When we started looking into living long-term in Spain we really didn’t know anything about the process. When we did some research it all seemed a bit intimidating.
Having done it by ourselves, I can tell you that the process wasn’t as complicated as we thought. Yes, it takes organization getting all your paperwork together. That’s what this post will cover. But once done everything pretty much sailed through. Just to give you an idea: It took us 3 weeks to get all our documents in order. 2 weeks later we had our appointment at the local Spanish consulate. Less that 2 weeks later* we were told that we were pre-approved. 5 days later we picked up our Spanish Visas. The whole process took less than 2 months. Two weeks later we were on a plane to Spain.
*Note: we did in late 2020 during Covid. These days approval from a Spanish consulate takes up to 3 months.
What I cover in this post
A. Why the Spanish Non-Lucrative Visa
B. The “Broad” Strokes of getting a Spanish Non-lucrative Visa
C. Requirements where you apply might be different. And getting help
D. Scheduling
E. The Nitty-gritty of Paperwork and Documents
F. Apostilization and Translations
G. Other important details
H. Total Costs
I. We have our Visas. Now What?
J. Summing it all up
A. Why the Spanish Non-Lucrative Visa?
There are different types of long term Spanish Visas: the Student Visa, the Youth Mobility Viisa, the Work Visa, the Au Pair Visa, the Entrepreneur Visa, the self-employed/autonomo Visa, the Working Holiday Visa, the Golden Visa, and the Spanish Non-Lucrative Visa.
For most retirees, the Spanish Non-Lucrative Visa easily made the most sense. It is a Visa for people who want to live long term in Spain, who have sufficient financial means to not work, and who don’t have a serious criminal record (ie. charged with a felony). And the great thing about the Non-Lucrative Visa (which I’ll sometimes refer to as the ‘non-lucrativo’ or NLV for short) is that you can renew and after 5 years obtain Permanent Residency in Spain. Obtaining Permanent Residency was the whole reason we applied in the first place.
Detailed Benefits/Obligations
- You can stay in Spain up to a year, then for renewal periods of 2 years. Once you’ve totalled 5 years, you can apply for Permanent Residency (Note: within these 5 years, you can only be out of Spain a maximum of 10 months if you want to qualify). You can even become a Spanish Citizen after 10 years.
- You can apply not only for yourself, but also for family members
- You can sign contracts, rent property, sign utility contracts etc.
- You can send your children to Spanish school
- You can invest in Spain, making money that way
On the other hand,
- You cannot work for a Spanish Company and you can no longer work remotely from Spain.
- You cannot get any public benefits (including public healthcare)
- You have to file Spanish taxes (if your country has a tax agreement with Spain you don’t have to worry about double taxation). See this post for more on that.
We’re in our early 50’s and thinking about where we can settle long term. For us the non-lucrativo was the perfect Visa to stay long-term in Spain while working towards Permanent Residency.
B. The “Broad” Strokes of getting a Spanish Non-lucrative Visa
- You have to apply at your local consulate (you cannot do it in Spain). This was a bit inconvenient for us as we’ve been travelling around the world for the last 6 years. We had to go back home to Montreal to apply for the non-lucrativo
- Get all the required documents (which I will cover in detail) and make sure they are up to date. Your documents have to have dated within 90 days of your Visa appointment, not more.
- Get government documents (like criminal records and marriage certificates) Apostilled or, if your country is not part of the Hague Convention, authenticated and legalized which is the equivalent to having it apostilled (I have a section below on getting documents apostilled)
- Get required documents translated by an official, Spanish-approved Spanish translator
- Assemble all your documents, make copies, get a couple of passport photos
- Have your Visa appointment where you’ll submit your documents and pay your Visa fees
- Once you get pre-approved you can book your flight to Spain. The Visa will be finalized and you can then pick up your Visa and go to Spain.
C. Requirements where you apply might be different. And getting help
One of the things we quickly learned is that while the process is generally the same everywhere you apply, the requirements might vary slightly not only on the country you’re applying from, but also the specific consulate. For example, we had an Australian tell us that we needed a fixed address for our application. We had a Mexican tell us that you not only need a fixed address, but also a lease.
