Moving to Spain Checklist 2026: Step-by-Step Timeline

The sequence for moving to Spain on a residence visa is: apply at your consulate, wait for approval, enter Spain, apply for your foreigner ID card (TIE) within one month of arrival, register at the town hall, and renew before the first permit expires. This checklist follows the non-lucrative visa, the most common route; the dates that the law fixes are in bold. Other visas have the same arrival steps but different paperwork.

Before you apply

• Pick the visa. The non-lucrative visa bars any work, including remote work. The digital nomad visa is for remote work. Compare them first. UK applicants, see the UK visa guide.
• Check the money. For the non-lucrative visa the bar is €28,800 a year for one person, plus €7,200 per family member, and the funds must cover the whole permit period (RD 1155/2024, art. 62).
• Buy a Spanish health policy that meets your consulate’s terms. See non-lucrative visa health insurance.
• Find your consulate. You apply in person where you live. For the US, see Spanish consulates in the US.
• Time the documents. At the Los Angeles consulate the FBI criminal record check cannot be older than 6 months and the medical certificate must be issued at most 90 days before you submit. Foreign documents need an apostille and a Spanish translation.
• Start your pet’s paperwork early if you bring one. A dog or cat from a country that needs the rabies antibody test cannot enter until 90 days after the blood sample (see shipping belongings).
• Keep proof of your life abroad. Customs relief on your belongings needs evidence that you lived outside the EU for 12 consecutive months, a list of goods and the date you bought them.

After the consulate decides

• The immigration office has one month from receiving the file from the consulate to decide; no answer in that time counts as a refusal (art. 63.4). The Los Angeles consulate lists a three-month standard period for its own decision, which can be longer.
• Collect the visa. The Los Angeles consulate says to collect it within one month of the favorable notice, and that the visa itself is valid for 90 days.
• Book your housing for arrival. The renting guide covers the deposit cap, who pays the agency and your term rights.
• Decide how to ship. Customs can clear your goods before you arrive if you commit to settling within six months and give a guarantee, or after, with your TIE as proof (arts. 7 and 9, Reg. 1186/2009).

The first month in Spain

1. Apply for the TIE in person within one month of entering Spain (RD 1155/2024, art. 63.5; art. 209.1 sets the same one-month term for a visa or authorization over six months). The card carries your NIE.
2. Register on the padrón. Anyone living in Spain must register in the municipal register of the town where they live (Ley 7/1985, art. 15). The article sets no deadline, but you need it for many things. See empadronamiento.
3. Open a bank account. See bank accounts for foreigners. Rent is paid by electronic means (LAU, art. 17.3).
4. Sort out healthcare. Keep your private policy for the permit. See healthcare in Spain.
5. Check your driving license rules. See driving in Spain with a foreign license.
6. Clear your goods. Declare them in the import declaration (DUA), with the customs and VAT relief codes, inside 12 months of establishing residence (Reg. 1186/2009, art. 7).

The first year

When	What	Source
From arrival	Count your days. More than 183 days in a calendar year makes you tax resident, also if your main economic interests are in Spain	Ley 35/2006, art. 9
First 12 months	Do not lend, rent or hand over duty-free goods without telling customs	Reg. 1186/2009, art. 8
First 12 months	Your first non-lucrative permit lasts one year	RD 1155/2024, art. 61.4
Last 2 months of the permit	File the renewal. Filing in this window extends the old permit until resolution	art. 64.1
Up to 3 months after expiry	You can still file, but a fine may follow	art. 64.1
Each calendar year	Live in Spain more than 183 days to qualify for renewal	art. 64.2.f
Renewal	Keep the health insurance, prove funds, show school enrollment for children of compulsory age	art. 64.2

Renewals last two years (art. 64.7 of the same regulation, as covered in the non-lucrative visa guide). Because the 183-day rule for renewal and the 183-day rule for tax residence coincide, read Spanish tax residency in your first months, not at the end of the year. Americans also keep filing with the IRS; see US taxes for Americans in Spain.

What the law does not fix

Several first-month tasks have no legal deadline in the sources above: the padrón, the bank account, healthcare registration and the driving license. Do them early because each unlocks the next. The padrón record is proof of your residence in the municipality (Ley 7/1985, art. 16), and a bank account makes paying rent and bills simple. The one deadline you cannot miss is the TIE, since failing the obligations on the card brings the penalty regime of the immigration law (RD 1155/2024, art. 209.4).