So, you’ve moved to Spain
A more-or-less complete guide for recipients of the non-lucrative visa on how to begin your new life in Spain.
Bienvenido a España!
We got our non-lucrative visa and landed in Spain in February 2023, and then the real work began. As we’d found during the application process, there was little advice to be found on setting up your new life in Spain, particularly for those of us who couldn’t yet speak Spanish. Facebook groups can be okay, but so many of the answers to questions posed by the innocently curious tend to be a) ambiguous or unclear, b) conflicting, c) rude, or d) just plain wrong.
This is a follow-up to my original guide for Australians on how to apply for the non-lucrative visa.
So, as we navigated the post-arrival process ourselves, I once again began documenting the various processes, covering topics from how to get the internet connected to getting your TIE resident’s card, and renewing your residency at the end of the first year.
There are gaps because some of the duties were handled for us by our real estate agent and all-round good guy Guillermo. But I’ve at least explained what needed to be done along with any insights I could muster.
If while reading this guide you see something wrong or have a suggestion for an addition, I’d be delighted to hear from you. This is a work in progress and it will need constant updating.
Disclaimer. I am not an immigration expert. This guide is merely a retrospective set of instructions based on our experience. If your situation is different from ours, you might find gaps or inconsistencies. Some might disagree with me or say that there are other ways to get the job done, and they might be right. All I can tell you is that these steps worked for us for the part of Spain we moved to (initially Guipuzcoa), so obviously I can’t accept any responsibility should you run into problems because of the suggestions in this guide. Contents
Get a Spanish phone number and inform your banks
Change your app store location
Update your health insurance payments
Get your padron and transfer utilities to your name
Arrange home contents insurance
Get a home internet connection
Apply for your year 2–3 residency (online method)
General bits and pieces
First, buy a printer. Seriously.
In my first guide, one of the first pieces of advice was to buy a home printer, if you didn’t already have one. The NLV demanded a whole bunch of documents be scanned, copied and printed. It’s not nearly so busy on the printing front once that’s done and dusted, but when it’s time to tackle the next steps in your visa adventure you’ll once again be thankful you have one. I got a crappy inkjet printer with a flatbed scanner from Amazon for €65 and it’s fine.
Memorise your NIE
You quickly realise how important your NIE number is. Around here they need it for everything administrative, and also for collecting and receiving deliveries. If you can enunciate Spanish letters and numbers, great, otherwise write your NIE on a post-it note and keep it by the door for showing to whoever asks. Remember to cross your 7s in the European fashion lest they be mistaken for 1s. The NIE number will appear on your TIE card, but you won’t have that for the first weeks or months after you arrive.
Get a Spanish phone number
If I were already established here, I would bundle mobile with internet as I would in Australia, but on day one such thoughts are way in the future. I headed straight to a Vodafone store but Orange or any other local provider will do just fine. Make sure you bring your passport.
The Vodafone store had their plans printed on a card that I could point to. I chose a plan that offered 100 Mb per 28 days for €15. I figured that 100 Mb is probably way overkill but since I didn’t yet have home wifi I thought it better to be safe than sorry. Everyone here uses WhatsApp, so I’ve barely needed text or phone calls, though delivery drivers will often call you to see if you’re home.
With Vodafone, you need to visit their website (a text message with a link will appear as soon as you insert your new SIM) and top-up with another €5 or €10, otherwise your text messaging will not work. I wish I had known that before I spent a day trying to troubleshoot why I couldn’t send messages. Hopefully that’s changed now.
Update your phone number with your previous country’s banks and services
I did everything I could to remove the need for an Australian phone number before we left Australia, including installing authenticator apps for those banks and services that would allow it for two-factor authentication. But there were a few who couldn’t handle that kind of request, nor would they enable me to change my phone number without calling them. It wasn’t until about a year after we’d arrived that I felt happy switching off our Aussie SIM for good.
Change your app store location
This is perhaps a job for later but you’ll need to do it eventually if you want to use Spanish apps on your phone, including government services, rideshare/taxi apps and so on. The downside is that you can lose some data and apps from your previous country – but in our case it was worth it to be able to access Spanish services and local travel apps.
