# Definitive advice on notifying change of address needed



## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

A couple of months ago I asked for advice on this subject as we've been at our new address for almost six months now and haven't notified the change. I was told that I'd have to go to the policia to notify about NIE and Residencia, the ,local Town Hall for the Padron and the local Seg.Soc. for my Seg. Soc. number so I got all dressed up and ready to go when........a Spanish friend told me there was no need to do anything. We discussed this for some time and he was adamant so not wishing to get up again at the crack of dawn to queue at the Policia I looked on the internet and again found conflicting advice. I 4eventually found a Spanish Govt. website with a form to fill in to notify Cambio de domicilio but it requested a Thawte certificate and after spending an hour unsuccessfully attempting to acquire said certificate I'm back to Square One.
So.....do I or don't I need to notify all three places -policia, Ayuntamiento and Seg. Soc in person?
Can someone who has actually done all this please help?


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## Hombre (Sep 10, 2009)

mrypg9 said:


> A couple of months ago I asked for advice on this subject as we've been at our new address for almost six months now and haven't notified the change. I was told that I'd have to go to the policia to notify about NIE and Residencia, the ,local Town Hall for the Padron and the local Seg.Soc. for my Seg. Soc. number so I got all dressed up and ready to go when........a Spanish friend told me there was no need to do anything. We discussed this for some time and he was adamant so not wishing to get up again at the crack of dawn to queue at the Policia I looked on the internet and again found conflicting advice. I 4eventually found a Spanish Govt. website with a form to fill in to notify Cambio de domicilio but it requested a Thawte certificate and after spending an hour unsuccessfully attempting to acquire said certificate I'm back to Square One.
> So.....do I or don't I need to notify all three places -policia, Ayuntamiento and Seg. Soc in person?
> Can someone who has actually done all this please help?


We just notified the Ayuntamiento.. may be worth asking there if the other two have to be told.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Hombre said:


> We just notified the Ayuntamiento.. may be worth asking there if the other two have to be told.


Thanks I've just been told the same by an English aquaintance.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

mrypg9 said:


> Thanks I've just been told the same by an English aquaintance.



Thats the only place I've told, however, do we/should we notify "Traffico" for the car????

I didnt answer your post mrypg9, cos I wasnt too sure myself 

Jo xxx


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## Hombre (Sep 10, 2009)

jojo said:


> Thats the only place I've told, however, do we/should we notify "Traffico" for the car????
> 
> I didnt answer your post mrypg9, cos I wasnt too sure myself
> 
> Jo xxx


When you inform the Ayuntamiento, they obviously alter their records. They also show the new address on the the receipt of payment of your road tax. When you have the car MOT'd (ITV) then the office at the testing station will presumably alter their records accordingly.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

mrypg9 said:


> I 4eventually found a Spanish Govt. website with a form to fill in to notify Cambio de domicilio but it requested a Thawte certificate and after spending an hour unsuccessfully attempting to acquire said certificate I'm back to Square One.


What is this certificate??


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Pesky Wesky said:


> What is this certificate??



I have no idea. I am virtually IT illiterate.
It's a miracle that I can even access and post on this site.....


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

mrypg9 said:


> I have no idea. I am virtually IT illiterate.
> It's a miracle that I can even access and post on this site.....


And to think, I had no idea I was witnessing a miracle every time you post mrypg9!!


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Pesky Wesky said:


> And to think, I had no idea I was witnessing a miracle every time you post mrypg9!!


O ye of little faith...


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Well, now I know.......
I finally stirred my posterior and went down to our local Ayuntamiento. They required all sorts of documents - copy of passport, copy of NIE/Residencia, proof of new address, bills from Aguagest or Endesa -fortunately I had anticipated all this and had the documents with me.
I was told I do NOT need to notify the Policia Extranjera.
But I do need to notify the Seg.Soc.
I am overwhelmed by the difference I've experienced with dealing with bureaucracy here as compared to the Czech Republic. There it seems that the officials are happy if they can send you away because of some minor, trivial defect in your paperwork -I was once told a document was invalid because of a 1mm tear at the very top....Offices there are gloomy, smelly (as are the staff) whereas here I've found the opposite. It seems that the people you deal with are aware of the complications of their bureaucracy and want to help you successfully get through it. 
Cheerful, helpful, smiling people, light, clean, pleasant offices and waiting rooms and no hour-long waiting either. It obviously helped that I could communicate adequately in Spanish, albeit ungrammatical but then I could do the same in Czech and that didn't expedite matters.
In the end I paid an Agent over £400 to complete all the paperwork so I could get temporary residence and register with the soc.sec. system.
All it cost me here was a coffee afterwards at the adjacent cafe.
I know other people will have had less pleasant experiences but as far as I'm concerned it's Viva Espana!!!!


