EU residence permit in Spain

By Lucia Lagunas Reyes | Published on 14 February 2024

What is an EU residence permit?

The following documents will give you the right to stay and live in any part of Spain. The records will also allow you to work in any part of Spain. The documents are a residence visa, eu residence permit card, residence card, residence certificate, and foreign identity card. You may ask yourself which of these documents you need and where you can get them.

Do EU citizens need a residence permit in Spain?

For a person from an EU country and an EU citizen, it may not be a requirement for you to have a residence visa to have access to Spain. However, you will be required to get a residence certificate if you stay in Spain for more than three months.

How do I get a residence permit to live in Spain?

You will be required to fill out an application at an immigration office to get your permit.

How long can an EU resident stay in Spain?

You are allowed to stay in Spain for 90 days. If you want to stay longer, you will be required to apply for a permit.

Can I work in Spain with eu residence permit?

You are allowed to stay and work as an EU citizen without needing to have a work permit.

The permits for non-EU citizens

For people who are not EU citizens, you must apply for a residence visa before you arrive in Spain. Once you attain this document, you can legally enter and stay in Spain for 3 to 6 months or six months to 1 year, depending on the time you applied.

If you choose to stay in Spain for 3 to 6 months you will be required to apply for and get a residence card. If you decide to stay in Spain for more than six months, you must apply for a foreign identity card.

You must have one of these documents to get a foreign identity card. They are a non-lucrative visa, Investor visa or golden visa, long-term visa, self-employed and freelance work visa, or a student visa. It is a requirement that you have these documents before you arrive in Spain.

How can I get a permit as a EU citizen?

Citizens from EU countries will be required to have a residence certificate for Spain. The document will need you to indicate your full name, address, nationality, and foreign tax identification number. The application is made at your local foreigner’s office. Some of these offices will require that you book an appointment before. You should file this within three months of your stay in Spain.
With the application, you should provide other documents:

• Your passport or national identity card
• Copy of passport or National identity card
• Two passport photos
• Proof of address in Spain
• An EX18 application form filled with all relevant information.
• Proof of fee payment is usually 21.44 Euros
• Proof of valid healthcare insurance

You may be required to produce additional documents depending on your reason for wanting to stay in the country. If you want to visit Spain because you have been able to acquire employment, you will be required to produce a document confirming that you have a job.

If you could acquire self-employment at the time of stay, you would be required to produce proof of self-employed status. It will be a part of the form of registration.

How long is the EU residence permit valid?

The validity of your eu permit will remain as long as the circumstances of the reasons you stayed in Spain are the same in the application. Changing your name, marital status, and address will require you to apply for a new residence card.

Who can apply for Long Term Residency Permits?

If you have been to Spain continuously, with legal documents for about five years, and you are from a non-EU country, you can apply for this permit. The continuous visiting of Spain will not be affected by an absence of six months from any of the Spanish territories. It can affect your application for long-term residency if it exceeds more than ten months in the previous five years. If your absence was due to work-related issues, it should not exceed one year in the five years.

How is a calculation of time done?

The long-term residence permit only considers the period for legal residence to be computed in five years. An EU Long-Term Residence Permit, you can do it if you remain in Spain for studies, internships, and student mobility, and it will account for 50% during the counting of your duration.

The scope of application of Long-term Residence

One of the main advantages of having an EU long-term residence permit over a regular Long Term Permit is that it increases the chance of obtaining long-term residence of another member of the European Union. For long-term living, it is only valid in your respective country.

The Application of Long-Term Residence

The application for a long-term residence will consider the consecutive months that you have resided in any Spanish territory for five years before your application. The EU Long term permit will require that you have a further requirement in that you should have the regular cash flow for their continued maintenance.

Other procedures

After being granted Long-Term Residence or the EU long-term residence, it is a requirement that you request to get a Foreigner identity card at an immigration office or a police station in the province of your home.

EU residency permit in Spain as a Family Member is an EU citizen

If you have family members who are citizens of Spain or the EU, then it can be easy for you to get to stay and work in Spain. All you will be required to do is to apply for a process termed as a family member of an EU citizen. All you need is to show proof of marriage. The rest of the procedure will be smooth.

Residence card of a family member as a European Union citizen

In Spain, a right will allow a Spanish citizen or an EU citizen to invite their relative to stay and work in any of the Spanish territories. The close can enjoy all the rights that an EU citizen will enjoy.
This procedure is what we call a family member of a European Union citizen. The right will allow a spouse to apply for residency and work authorization, allowing them to work in any Spanish territory and enjoy the same conditions as any other EU citizen.

