NIE numbers, residencias, green cards, foreigners cards, resident, non-resident, what does it all mean, and how do you know what or who you are?!
When moving to Spain you will hear lots of people talking about some or all of the above, and it probably won’t make sense! To understand a bit more it is best to travel back in time a little….
Before January 2007 the Spanish authorities required that any EU national living in Spain (that is here for more than 3 months) obtained a Residencia Card from the National Police. This involved fingerprints, passport photos and the end result was a little wallet sized card you carried around with you. Some foreigners didn’t bother with this and it was just about possible to do without if you weren’t too involved with buying a house, business and so on.
Since January 2007 EU law has removed the obligation to hold a Residents Card as we are all European these days and Spain was not allowed to discriminate against foreigners by demanding they apply for and use this card.
However Spain was a little grumpy about this so have instead requested that EU nationals apply for a Foreigners ID Paper (a single document on green paper), which they ask you to present if you want to go on the electoral roll, enrol children in school, wish to upgrade or change your driving licence etc. So, you can still live in Spain without this ID paper, however you cannot particpate fully in all aspects of local life that you may wish too.
The good news is that it only requires a 6 euros administration fee and a few hours at the local police station submitting forms to receive your ID paper. Apartsol can help you with this.
NIE numbers (numero de identificacion de extranjeros) are regarded as essential in Spain, and are applied for at the same time as the ID paper and are included in the same 6 euro administration fee.
An NIE number is similar to a National Insurance number in the UK and basically allows the Government to charge you tax. It is therefore essential to have as it allows you to carry out any activity which involves tax, including:
- working and receiving a wage
- earning money from renting your property
- buying or selling property
- buying a car
- having a mobile phone contract
Again, Apartsol can help you with the forms for this – we keep a supply in the office.
The terms resident and non resident used to be used frequently in relation to tax issues when selling property and applying for mortgages as there were different rates applicable depending on your status. Again, since January 2007 this has been declared illegal by the EU and the rates are now the same. However it is best to consult a local tax adviser regarding your tax status when moving to Spain.
Apartsol have a good grounding of this knowledge having made the move ourselves and will be happy to answer any questions that we can, and can also recomend some local advisers who will normally be happy to have a quick chat for free to help you get started.
Tags: ex pats, foreigners card, gestorias, green card, national police, nie number, non-resident, residencia, resident, spain, tax advice