If you have an iPhone the process is quite easy. Search online ‘how to change your Apple ID country’.
If you use Android t’s not so easy.
The first thing to know is that with Android you can only change your home country once every 12 months – so make sure it’s the right decision for you. You must change your payment method to a Spanish one. Finally, if you’re part of a family plan you probably won’t be able to change the country at all!
The process itself confused the hell out of me. I simply couldn’t get it to work until one day something just clicked and everything was fine. I think it has something to do with how you’re holding your mouth when you try.
Jump online and search ‘how to change your Google Play country’. Good luck.
Open a local bank account
In my first guide I explained the value of a Wise account (or something like it) to transfer money for costs incurred to Spanish businesses before arriving in the country – health insurance, rental deposit etc. I’ll assume you already have that. But Wise doesn’t really cut it when you plan to live here for a while. Wise gives you an international bank account number (IBAN) with the Belgian prefix BExx, not the Spanish ESxx, and there are instances where you’re not able to use it, e.g. for utilities bills.
Okay, are you sitting comfortably? This bit gets a little rocky.
Opening an account was a real headache for us because in many banks you need your physical foreigner identity card (not just your NIE number), and of course that’s weeks or months away. After a whole lot of searching, I found a cheap and cheerful bank called N26 who needed only my NIE number – and you can open an account entirely online.
By the way, despite what you might read on online forums, you can’t open an N26 account from outside of Spain because they can tell from your IP address that you’re not here. Yes, you could probably use a VPN and get away with it, but the last thing we wanted to do was commit bank fraud before we even arrived. Update: An Aussie guy told me that he’d managed to do just that – open an N26 account from Aus using a VPN. Brave.
N26 will give you an IBAN that begins with ES. Hooray.
Install the N26 app on your phone. It’s quite good, plus you actually need it as a two-factor authenticator whenever you log in on a computer.
One thing you might find weird at first is that N26 seems to limit your top-ups to €450 per month. We thought this completely ridiculous and I still don’t know the reason. But if you dig a little you can change things to be able to deposit more than that. Here’s how I did it.
In the N26 app, from the home screen, select Add money.
Select Bank transfer, then copy your IBAN.
Open your Wise app, and transfer as much as you need from your home country’s bank to your N26 account. Although it says the transfer will happen in 2–3 business days, with us it took 8 seconds.
You now have the sought-after Spanish bank account complete with a Spanish IBAN and some money in it.
Open a ‘real’ bank account
N26 worked fine for us for more than two years, but when we bought a house we figured it was time for a grownup’s account. Where we live now (2025), in Jerez, on our second attempt at walking into a branch we found an English-speaking receptionist who made us an appointment with an English-speaking banker the next day. All we needed was our TIE cards. We’re more comfortable with our new CaixaBank account because we have access to real people in a bricks-and-mortar branch.
Update your private health insurance payments
If, like us, your insurer demanded a year’s payment up front, you’ll be glad to know that it’s simple to switch to monthly payments once you have a Spanish bank account. You can also ask them to send you a physical card to keep in your wallet (ours, Sanitas, offers a digital card along with an app for searching for medical providers near you). Our broker managed this for us.
For the next bits we needed help because we couldn’t speak Spanish. In Guipuzcoa there’s not much English spoken, particularly in government offices. Looking back I think we could have handled itself – but I hadn’t written this guide yet so there was nothing to show me how. If that makes sense.
The guy who found our apartment for us, Guillermo, offered to help with the next two crucial jobs: getting our padrons, and the police interview (in that order). Both require an appointment that you can make online.
Get your padron and transfer utilities into your name
The padron certificate is simply proof that you have a formal address in Spain. You’ll need it for getting the TIE card.
By now and with no help from me you’ll have secured a long-term rental contract for a house or apartment. You’ll need the hard-copy signed original contract at the padron appointment.
Some people seem to manage to get their padron while staying in an Airbnb. I believe that these folk have negotiated with the owner to obtain a lease akin to a standard rental contract for the duration of their stay.