We were confused by the different stories we were getting.
That’s why you really need to consult with someone official. I wrote the Spanish consulate in Montreal and they told us that we in fact did not require a lease. We also had a 45 minute consult with a local law firm that helped us with other odds and ends we weren’t certain about.
You don’t need someone doing your documents for you if your case is straight-forward like ours was. You can do it alone. But don’t be shy to write the consulate that you’ll be applying at with any specific questions. And consult with an immigration lawyer like if you want a professional to look over all your documents before you submit them (who can also write you a “motive” letter if required).
All the above is important because if there is a major mistake or omission in your documents, the consulate might reject your application.
Note: We applied in September 2020 during Covid times. The processed was altered: we first sent in scanned documents which were reviewed by the consulate. The lady was very helpful, going through everything is great detail. Having seen it all, she then gave us an appointment date. So when we actually brought all the documents they had already been reviewed which made everything a piece of cake.
D. Scheduling
It’s very important that documents be dated within 3 months (not more) of your appointment date. They have to be current.
For most of your documents that’s not a big deal – leave the date blank until a short time before you apply. But for documents that are issued to you from other parties, you need to plan. They included, for us:
Criminal Records. It took a 4 days for us to get our Canadian criminal records in the mail.
Marriage Certificate. It took 3 days to get an updated marriage certificate in the mail.
Medical Certificate. We had medical exams done at a private clinic. It took a week to get them in the mail.
Bank Letter. I had to arrange an official letter with my bank. That took a week.
After obtaining the above, I used a company to get the Criminal records and Marriage Certificate authenticated (part of the apostille process) in Ottawa. They required official documents and it took a week to get the documents back, adorned with official stamps from Global Affairs Canada.
I then had to get the Criminal records, the marriage certificate, and the bank letter (not the medical certificate – it had been issued in 3 languages including Spanish) translated by an official translator. Scanned copies were fine, she didn’t need originals. That took about 4 days.
As you can see, there were several steps involved and I couldn’t do certain steps before I had done preceding steps.
Just to give you an idea: I started working on getting documents on July 23rd. By August 16th I had all my documents prepared and sent them all electronically to the Consulate. So it took a bit less than a month to prepare everything. We got our appointment at the Consulate for the 1st of September.
Tip: Plan before executing. Before you do anything, figure out how you will get your documents. And pre-arrange your translator and how you’ll get your documents apostilled. You want to have all the steps planned out ahead of time so that when you get your documents you can have them apostilled and translated without delay.
I’ll have much more below on documents and the translation and apostilization steps.
E. The Nitty-gritty of Paperwork and Documents
As I say, the general requirements are mostly the same wherever you apply. I’ve included links of the requirements below for:
Non-lucrative Visa Requirements – Montreal (website recently updated)
Non-lucrative Visa Requirements – Los Angeles (website recently updated)
The difference can be in some of the unwritten details as I described further above. It’s why I mention that writing the Consulate with specific questions (especially as regards to address/lease requirements in Spain) or consulting with an immigration expert.
Documents required:
I’ll start with the things that’ll take a bit more time.
1. Evidence of Economic Means
On paper it’s simple. You need to prove economic means of 2,130 Euros/mo for yourself and 532 Euro/mo for each dependent that is applying with you.
In practice it’s not as clear. So what do you need?
My Spanish lawyer suggested the following “Current bank certificate showing your funds. The minimum amount requested for 2 applicants is 36.000€*. You can show as much accounts as you have. You can also show the balance of the last 3 or 6 months. In case you receive some monthly incomes you can also demonstrate it. For instance: if you are the owner of a Real Estate and you are renting it. Some people have some kind of investment account that you could also show”.
* 2,400/mo for myself + 600/mo for Lissette (my dependent) = 3,000/mo for the 2 of us = 36,000 Euros/yr.
What we did. I had my bank manager write me a letter, indicating our current bank and investment balances, saying we’ve been customers for many years. He signed the letter and had the bank stamp it. In addition he produced statements supporting the amounts in the letter. On top of that, I did a spreadsheet showing our monthly bank and investment balances for the last 6 months.
