The documents you need for Spanish residency are very specific to your personal situation and can be quite endless, depending on your situation. I’ll try and summarize in a short blog.
First and foremost, there are some documents which everybody needs for their Spanish residency application. You definitely have to have a valid passport. And also an application form filled in and signed correctly. There’s also a tax that you have to pay to the local government. It’s best if you take that tax prepaid to the appointment because, if not, they will send you to the bank or knock you back.
After that we go into the proof of healthcare and how you’re receiving healthcare in Spain. You cannot reside in Spain unless you have access to healthcare. There are two main ways of gaining healthcare in Spain and that is through the state healthcare system and private. If you have access to the state healthcare system, then you will need to take proof of that access to the state healthcare system. Most of the time that is a work contract. If you are working in Spain, they’re happy to accept that. If you are a self employed person, known as an autonomo, then most of the time they request a certificate from the social security office to prove that you have access to the health care and also a payment from your bank of your last social security payment. If you’re a pensioner and have access to the S-1 form, it needs to be an original S-1 form that you take with you to the appointment which proves that you have healthcare. And if you have any dependants that figure on that S-1 form, they also need to be on there as well.
If you have none of these, and this is quite common for people who retire early, young families, people who maybe work offshore and haven’t got state health care but spend more time in Spain than they do in the UK, they generally have to get private health care. The private healthcare have specific requirements, which is it must be for a certain amount of time, the cover must be complete and you can’t have any excess on the policy. You also need to take proof of payment of that policy. The documents that you need to take with you normally are a certificate from your insurer which proves the conditions of the policy and the application for residency. Nowadays, and this wasn’t the case a few years ago but it is now, most insurers, health insurers, are quite used to the policies which are sold for residency applications and provides you with a quick documentation straight away.
After that you have to prove that you can actually sustain yourself in Spain, which that could also be through if you have money in an account. You must have sustained a minimum of around €5300 in an account for more than six months, whether that account be in the UK or in Spain. If you don’t have that amount, you have to prove that you have income which is the same or above that amount. If that income comes from a pension where you need proof from your pension provider, if it comes from a wage, you would need to take proof of that using wage slips. If documents aren’t in Spanish and are in English, well they all need to be legally translated as well. A property in Spain could also be used and in some circumstances with the right paperwork and translations no Spanish bank account statements are accepted.