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

mrypg9 said:


> Well, now I know.......
> I finally stirred my posterior and went down to our local Ayuntamiento. They required all sorts of documents - copy of passport, copy of NIE/Residencia, proof of new address, bills from Aguagest or Endesa -fortunately I had anticipated all this and had the documents with me.
> I was told I do NOT need to notify the Policia Extranjera.
> But I do need to notify the Seg.Soc.
> ...


Thanks for posting the info - I like to get to the end of the story, and I'm glad it was a "good" experience for you. I think, slowly, government offices are getting better, but the local "juzgados" here is a fairly new building and from day one was inadequate. The waiting room is miniscule. The place where they attend the public is dark, dirty walls with notices stuck up with sellotape... just dingy in general. For some things you're given an appointment and for others not, but it doesn't matter because you're still seen by the same person behind the same window... and you still have queue of course.
For soc. sec. or tax issues I have to go to El Escorial and it's a lovely road with trees and fields on either side, mountains in the background and you might go near the monestary depending on where you're going. The offices are bursting at the seams, but they're trying to grow and have provided more chairs and a better number system.
I've been to some places in Madrid that are really depressing...


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Pesky Wesky said:


> I've been to some places in Madrid that are really depressing...


But in comparison, ANY Government office in Prague is like the antechamber of hell..
I'm curious to see what happens if I ever have to visit our local medical centre, though. Each time I've passed it's been jam-packed inside with about a dozen smokers outside.
Is it usual to do an appointment system here as in the UK, do you know?
Or do you just turn up with all volumes of 'War and Peace' and wait, as in the CR?
I once listened to the whole of Act Two of 'La Boheme' on my IPod waiting in a queue at our local post office in Roztoky. When I got to the head of the queue I was told I was in the wrong queue and I had to join another queue where I waited long enough to hear all of Beethoven's nine symphonies....And I only wanted to buy a stamp.
AS you can tell from the number of times I mention it in my posts, my experiences in the CR have left an indelible mark on me.
Not all bad, though.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

mrypg9 said:


> I once listened to the whole of Act Two of 'La Boheme' on my IPod waiting in a queue at our local post office in Roztoky. When I got to the head of the queue I was told I was in the wrong queue and I had to join another queue where I waited long enough to hear all of Beethoven's nine symphonies....And I only wanted to buy a stamp.
> AS you can tell from the number of times I mention it in my posts, my experiences in the CR have left an indelible mark on me.
> Not all bad, though.


Ha ha ha   

Yeah, I think I can tell just why you're so happy in Spain!! Everything's relative I suppose.

I think in general the staff in these government offices have got better over the years and are better trained. However, I know people who have had tremendous problems with the paperwork involved in getting Spanish Nationality and things have often gone wrong due to the office workers incompetence. The most recent example is an American Algerian family and to get the whole family done it's taken 4 years - and still counting!!
As far as the health service is concerned I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. Depending on the area it's usually possible to get an appointment on the same day or the next. It's appointment only. If there's something wrong with you they usually take some notice, if not, you can fall through the cracks. Needs an example I think. My 15 year old daughter has had mild to severe back pain for months now - almost a year. I find that very worrying in a young person. The doctor gave her two through examinations and than sent her for an x ray. The x ray came back, nothing wrong with the bones, therefore it's muscular, therefore anti inflamatories. Nothing to find out the cause of the muscular pain, only to ease the symptons. I don't think it's particularly Spanish I think it's doctors in western medicine. Anyway, it was useful to have the examination and the xray, but then I took her to a chiropracter and she's much better. But I have a friend with muliple sclerosis and her treatment is really very good.
You may have to wait a long time, but then you're used to it! There are waiting lists for specialists, but compared to the UK the system works much better. There's lots of info in other threads.
Anyway, have gone on a bit here. Hope you've managed to glean some useful info out of this


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Pesky Wesky said:


> Ha ha ha
> 
> 
> Anyway, have gone on a bit here. Hope you've managed to glean some useful info out of this


No, you didn't 'go on'. That info was useful and very reassuring. Now I'll get started on ensuring I know the Spanish terms for all parts of the anatomy, internal and external, plus how to describe symptoms.
At the end of the day how you are treated often comes down to individuals, not systems. My partner's mother has just died in a hospice in Glasgow. The staff were wonderful, kind, thoughtful, considerate.
The nurses in the hospital where she had been previously were also wonderful, in spite of being overworked.
Yet a friend who spent time in a NHS Trust hospital in East Anglia was so appalled by her experiences that she took out a subscription to BUPA, something she had always said she would never do as it was against her principles.
So maybe I'm just lucky in finding such nice people.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

mrypg9 said:


> No, you didn't 'go on'. That info was useful and very reassuring. Now I'll get started on ensuring I know the Spanish terms for all parts of the anatomy, internal and external, plus how to describe symptoms.
> At the end of the day how you are treated often comes down to individuals, not systems. So maybe I'm just lucky in finding such nice people.


I think you've hit the nail on the head there!


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