I believe that in most regions you can make an appointment at a local council office online (in our region it’s called Udalinfo).
Guillermo came with us to the meeting. During the appointment he also managed to switch our apartment’s gas, electricity and water/waste over to our name, later contacting each provider on our behalf with our bank details to set up direct debits. It was a big help. Having since moved house I now know that these steps are quite straightforward and achievable online, but again, when you’re new here it’s nice to have a bit of local knowledge to take the stress away.
Arrange home contents insurance
It’s a requirement that you have home contents insurance within 30 days of signing the contract on your rental home. Guillermo took a copy of our padron and arranged it for us – about €140 a year. Looking back it wouldn’t be hard to do it yourself, online. When we finally opened our CaixaBank (grownup) account, and bought a house, we took out home and contents insurance with the bank, online through the bank’s app.
Apply for your foreigner ID card (TIE)
Through social media groups I’ve watched people from different regions complain that it’s nearly impossible to get a TIE appointment. I can’t comment on that because in the north of the country where we were it was easy. Remember, you don’t need to have had your appointment within 30 days of arrival, you just need to have made the appointment for some time in the future within the 30 days (it’s not your fault if they’re booked up for months). If you have trouble, find your local expat Facebook group and ask for advice.
Book an appointment with the police station in your area who handles TIEs. If you use a VPN, turn it off. Likewise, I understand that the link won’t work from outside of Spain unless you activate your VPN and set it to a Spanish region.
Use this link:
https://icp.administracionelectronica.gob.es/icpplus/index.html
If that doesn’t work, try this one:
https://sede.administracionespublicas.gob.es/pagina/index/directorio/icpplus
The site is in Spanish, but most browsers offer an automatic translation feature – usually just a button somewhere near the address bar.
Select your province, then from the pulldowns the office nearest you and the option for having your fingerprints taken (Toma de huella).
You’ll need an appointment for each of you. We found it simple to get two appointments at the same time just a few weeks out (or at least consecutively – they’ll process the both of you together anyway). You’ll receive a confirmation email. Print it out using your nifty new printer.
Here’s a list of the paperwork you’ll need to bring to your appointment.
The confirmation email you got when you booked
Form 790-012. Now that you have your NIE and an address you can fill it out online.
https://sede.policia.gob.es/Tasa790_012/ImpresoRellenar
I don’t know if this is really necessary, but at this point turn off your autotranslate feature. We don’t want the completed form being printed in English!
Tick the box that says:
TIE que documenta la primera concesión de la autorización de residencia temporal, de estancia o para trabajadores transfronterizos.
At the end of the form select the cash/efectivo box. The other choice might look like it’s enabling you to pay online but that’s not the case. Hit the download button then print it out.
A bank receipt for paying the 790-012 fee. Before the meeting, take your completed form 790-012 to a bank (not all banks offer this service – you might have to try a few different ones). Pay the €16 or whatever it is IN CORRECT CHANGE and get a receipt. If there are two of you, take two lots of the single amount as the cashier processes each order separately. I’m told that you can pay the 790-012 fee at some ATMs – I’ll look forward to trying that at my next renewal.
Form EX-17 – easy to find online
Passport, plus copies of your data page and visa page
Passport photo (preferably 32 mm x 26 mm, though I heard that they can digitally resize photos of other sizes on the spot)
Rental contract
Your padron
At your meeting the nice police officer will scrutinise your documents, scan your passport photo (you get it back afterwards) and scan your fingerprints. Soon after you’ll walk out with a one-page interim TIE. Protect this document with your life.
You can pick up your physical TIE card from the same station after 45 days has elapsed. Make another appointment with the police station on the same website and look for the option to pick up your TIE:
Recogida de tarjeta de identidad de extranjero (TIE)
Get a home internet connection
Hopefully it will be different where you are, but at the time of writing it wasn’t technically possible to get broadband (here called fibra) without a physical TIE card, which is a long time away. Not even the temporary certificate you get at your police appointment will do the job; the staff at Movistar, Orange and Vodafone just turned us away.
