Residential Card

Has anyone any information regarding the new rules regarding residence for EU nationals. A new law came into force at the beginning of March which indicates that persons from EU countries can only reside in Spain for 3 months without this card. After this time, it will be necessary to obtain a residence card and proof of income will be required also. Any further information please.

What? I think it must be a misunderstanding. EU citizens are free to travel, study and work in any EU country without special permits.

Antonio, it does sound weird, but it is a Royal Decree 178/2003 made on 14/02/2003 . Trying to find out how it will effect us if we want to move there now. There is also a suggestion that we will need to prove our income as well.

Hi, I have now found out the details, it would appear that EU Nationals DO NOT require this card now, it is only for NON EU persons. Now I can move to my beloved Spain with no worries. Yahoo!!!!!

Sue-
Would you mind posting the information or links you used to find the proper information out?

I think it will be extremely helpful to those looking to go to Spain without the proper documents in explaining what they'll need or what could happen if they don't have the proper paperwork.

Hi, Espe3

I found all the information on
www.ukinspain.com
although this is aimed at those in the EU it has some really useful links.

Very good link, Sue, but it still leaves people like me (ancianos jubilados) missing out on many of the benefits that would be available if we were Spain residents: tarjeta dorada for example, that allows reduced rate travel on Renfe and city bus and Metro lines. I don't know how many people in my category visit this forum but Private Bus Lines usually give me a 'senior' discount if I ask for it.

Thanks for posting the link. It does tell us that retired EU Citizens are in a different category from others.

Thank you Sue, your information is going to be a lot of help to other people I'm sure

Eddie- anyone whose not a EU national or Spanish citizen is going to have different rules! :o Unfortunately it also means MORE paperwork! :p

Hi Sue,

I've actually just got this myself and the one thing that did occur to me about your original question is that if it were the case, it would be completely unworkable because it took just over six months to process my application !

My only advice therefore is be patient, and I think that's sound advice for a lot of things here.

I just went through this myself, last week. The local 'hacienda' (tax dept.) was not aware of the implications and practical application of the new rules - but they thought that maybe they had heard something about it at some time.

Anyway... so we popped over to the local foreign police dept. and checked with the people there - who gave us a preprinted form with the citation of the new law --- to give to the *other* government department. Apparently this happens so often that they've prepared materials in advance. I also got the person's name and phone nummber so that the tax dept could phone to clarify if they wanted to (they did).

What it came down to was that I, an EU passport holder, did not require a residence permit or work permit.

The nice people at the police advised me to go to some office in Madrid and get the residence card anyway (not a permit but a card) to have something convienient to show to people or institutions that are used to everyone having one. Thess are issued the same day as you apply and it's really not supposed to be that much of a hassle. When I'm back in Madrid I'll look up the specific info and post it here.

By the way, irrespective of all that, you will still need a NIE (a Number to Identify foreigners) for tax and social security purposes.

Grant

As far as I know and remember from my studies in EU -law, EU citizens are allowed to travel and work in other countries without special permits.

However, if a EU citizen plan to stay in another EU -country for more than three months (studying, working, ...) he / she has to apply for a residence permit. This should be a pure formality, i.e. he or she can't really be denied the permit.

If you fail to apply or renew your residence permit, you should not risk being expelled from the country, but you may have to pay fines.

Of course applying for the permit is a hassle, I have no experience from Spain but I have lived in Belgium where I spent many mornings at the "commune", in a never-ending queue and with loads of papers with me, feeling like the man in Kafka's novel "the process". But I got my permit, without any questions.

Still, I have seen some nasty cases as well; in Belgium I had some friends (well-paid EU citizens...) who forgot to renew their permit and who then had visits from the police who threatened to throw them out of the country within two weeks - all of course contrary to EU -law.

So summa summarum, yes, Spain can oblige you to apply for the residence permit if staying for more than three months in the country, but it should be a formal thing. And if you don't understand something - ask for help from somebody who knows the system and the language!

Good luck...
K

Residence cards are now only required by EU Nationals if they are of independent means, in other words are NOT paying national insurance and taxes. You have to prove your annual income and take out some form of healthcare as you are only allowed basic care. This is true in my case as neither my husband or I will be working, therefore not contributing to the Spanish treasury. Anyone who works will of course pay their contributions and so do not require the residency card. Having said all that it is still recommended that you report to the local police station to register with them.

Update to my post above...

My local police said as a European Union citizen I do not need a residence card, the town hall was okay with this, and eventually the tax department (Ministerio de Hacienda) agreed too. This is all thanks to
Real Decreto 178/2003 de 14 febrero de 2003
B.O.E. núm.46 de 22 febrero 2003

But the local police said that if I want a residence card to smooth things out when it is traditionally asked for then I can go to the

Comisaría General de Extranjería y Documentacíon
c/ General Padiñas, 90 Madrid
no prior appointment required for EU citizens and with 3 color fotos (passport size), my passport and copy of it (make copies in advance - they won't do it for you). They'll have you fill out form number EX-16 (which is bassically just name, passport number and address information) and you're done.

I haven't been down there yet to try this procedure but it sounds simple enough.
But given that every other administrative procedure so far has been more or less painless I'm guessing that this will be too.

Part 3 -

Another sunny day; which I got to spend standing in line at the "Extranjeros" office to request my residence card.
It took and hour and a half of standing in line but no problem.
For European Community citizens...
Two (2) copies of the form are needed (they'll give you some there if you don't get one in advance).
Three (3) color fotos.
Take your passport and a copy of it.
Buy a newspaper (or two) to read while waiting.

Tell the person/guard at the door what you're there for and they will direct you to the correct queue.

Maybe get there early - but I think that lots of people line up even before it opens so that might not help. I was there at 10:30, lined up outside, down the sidewalk, across the street and up the other side.... very impressive. But they were processing pretty quickly [considering it is august] and I was finished by 12:00.
And I got to practice lots of Spanish while talking to my neighbors in line.

All in all not a bad experience. When I have to go back in x(unkniwn) months to pick up the residence card I get to wait in a much shorter line than the one for making the application.

Thats excellent news, glad you finally got there and thanks for the information.
Sue.

Yesterday I was at the appropriate office at 10:00 to pick up the resident's card. Three months since the application - - not bad for government work.

The process was:
- Received a letter telling me when the "appointment" was (when to show up to stand in line at their office.
- Which contained a form instructing me to pay the processing costs (take the form to any bank/caja and give them about EUR 6 and they'll stamp the form to prove you've paid the fee)
- Find your copy of the original application
- Take:
o your copy of the application
o the letter you received
o your passport
to the office indicated in the letter

- I arrived a 1/2 hour early and was directed to a line to stand in
- 20 minutes later they handed me my Residents Card
- No sweat
- Go to lunch to celebrate getting through the process (pay for lunch with a credit card)

Now when someone asks for my DNI (e.g. when paying by credit card) I have something to show them that they understand (which had sometimes been a problem showing them my Dutch driver's license as ID).

Summary - A pretty much painless process.

One thing to remember here is that Spain (and most other EU countries) does require its nationals to have a national identity card and this could be what the residence card does for other EU nationals. Of course many have their own countries national IDs that should cover it.