The paperwork you need first: NIE, empadronament and the rest
Moving · 7 min read · Reviewed
The complaint you hear most often from people who have moved here is not about cost or housing. It is about paperwork — specifically about turning up to an appointment with the wrong document and being sent away to book another one six weeks out.
Almost all of that is avoidable, because the system is not arbitrary. It is a dependency chain: each step needs the output of the one before it, and the whole thing runs smoothly in order and painfully out of it.
This guide sets out that order. It is general information rather than immigration advice, and the rules for non-EU nationals have moved repeatedly since Brexit, so confirm the current position with the consulate or a lawyer before relying on any of it.
The order to do it in
The NIE comes first, because everything else references it. It is your foreigner identification number, it is permanent, and it is required to sign a lease, open a bank account, start a job or take out a phone contract on anything but a prepaid basis.
The padrón — the empadronament, the municipal population register — comes next, and it is the step people underestimate. It needs an address, so in practice it waits for a lease, and it is what unlocks municipal and regional services including the public health card and school places.
Social security registration and a Spanish bank account follow, and both are straightforward once the first two exist. Healthcare registration comes last, and depends on the padrón and, for most people, on being inside the social security system.
The chain, in order
- NIE, the foreigner identification number, from a police station here or a Spanish consulate before you travel
- A lease, or another address the register will accept as proof
- Empadronament at your local Oficina d'Atenció Ciutadana
- Número de la Seguridad Social, once you have an employer or have registered as autónomo
- A Spanish bank account, which will want the NIE and often the padrón certificate
- The CatSalut health card, which needs the padrón and your social security position
Register on the padrón in the week your lease starts. It is free, it takes one appointment, and it is the document that unlocks healthcare, school places and most municipal services.
Why the padrón matters more than it sounds
The padrón is simply a list of who lives at which address in the municipality, and it is used for far more than statistics. Municipal funding is allocated on it, so the city has every incentive to register you, and a great many entitlements are conditioned on it.
It is also the document most often required as proof of residence where nothing else will do: enrolling a child in school, accessing the regional health service, certain residency renewals, and registering to vote in municipal elections where you are eligible.
Landlords occasionally resist providing the paperwork for it. That is a warning sign about the tenancy rather than a normal feature of the market, and it is worth raising before you sign rather than after.
Residency, and what changed
British citizens are third-country nationals for Spanish immigration purposes and have been since the end of the transition period. The allowance of ninety days in any hundred and eighty covers visits, not living here, and overstaying it has consequences that are enforced.
Living here means a visa obtained before arrival, in almost every case from the Spanish consulate in the UK. The categories most people use are the work visa tied to an employer, the self-employment route, the student visa, and the non-lucrative visa for those living on their own means without working.
Spain's digital nomad visa, introduced under the startups law, has changed the picture most for remote workers and carries a distinct tax treatment. It is also the route whose detail has moved most since introduction, so check the current requirements rather than a summary written a year ago.
Tax residence creeps up on people
Spend more than 183 days in Spain in a calendar year and you are generally tax resident, which means Spain taxes your worldwide income. That catches people who moved mid-year expecting the first year not to count.
The UK-Spain double taxation treaty prevents the same income being taxed twice, but it does not remove the obligation to file, and the two tax years do not align — Spain runs on the calendar year, the UK to April.
Catalonia sets its own rates for part of the income tax, so the effective rate here differs from other Spanish regions. The salary pages in this section model the Catalan position for a single person; anything more complicated is a conversation with an accountant, and a cheap one relative to getting it wrong.
Common questions
What is the NIE and when do I need it?
The Número de Identidad de Extranjero, a permanent identification number for foreigners. You need it before you can sign a lease, open a bank account, start a job or take out most contracts, so arrange it first — and it can often be obtained from the Spanish consulate before you travel.
What is the empadronament and do I have to do it?
It is registration on the municipal population register at your address. It is free, it is a legal expectation for residents, and it is the key that unlocks the regional health service, school enrolment and a range of municipal services. Do it as soon as you have a lease.
Can I move to Barcelona on the 90-day visa-free allowance?
No. Ninety days in any hundred and eighty covers visits only, and does not permit living or working here. British citizens now need a visa obtained before arrival — most commonly a work, self-employment, student, digital nomad or non-lucrative visa — and the rules have changed repeatedly, so check the current position with the consulate.