But some brokers/resellers seem happy to arrange installation without the physical card. The company we used is called Gastecom, but they operate exclusively in Basque Country – but now you know that it’s possible to get internet without your physical TIE card then you can do some searching for yourself. Try asking on your local Facebook group.
We had an internet connection less than a week after we signed their contract; a guy had to visit to twiddle some wires and install the router. It was probably not the best deal going around but we were grateful nonetheless.
Get your digital certificate
Only bother with a digital certificate if you’re reasonably competent with computers. Depending on what kind of device you have and what browser you use there are lots of potential pitfalls that will flummox you. I had a Dickens of a time getting mine to work properly, while Jess’s seemed easier to set up; we have Mac laptops and it’s apparent that Spain doesn’t like Macs very much.
If you like to do stuff online then a digital certificate is gold. It’s even possible to renew your year 2–3 residency entirely online if you have a digital certificate. Once obtained, your certificado electrónico is installed on your computer OR phone as a ‘browser certificate’. It’s simply a way for government websites to identify you (or at least, your computer) when you’re using their online services.
Wait till you have your physical TIE card (not just the interim certificate). Begin the process by downloading some software to your preferred device as follows. You can install the certificate on only one device. We chose to use our laptops. I’m not sure about the pros and cons of using a phone instead. The process has changed since we did it so what follows could be a tad rubbery. To begin with, I became hopeful that you could do the whole thing remotely using the video ID option (uploading photos of your TIE and making a short video of your face) but now I believe that that method is possible only for Spanish citizens. For us mugs there’s an in-person appointment needed to confirm your ID.
Click the tile that reads Obtenga/reneuve su certificado ciudadano (ciudadano means citizen).
The window that pops up now (different to the one I saw when I did it) looks like this (note that this appears in English thanks to the automatic translator in my browser):
The second option is the one for you. I’ll remind you that if your Spanish is no good to set your browser to translate to English.
Assuming you plan to install the certificate on a computer, the steps in general are:
Download and install the software (Mac or PC) (configuracion previa)
Make a request for a certificate (solicitar certificado)
Prove your identity (in person) (acreditar identidad)
Download the certificate itself (descargar certificado)
I won’t get too detailed because of the aforementioned changes since I did it, but a run-through just now seems like the instructions on the site are pretty clear.
Make an appointment at your nearest authorised office
During step 3 (prove identity/acreditar identidad) scroll to find Office locator / Localizador de oficinas.
In the window that pops up, select Person physical / Persona fisica, then start typing your address in the smart field below. When you’ve found it, a map of office locations will appear. Click on one near you to find the address.
This is where it got a little tricky for me. All I had now was an address of a nearby office. I couldn’t work out whether I needed to make an appointment or just drop in, so I used Google Maps to locate the building, then its website (I’m sure there’s an easier way), where I found some small print that said I needed to make an appointment to confirm my ID. There was a phone number, which isn’t a lot of help for us because we couldn’t speak Spanish yet, but then I found the Agencia Tributaria website – the tax agency.
https://sede.agenciatributaria.gob.es/
There’s also an app.
From the home menu, select the tile that says Assistance and appointment / Asistencia y cita.
Select Assistance and appointment for individuals / Asistencia y cita para particulares.
Follow the prompts to enter your NIE and name.
Select the appointment type: FNMT certificate for natural persons / Certificado electrónico FNMT para personas fisicas.
You’ll be presented with a meeting time. When you’re finished, you’ll receive an email with confirmation of your appointment. Print it out.
On appointment day, this is how it went.
Our office had a security station. We had to place our phones, keys and bag in a tray while also showing our printouts to the guard. He then pointed us to a window, where a guy took our printouts, passport and TIE card.
(What happened next is only my inference about what was going on, but I’m pretty sure I’m correct.)
He entered some stuff into his computer, then asked us to confirm our address, phone number and email address, then printed out a one-page form with all that stuff for a final check.
