On arrival in Spain it is next to impossible to rent a house, buy a car, open a bank account etc without a NIE (Numero de Identificacion de Extranjero) number - equivalent to a national insurance number in the UK. A NIE number is also essential in order to work in Spain and to receive free health care, pensions contributions, sickness benefit or unemployment benefit. Red Tape can obtain your NIE number for you via the Policia Local or attend with you to translate.
A Residence Permit (Autorizacion de Residencia), known colloquially as 'residencia', has many advantages and few disadvantages. If you are living in Spain permanently it is necessary to become an official resident. If you are working here and paying taxes you are regarded as a 'fiscal resident' but you do not have residencia until you have applied for it and been accepted. Once a resident all the laws of Spain will apply to you instead of British law. This will affect inheritance (see Inheritance page). Theoretically you should apply for residencia once you have been living in Spain for more than six months assuming that your main residence is here as opposed to just a holiday home.
Advantages of residencia:
- You avoid fines for staying in the country for longer than 6 months at a time
- If you are over 65 you may be exempt from capital gains tax
- Capital gains tax is collected one year after the sale of any property as opposed to having 3% withheld at the time
- You may be able to avoid Spanish Inheritance tax for your spouse or children
- You will have a much reduced liability, or no liability, for wealth tax
- You can transfer a UK pension to Spain and you are entitled to a Spanish pension if you have paid contributions
- The Certificate of Registration no longer requires renewal so once it's done it is permanent
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Contact: Jose Ensenat on 661 341 568 or at jose@redtape.es