It is why relationships that are constituted of one partner being an EU citizen and the other being a Non-citizen usually work out, and the result becomes marriage or civil partnership. Hence, the partner ends up getting Spanish residency.

It is not all partners will get Spanish residency through this method. The extended family members of an EU citizen can still benefit from this method. Which of the relatives can benefit from this?

Which relatives does this apply to?

It is clear that direct relatives can apply for an EU visa and even get EU residency. By immediate relatives, I mean a spouse. The other categories of relatives that can bring an EU visa are First-degree descendants. These are the children of an EU national and the spouse. There is, however, something vital that you should keep in mind. If the child in question is below 21 years old, a community regime will apply to them. If the child is above 21 years old, a general immigration regime will apply to them.

Who is considered to be an extended family member?

Other family members who have not been included in the list above will not be considered when applying to get an eu residence permit or an eu residence permit visa. The person you will think to get access through this route should have connivance.
Relatives of the EU citizen will have to follow these requirements:

• The individual who is an EU national take full responsibility for the relative.
• If a person in the family circle has any health issues, they will be under the care of the EU national.

It is important to note that you might have applied for an eu residence permit visa and fall in any category, but the immigration office can deny you the visa. Sometimes immigration officials are strict and will take extra precautions when handing out the permit.

What are the primary legal aspects of the procedure and renewal of a residence card?

• Renewal of the permit will occur in the nearest immigration office close to you or in your Autonomic region.
• You will have 90 days to process the card after entering any Spanish territory.
• The residency and work authorization is valid for five years from the day of issue. The card’s truth will be in the 5-year time frame.
• The card is valid only if you live in Spain as an EU national. It is due to the requirement that you as the EU national should take full responsibility for the non-EU national or his spouse.
• For renewal, you are needed to do it in telematics means. It is important to note that when renewing the card, the EU citizen who assisted you in applying should still be a Spanish national. The close bond should therefore be valid.
• If you are a community citizen, you can stay out of any Spanish territory for as long as possible. For non-EU citizens who applied for a Spanish visa and moved out of Spain for more than six months will have their card expired or lost. The renewal will not be so straightforward as you will be asked to produce the initial one.

Is there a difference between civil union and residency as a relative?

In a true sense, they are not the same, and most people will confuse both of these scenarios. You can use a civil union to attain residence authorization and residency to achieve a civil union in Spain. It is a way you can obtain to get a Spanish visa. It is why most couples will register as a civil union. It will give the non-EU national the right to register using this procedure.
To get residency in Spain as a relative of an EU citizen, you will be required to form a civil union.

What are the requirements to get a citizen visa for a family member?

The requirements are simple to adhere to. If you have a relative or partner, it will be direct for you as you will avoid presenting certain documents which you would suggest if you were applying for other permits.

Will the requirements you will need to meet to apply for a visa be the same as you will need to meet when you want to apply for permanent residence and work authorization?

• The EU citizen must reside in Spain, which is interpreted as living in Spain for more than 183 days of an average year.
• If you accompany or join a citizen in Spain, you will live with them.
• The EU citizen must be working and have adequate funds. It means that the EU citizen will be certified.
• As of August 2018 having health insurance is not a requirement. Universal health is accepted.
• You must prove that there is an emotional tie to prove that you are in a civil union with the EU national.

What are the exact numbers that you will need?

This will assist you in getting to know if you have enough funds.
It will be dictated by the number of relatives you have and the number you can take to Spain.

• If you have one relative, you will need to earn € 627.13 per month or € 8779.82 yearly.
• If you have two relatives, you will need to make € 885.36 per month or € 12,395.04 annually.
• You will need to earn € 1143.59 per month or € 16,010.26 yearly if you have three relatives.
• You will need to make € 1401.82 per month or € 19625.48 annually if you have four relatives.
• If you have five relatives you will need to earn € 1660.05 or € 23,240.70 per year.

How will you know that there is a TIE between relatives?

It is a crucial procedure in your application for EU residency. It is a legal requirement that the TIE between relatives is valid to avoid manipulating the system.
The best way to ascertain that TIE is authentic will depend on the relationship:

• Spouse

If you have a legal marriage and are an EU citizen, but your partner is not an EU citizen, you must meet the following requirement.

1. All the certificates should be from Spain, where one of the spouses is an EU citizen.
2. If the certificate is from another country, it must be accompanied by an additional registry.
   If your marriage is not registered, you will be required to apply for an EU citizen visa for the family member. You will receive a two-year residency card.