We didn’t need all the above. The Consulate was happy with the letter alone. I had worried a bit about showing “monthly income” but it was never an issue.
Note: Anything submitted had to be translated. In our case we had the bank letter translated by the officially Spanish translator.
Note 2: Because we applied with Lissette as my dependent (otherwise the economic means you need to show are much higher) I had to arrange for a updated marriage certificate showing we were married. It had to have been issued in the last 3 months. The marriage certificate had to be both apostilled (more on that later) and translated into Spanish.
2. Medical certificate
It has to be issued in the last 3 months by a doctor with the following text:
“This medical certificate confirms that Mr. / Mrs. [……..] does not suffer from any of the diseases that can have serious implications for public health in accordance with the provisions of the 2005 International Health Regulations” This certificate must be issued in a letter format and must include the official stamp of the medical center or the doctor.
What we did. We went to a large private health clinic in downtown Montreal. I had booked it about a month in advance and told them exactly what we needed, including the requirements of the letter. They said they could do it.
The clinic did the basics: blood tests, urine tests, a simple medical exam, x-rays, an eye test. It all took about 90 minutes.
A week later we both received medical certificates in the mail, the letter in English, French and Spanish (which saved us from having to have the document translated).
Note: the medical certificate would have had to be translated had it not had a version in Spanish. No Apostilization required.
3. Criminal Records
You need to have a “negative” criminal record (ie. no felony offences) issued from any country where you’ve lived over the last 5 years. And it has to be issued within 90 days of your visa application date.
Our Canadian criminal records were very simple. You need a criminal record issued by the RCMP (the equivalent to the FBI in Canada). The easiest way in Montreal is to go to one of the many companies that do this. They all have a direct connection to RCMP headquarters in Ottawa where the request will be handled. You have to do fingerprints, sign a document…and that’s it. Took us about 30 minutes.
We received the criminal records 4 days later in the mail.
Note: you will have to have the criminal records apostilled (more on this later) and then translated into Spanish.
In our case criminal records were much more complicated because we had also lived in Croatia for a year in 2017. And in Croatia everything official is complicated. We had to get country records from Zagreb as well as municipal records from Split. Both had to be apostilled in Croatia. Not only that, we then had to have them translated from Croatian to Spanish. The whole thing cost $800. Unbelievable.
4. Medical Insurance for a company entitled to operate in Spain.
Part of a non-lucrative visa is being self-sufficient for healthcare, thus the need for private health insurance while in Spain.
We recommend getting your private health insurance with Innoinsure. Their insurance policies are comprehensive and meet all Visa requirements. And you don’t need a Spanish bank account – you can pay using foreign credit/debit cards.
Note: Some expats get private insurance to initially apply for their non-lucrative Visa, then opt out for the public system after the 1st year. More on Convenio Especial.
The above documents require the most work to obtain. The forms that I list below require detail but are easy.
5. Application for a National Visa
This form is the application form for all kinds of long stay Visas in Spain.
You can find a blank form here.
The form is pretty straightforward. Box 20 should be filled out as “Residence without work permit”. Box 22 should be “more than two”. Don’t forget that dates should be day/month/year. Don’t glue a photo where the form says “Photo” (I was guilty of that).
I’m attaching an example of how to fill out an application for a National Visa
Note: no apostilization or translation necessary.
6. Form EX-01
This form is specific to the Spanish non-lucrative residence Visa.
You can find the blank form here. You’ll find Spanish Instructions on the 2nd page
More complicated than it should be and how you fill it out depends on what the individual consulate wants. Fill out sections 1 and 3. In section 3, where it says “Domicilio en Espana” we were told to write our Canadian address. Below section 3 check off the box that says “Consiento…”. In section 4, check “inicial” and leave everything else alone. Above the signature box enter the city, day, month (in Spanish) and year, ex: Montreal, a 7 de agosto, 2020.
I’m attaching an example of how to fill out Form EX-01
Note: no apostilization or translation necessary.
7. Form 790, Codigo 052
Form 790-052 is a residency authorization application form and has to do with payment to obtain an NIE and other certificates.
You can find the blank form here.