He even asked me if my phone could receive emails to that address, and I showed him that I indeed had received an email highlighting the next step, which was to click a link in it. He stressed if we had nominated that the digital certificate was to reside on my computer (computer = ordinador) that I wasn’t to click the link from my phone but wait until I could do it on my computer, as the certificate is device specific.
Back home on my ordinador, the link sent me to a form where I could enter:
Nº DEL DOCUMENTO DE IDENTIFICACIÓN (my NIE number)
PRIMER APPELIDO (my surname)
CÓDIGO DE SOLICITUD (the code in my email I’d just received)
Click the box to say you accept the términos y condiciones de uso del certificado (you must click the link to demonstrate you’ve read them – hah!) then hit Descargar certificado. Follow the prompts.
If all goes well your digital certificate will be activated. You can confirm this in your browser’s settings (look for ‘certificates’ and you’ll find one called FNMT).
Check your certificate’s validity online.
Go to http://www.cert.fnmt.es/ If you’re using a Mac, Safari is your best bet.
Click on Verifique el estado de su certificado digital.
Click SOLICITAR VERIFICACIÓN (request verification) and you should get a return of all your certificate data.
Bonus advice: back up your digital certificate. It will depend on your system and browser, but the certificate file does in fact live somewhere in the bowels of your device. You can copy it to a backup device just as you would any other file. It means that if your computer dies you’ll be able to reinstall the certificate on a new device.
Register as a tax resident
Before the tax year is up you need to book an appointment at your local taxation office. The form you need is the Modelo 030.
At our local office there was one of those machines that prints you a ticket for your place in the queue. It prompted us for our NIE, which turned out impossible to enter because there are no letters on the keypad. After being rescued by a receptionist, I learned that you need to enter a zero in place of the first letter, then the numbers, and NOT the final letter. Obvious, huh?
We went to the service window together and after the usual language difficulties we each left with a form declaring us valid for tax purposes.
If you’re married, bring your marriage certificate to the appointment. We didn’t know that but luckily I was able to dig up a digital version on my phone and email it to the operator on the spot. I believe that they need that because here it’s possible to file a tax return as a married couple (I think).
Apply for your year 2–3 residency (online method)
Doesn’t time fly? Here’s how we renewed our residency.
Your TIE expires on the anniversary of the day you entered Spain. This date determines the time window during which you can apply for years two and three of your residency. You can begin the application process 60 days before the expiry date and up to 90 days after. We applied electronically as soon as we were entitled to, to give us the greatest chance of pulling it off.
I can’t give you any advice on doing a face-to-face renewal application.
Assumption: You already have a digital certificate installed on the machine you plan to use for the renewal process.
Tip: Turn off automatic translation in your browser. It seems to interfere with some of the online forms plus you don’t want the submission docs generated during the process to appear in English. If you’re using a Mac, Safari is your best bet.
Get your documents ready
This time around it’s much simpler. You simply need PDFs or JPGs of the various documents. You’ll need separate PDFs of:
Bank statement(s); I’ll leave it to you to research current requirements like IPREM and whether your bank’s outputs are acceptable.
A scan of every page of your passport (not just the photo page), I believe so they can check where you’ve been over the past year
Proof of your current health insurance
Tasa 790-052 form plus a receipt for its payment
HOLD IT! THE 790-052 FORM IS CAUSING PROBLEMS ALL OVER. SINCE AN UPDATE TO FEES ON 20 MAY 2025 SOME CONSULATES ARE REFUSING TO PROCESS THE CURRENT FORM. STAND BY FOR AN UPDATE SOON (HOPEFULLY).
You don’t need form EX-01 again as this is generated for you during the online process.
I had read that they also need to see a current padron certificate but it’s unclear. Just for good measure we included that too. The padron you got when you arrived is valid for two years, but usually for admin purposes you must present one that’s less than three months old. We managed to easily apply for a new padron online; the process is presumably different for each region of Spain so you’ll need to search online in your region.
Updating your padron is not so clear cut in Cadíz province, our new home. The Jerez government offers dozens of different ‘procedures’ regarding residency and at the time of writing I’m not sure which one to choose! I’ll work it out and update you.
