISA nest egg, to provide extra income to supplement your pension.  For some, an ISA may even be their ‘pension’.

ISA’s and moving to Spain

So if you’re moving, or have moved to Spain, can you keep your ISA?  The short answer is yes.  According to gov.uk:

If you open an Individual Savings Account (ISA) in the UK and then move abroad, you can’t put money into it after the tax year that you move (unless you’re a Crown employee working overseas or their spouse or civil partner).

You must tell your ISA provider as soon as you stop being a UK resident.

However, you can keep your ISA open and you’ll still get UK tax relief on money and investments held in it.

You can pay into your ISA again if you return and become a UK resident 

Great – you can keep your ISA, and continue to benefit from it’s tax efficiency!  Well not exactly.  When you move from the UK to Spain, you also move from the UK tax system to Spain’s tax system.  So you will continue to get UK tax relief, however your ISA will (or should), get Spanish tax treatment.

In Spain, the periodic road worthiness inspection, is the ITV. (Inspeccion Tecnica de Vehiculos – Vehicle Technical Inspection).  Like the UK MoT test, it’s mandatory for all road going vehicles, and driving without a valid ITV can result in fines.

When Does The ITV have to be done?

The frequency of the ITV test depends on the age and type of vehicle.  New cars are first tested after 4 years and must be inspected every 2 years thereafter, until they reach 10 years of age. Any car over 10 years of age has to be tested annually.

Motorcycles, mopeds and quad bikes are first tested after 5 years, after which the test is due every 2 years. Caravans are first tested at 6 years, after which the test is due every 2 years.

If a vehicle has been involved in a serious accident, it also has to undergo an ITV assessment after being repaired, to confirm its road worthiness.

Registering Classic Cars in Spain

The process of assigning a registration number to a Classic Car in Spain is more or less the same as that for a normal car.  However the car will have to go through more vigorous checks before it can be passed.  There is no differentiation in regard to age of vehicle and the registration number issued.  So a 50 year old classic Ferrari brought to Spain from another country, and a brand new Nissan Micra, could end up with consecutively numbered plates.

This is quite different to the UK for example, where vehicle registration numbers have a year marker, so you can know the cars are from the number plate.  Spanish vehicle registration numbers have no age identifier.

From a Classic Car perspective, this means that, if you’re bringing your pride and joy 1964 Mercedes SL to Spain, when you register it, you will end up with a registration number that doesn’t fit with the age of the car.  The registration will be just like any other regular new cars registered at the same time. Not great for prestige.