It’s the easiest form to fill out. After filling out your name, nationality and telephone in the top section, the only box to check off below is 1C “Autorizacion inicial de residencia temporal”.
I’m attaching an example of how to fill out Form 790, Codigo 052
Note: no apostilization or translation necessary.
F. Apostilization and Translations
Apostilization
A ‘Hague Apostile” is an international certification that makes documents between different countries valid. Countries have to be part of the Hague Convention (sometimes just called the Apostile Treaty). When both countries are part of the Treaty, the documents from one country are made valid in another country by having the issuing country certify the document. In the USA for example, this is done by each state’s Secretary of State.
Surprisingly, Canada is not part of the Hague Convention and the process is slightly different. There are 2 steps required for ‘Apostile equivalency’ in Canada. 1) Canadian issued documents have to be presented to Global Affairs Canada in Ottawa where they are authorized, 2) Those documents, after having been authorized, have to be legalized at the Consulate of the country they are to be presented in.
What we did. We didn’t have to go to Ottawa physically to get our documents authorized. Different companies can do it for you. We used a company in Ottawa and sent them original documents (in our case our marriage certificate and criminal records) by courier to their office in Ottawa. They had them authorized at Global Affairs (that took 3 working days), then they were couriered back to us.
Note: theoretically the company would have sent them to the Spanish consulate in Montreal for the 2nd part of the Apostilization process (legalization) but, after talking to the Spanish Consulate, I decided doing that was a waste of time and money. Since the documents had to be presented to the consulate anyway they could just legalize them when I handed them in. That’s what we did and it worked out fine.
In the case of our Croatian criminal records, the Apostilization was done by judges in both Zagreb and Split. Since Croatia is a member of the Hague Convention it was easy.
Translation
Documents that have to be translated into Spanish cannot be translated by anyone, they have to be translated by official, Spanish government-approved translators.
This list gives you the official list of all official translators.
We used Raquel Flores [email protected] for our English language documents. As mentioned previously, she never needed original documents: I send her scanned copies of our apostilled documents (criminal records and marriage certificate) and she had them translated in 3 days. She then sent them back to me in PDF format, electronically signed.
I also used a Croatian -> Spanish translator for our Croatian documents. She was also excellent.
G. Other important details
Passport. You need a valid passport with at least 1 year remaining on it and at least 2 blank pages. This was an issue for me because I came back to Canada with a full passport. After speaking to the consulate, I applied for an urgent passport from Passport Canada. Because of Covid they only deal with urgent cases and I needed a note from the Spanish Consulate that I urgently needed a passport for our Visas. I had no issues: it took me 2 days to get a new Canadian passport.
Marriage Certificate. We needed an updated Marriage Certificate (issued in the last 90 days) because (for the financial “Evidence of Economic Means”) I wanted to list Lissette as my dependent. We ordered it online on the Quebec website and it was received in our mailbox 3 days later.
1 passport photo. You need 1 passport sized photo for the Visa. It has to be dated in the back. Always good to get a few extra copies though (you’ll need 2 more photos when you go to Spain and get your TIE. But that’s another problem for another day…)
1 Full set copies of everything. When setting up your appointment at the Spanish consulate, they’ll tell you to bring the original documents as well as a set of copies for them. I recommend 2 sets of copies just in case. When you get your Visa they’ll give you back your originals.
Copies of Passports. The consulate will ask you to make photocopies of every page of your passport (even if blank).
Keeping your passport. The consulate may keep your passport during the application process. They did with us, telling us that it shouldn’t take long and that it would save us a return trip to the consulate.
Motivo letter. Some consulates may ask that you provide a “motivo” letter which explains why you’re applying for a Non-lucrative residence Visa. We had our lawyer do one in Spanish. But it was not required and the Consulate didn’t even look at it. Double check with the consulate where you’ll be applying.
Where will you be living? We didn’t have to give an address or even a location in Spain where we might want to live. We did mention it might be Granada but said that we weren’t sure yet. They were fine with that. Nowhere in the forms did we ever have to give a Spanish address.
Forms required for both you and your spouse. We both had to fill out forms and get documents. The only common document was the marriage certificate.
Visa Fees. The last thing at your Visa appointment: paying your Visa fees to the Consulate. It cost us $ 777.70 Canadian each (that’s $585 USD each). And they accept cash or money orders. We arranged our cash ahead of time and gave them exact bills and change.
*Note: fees may have changed. This is what we paid in late 2020.
H. Total Costs
Costs will depend on your circumstances but here is what we had to pay for the 2 of us (ie. total)
Consular fees $1,555
Canadian Criminal Records 120
Croatian Criminal Records 676
Medical Certificates 1,166
Wedding Certificate 65
English to Spanish translator 300
Croatian to Spanish translator 125
Authentication of Documents 217
Other minor costs (copies, photos) 100
———-
$4,324 Canadian (about $3,250 USD)
Wow! Didn’t realize how much it added up to until I summed it all up. And that doesn’t include our airfares to come back to Canada for the application process. But 99% of you won’t have to produce criminal records from a country like Croatia and hopefully most of you have a family doctor who can produce those medical certificates for a lot less money.
I. We have our Visas. Now What?
Before being “final”-approved, the consulate will tell you that you are pre-approved. At that point you have to make your travel arrangements to Spain. Once you have done that, and shown them proof of your flight, the Consulate tells you that your Visa has been approved. You now have 30 days to pick it up.
Also, the Visa is only good for 90 days from your stated arrival date in Spain. You’ve been “provisionally” approved to stay in Spain but there’s a last step that you can only do in Spain: that is going to a local office of the Oficina de la Extranjeria (foreigner’s office) where you apply for your Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero (ie. your Foreigner Identity card, or TIE) which will be your residency permit for your 1 year stay. I have a whole other post on that process. You should be making your appointment at the Oficina de la Extranjeria within 30 days of entering the country.
J. Summing it all up
Reading all the above it seems like a lot of work and a lot of rules to follow. Really it’s not that bad. Start with your Spanish private insurance. You might have to open a Spanish bank account. There’s no time restriction on these. When you start on your documents, start with the ones that require more time (criminal records, medical certificates, proof of economic means, updated ID’s like passports or marriage certificates). Then get those apostilled and/or translated. Then you fill out the consulate forms.
It all kind of flows and before you know it, you’re done. If you’re the organized type and you’ve researched it all, it’s not really that complicated.
So don’t get discouraged looking at all the above.
The reward is that you get to live in Spain, at worst just a year but just maybe for the rest of your life. So it’s worth it 🙂
Update: Renewing your Spanish Residency (and why using a lawyer is a good idea)
Related: Why Spain?
Related: Comparing Retirement Destinations: Spain Vs Italy
Thank you so much, this was excellent.
Could I please ask one query relating to the bank letter/certificate? As the primary applicant, and your wife as the dependent, did you need to have the funds in an account with only your name, or did it not matter if they were held in a joint account? I wondered if the funds were in a joint account, and you were the main applicant if they would theoretically half the available balance when calculating if the annual threshold was met/exceeded. Naturally, this may be fine if it’s a large balance, but perhaps a closer call for a larger family group, with multiple dependants and lower balance for example.
Hi Tim. That’s a bit technical and I don’t want to give you an answer I’m not 100% sure about. In our case, we had different accounts. In the end, I believe it’s the total amount that matters, not how it’s distributed.
Thanks as well from us, a very useful post that helps in my planning for our visa, starting with checking with the embassy in London tomorrow whether English visas are cancelled at the moment due to covid. We will see…..I’m a little worried about the wedding certificate as we married overseas but we’ll find a way around it. Thanks Michelle.
You might have to get the certificate authorized/apostilled. But don’t worry, you’re not the first and there’s a procedure in place. I expected the worst but was really all a piece of cake 🙂
Great post, filled with such detailed and useful info, thanks a million!
Hey Robert! Thanks so much for the comment! I don’t much traffic on this new site (just started it a month ago) so I appreciate it.
We’re very happy living in Spain, everything has gone smoothly and we’re living in a beautiful town with everything we need. Late November now and we still get temperatures in the high teens. Don’t miss the snow.
Hope you are well in Ottawa. Any plans on coming to Spain one day?