Pay tasa 790-052
You can generate your tasa form online (turn off any VPN you have running):
https://sede.administracionespublicas.gob.es/pagina/index/directorio/tasa052
Unlike last time around, this time you have your NIE and a Spanish address so the online form will work just fine. You have the option to pay online or generate a PDF for printing. It’s possible to pay online with a credit card, but only if you have an account with a bank that is affiliated with the government system. N26 is not so we chose the PDF option, printed and signed our tasa forms and took them to a bank, then scanned the forms and receipts. Again, I believe it’s possible to pay these taxes/tasas at some ATMs.
Select your province and follow the prompts. The selection you’re after is
2.2, Renovación de autorización de residencia temporal.
Ticking that box will generate the fee to be paid (at the bottom of the form). At the time of writing the fee was €16.40 each. Take precisely 2 x €16.40 (or whatever it is now) because the cashier will process each form separately.
Install Autofirma on your machine
This is an app that enables you to be identified during the process and digitally ‘sign’ the submission. It’s needed in addition to the digital certificate but fortunately much easier to obtain. You can find the installation files here:
https://firmaelectronica.gob.es/Home/Descargas.html
Begin the renewal process
This is where you generate your new EX-01:
https://sede.administracionespublicas.gob.es/pagina/index/directorio/mercurio2
Once again, if the link doesn’t work, with a bit of searching you should be able to find the right page.
By now your Spanish will be as good or better than mine so I won’t lead you through the whole process. A couple of screens in, you’ll be given the option to prove your identity using Cl@ve movil or eIdentifier. Select eIdentifier, which will bring your digital certificate into play.
Agree to the notices on the first couple of pages and then …
Select Acceso Individual
Select Presentar solicitud o Aportar documentos a expedientes
A window pops up; tick Presentar nueva solicitud and select your province.
The system will check your Autofirma status, then, if all’s well, you’ll get the option to select the EX01 process. From here it’s Renewal / Renovación, and follow your nose (I won’t get too detailed lest things have changed).
If you’re going to encounter problems with the electronic process it will be now. Different operating systems, different browsers, different security settings … Jess and I both have Macbooks and the experience was different for each of us. Good luck.
At the end you simply hit the button and you’re finished. You’ll have the option to download a report of all the data you entered.
Precisely one week after submission I received an email that it had been received and that I could check its progress here – but this didn’t work until a couple of days later:
https://sede.administracionespublicas.gob.es/infoext2/
This turned out to be not much use, as it simply read en tramite (in process), including after we were advised by email – six weeks later – that there was a message awaiting us on another web page. Clicking on the link in the email led to an email verification step and a couple of boxes to tick.
Click on the Notificaciones pendientes tab, which ultimately takes you to the automatic download of a PDF, the successful renewal certificate. Congratulations.
Get your new TIE card
Make an appointment at the police station
On the visa renewal certificate is an invitation to make another appointment at a police station to get a new residency card and to have your fingerprints taken. You must make the appointment no later than one month from receiving the renewal (but after the old card has expired). Once again, you need to make an appointment for each of you. With luck you’ll nail adjacent time slots. In any case, they’ll see you together:
https://sede.administracionespublicas.gob.es/pagina/index/directorio/icpplus
Get your stuff together
At the bottom of the certificate is a list of things to bring to the appointment.
Visa renewal certificate
Current passport
1 passport photo (Spanish size)
Current TIE card
Current padron (less than three months old; you can do this online but every region is different so I can’t provide tips here)
Form EX-17
Form 790-012 and a receipt for paying it (at a bank, in cash. It’s about €20 each. It’s nice to have the exact change for each of you). Or try paying at an ATM.
You can access both EX-17 and 790-012 from the same web page (if it no longer works, you’ll find it easily online):
You’ll leave the appointment with a one-page certificate. Go home and make another appointment to collect it. We were told not to make the appointment for sooner than 45 days in the future. Look for the option that says Foreign identity card collection (TIE) / Recogida de tarjeta de identidad de extranjero (TIE).
THE END.
