Residency
 

Hi, newbie here.
I’m after some advice from you long timers please.
I have been traveling back and forth u.k. to spain for 2 years now. my partner (not married, i think it makes a difference) has spanish residency and works/lives in our spanish home full time. I am a british nurse and so travel back and forth every 2 weeks.
I am at the end of the month making the move full time and returning a lot less to the U.K. for work( every 6 weeks or so, staying for maybe 2).
My question is do i need (potentially should i already have) residency or some sort of acknowledgment that i am in spain for a substantial amount of time in a year?
I don’t even have an NIE at present as it’s always been on the list of to dos and hasn’t caused an issue so hasn’t been a priority. My partner is on the padron for our home but i am not named obviously. I do drive occasionally but will be driving a lot more in spain and so do i need to change my license? i worry that due to me being back and forth i will never quite be in the right category for each country.
So basically as a british person resident but not working in spain what documentation do i need to sorting? we get so much mixed advice of the wrongs and rights it’s hard to know for sure what we need to do.
Within the next 2 years we will be looking at buying a home in spain and so we need to ensure that we are on paper good candidates for mortgages etc.
Thanks in advance.

Re: Residency
 

Suggest you research here - https://www.gov.uk/guidance/living-in-spain

If you are making the move full time then you need to register as a Spanish resident as soon as possible to gain the benefits available now before the Brexit cut off.

Re: Residency
 

If you are going to live in Spain permanently, you need to become a resident. Before you become a resident you need an NIE, which is the Spanish equivalent of a National Insurance number, but it is used, in Spain, for a lot more things, including your tax affairs. Once you become a resident, you need to change your driving licence within 6 months.
Bearing in mind that the transition arrangement ends on 31 December this year, you need to get your skates on. My advice would be to go to a gestor and pay them to sort all 3 things, NIE, TIE (Which is the new residency card for UK citizens), and driving licence. You could do it yourself but it takes time, and time is not on your side.

To become a resident, you must have private continuous healthcare in place and sufficient income to satisfy the local area requirements of not being a burden on the state, Once you have lived in Spain permanently for one year, you can opt to pay for the Spanish health service, 60€ per month for under 65's. You will probably find this cheaper than private health care.

Re: Residency
 

Hi,
An NIE is issued whilst the residency process evolves. There is no need to apply for the NIE separately.

Steve

Re: Residency
 

Almost correct. You can apply for the Spanish health care after being a legal resident for the year (we arrive in August and I doubt we will get our residency before lets say december) we would then only be able to go on the Spanish health care in December 2021.

Also private care for someone with no medical conditions costs me about 600 a year, so its slightly cheaper than the public one. It was arranged through Santander and is a Aegon total health package (i think they are doing a deal at the moment and its even cheaper).

Always worth shopping around.

Re: Residency
 

I know this has been discussed at length in the past but in Huelva I and many other people have obtained Residencia without Private Medical cover. All we showed was our EHIC Cards.

It may be different in other areas of the country

Re: Residency
 

There is still some argument about healthcare being granted hand in hand with residency and in some regions it was given only later to be taken away, maybe your region is, or was, operating that system when you got your residence, I don't know.
If it was the case though an EHIC will have had nothing to do with it.

https://www.thinkspain.com/news-spai...s-legal-or-not

Certainly in the Valencia and Murcia regions it's S1 or private.

Re: Residency
 

It is . Once one becomes resident you should not use UK issued ehic as it's for UK residents and S1 holders only. So if resident and not an s1 holder you should have private healthcare. In UK for visits only free treatment should be for emergency via A&E (again different if S1 holder). Also no one knows if ehic will continue after January other than again for S1 holders. So ehic even if accepted some areas is not really viable.

Re: Residency
 

Hi chappers18.IMHO what has been said is about right if i were you with time running out fast i would hire a gestor quick to do all paperwork for you and get married fast.No body know the rule changes coming which i expect to be fluid for a while and learn a little spanish too.All the best:thumb: