Spain is a part of the European Union so all the residents from other European Union countries are allowed to live and work in Spain without a visa. As mentioned in my previous posts my daughters and I hold Polish passports so in theory we could just come to Spain and stay there for as long as we wished. However for my husband it is a different story. As his citizenship is British, he can only come to Spain on his British passport for up to 3 months without a visa. If we wanted to relocate to Spain as a family, we had to work out a plan that would allow my husband to stay there permanently. In this post I will tell you how to obtain a residence permit in Spain.
Step one – obtaining the residence for the EU citizen
We entrusted this process to our gestor, who we had already spoken about it before moving to Spain. He assured us that he had worked with many couples like us before and he knows what to do. The first step was to apply for my residency as with my Polish passport it would be a straightforward process. To apply for the residency card you follow similar steps as if you were applying for a NIE number (the steps are described in the post NIE, permits and visas). You need to book an appointment at the police station, for us it was in Bailen in the Valencia city centre. The documents needed to obtain the Certificate of Residence for European Union citizens include:
- Proof of means of subsistence, such as payslips, pension statements, or other sources of income,
- Proof of health insurance, either public or private (if private, it must have no copayments and you must provide a certificate from the insurance company confirming this)
- Proof of address through municipal registration (Empadronamiento – check my post on First days in Spain after relocating to see how to obtain this),
- A passport-size photograph,
- A copy of your passport or European identity document,
- Filled in an application form,
- Proof of fee payment.
My first visit to the Bailen station
I had my residency appointment in September and I left the station empty handed. For the proof of means of subsistence I have provided a statement from my bank account showing that I had at least 20 000 euros there and that there had been some movement (transactions from the shops, petrol stations, restaurants etc.). Apparently this wasn’t enough proof for the police officer who demanded I will be self employed (Autonomo) in Spain (at that time I didn’t have a job). Unfortunately the Spanish officials are the law upon themselves – they can deny your application for any reason and demand documents that are not on the official list of required documents. And there is nothing you or your gestor can do about it. So he applied for my Autonomo and then a month after my first appointment we were back at Bailen. To my surprise this official serving us this time was very easygoing and required to see just my passport and Empadronamiento. And that’s it, within a minute I was holding my Certificate of Residence. So it all depends who you are dealing with. I need to warn you here about one thing that I did which caused me a lot of problems. The certificate of Spanish residence is a small blue paper card. My friends who obtained it many years ago showed me how faded it is, that you can hardly read any information. I wanted to be smart and I laminated my card. By doing so the document became invalid. So I needed another appointment to have it replaced. The best thing to do is to make a copy and laminate the copy and have it in your wallet while storing the original safely put away somewhere.
Step two – residence application for the non-EU citizen
The next step was to book my husband’s appointment. However, he needed to go to the Oficina de Extranjeros in Valencia and he needed to go there by himself. The documents needed are:
- Passport,
- Marriage certificate,
- Filled in form Ex-19 (this is the form for the family member of the resident of the EU country),
- Payment of the fee.
I went with him to the appointment and as a wife I was allowed in. The process was very straightforward. The official checked all the documents and the application form and then he said we need to wait for a letter with a decision. It can take a few months so you just need to be patient. The good thing about this situation is the fact that from the time you submit the application your status changes so the original 3 months deadline doesn’t apply anymore. Now you are allowed to be in Spain legally, however you are still not allowed to work.
For Christmas we travelled to Poland to visit the family. While there my husband got an email saying that his application had been approved and he obtained his residency permit. This was in the beginning of January. The last thing to do was for him to go to the office and collect the actual card. His document was different from mine as it was plastic and with his photo. So at least he won’t make the same mistake as I did 🙂
As you can see the process of obtaining the residency permit for the non-European citizen who is married to the EU citizen is not very complicated but it can still take a couple of extra appointments to get it done, depending on the official you are dealing with. You need to allow time for booking the appointments, especially at Bailen Station and always bear in mind that you only have 3 months once you enter Spain to submit the application, otherwise you will be staying in Spain illegally.