# residence



## hobbitt1 (Mar 6, 2012)

Hi all, I am thinking of buying a house in spain that needs to be reformed. I have a brother that is a builder, the question i have is: as he has a criminal record and has served 18 months in prison in England in the nineties (has been a good boy since) will this impact on him securing a residence permit. Although the work he will be doing falls within the time allowed for a EU citizen to stay in Spain he has been thinking of moving there for work aswell, any help would be appreciated


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## djfwells (Sep 28, 2009)

As an EU resident traveling on an EU passport to another EU country he will be ok


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

djfwells said:


> As an EU resident traveling on an EU passport to another EU country he will be ok


..........and if he decides to stay & live here after the 90 days (which I imagine is what the OP means by 'time allowed' ) he won't need a 'permit' - he'd just have to sign on the resident list


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

hobbitt1 said:


> Hi all, I am thinking of buying a house in spain that needs to be reformed. I have a brother that is a builder, the question i have is: as he has a criminal record and has served 18 months in prison in England in the nineties (has been a good boy since) will this impact on him securing a residence permit. Although the work he will be doing falls within the time allowed for a EU citizen to stay in Spain he has been thinking of moving there for work aswell, any help would be appreciated


As other posters have intimated, there is no such this as a "residence permit" - certainly not for EU nationals anyway.

All he, and you, have to do is to sign onto the list of foreigners. You then get a green sheet of A4 paper (in some areas this is now a lot smaller) - woweeee:clap2: This is commonly (and incorrectly) referred to as a 'residencia'.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

snikpoh said:


> As other posters have intimated, there is no such this as a "residence permit" - certainly not for EU nationals anyway.
> 
> All he, and you, have to do is to sign onto the list of foreigners. You then get a green sheet of A4 paper (in some areas this is now a lot smaller) - woweeee:clap2: This is commonly (and incorrectly) referred to as a 'residencia'.


mind you - he's thinking of moving here for work.............


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Make sure you and he are both up to date on the building rules and regulations for houses in Spain - cos they're nothing like the UK

Jo xxx


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

jojo said:


> Make sure you and he are both up to date on the building rules and regulations for houses in Spain - cos they're nothing like the UK
> 
> Jo xxx


JoJo is quite correct. In some areas (like where we live) it is illegal to put in a damp proof course.


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## Lunar-Tech (Nov 21, 2011)

xabiachica said:


> mind you - he's thinking of moving here for work.............


The green paper is known as a NIE you need it to open a bank account buy property and all official business

He is entitled to work here. He can even get jobseekers allowance paid here for a while if its the case that he is unemployed in the UK.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Lunar-Tech said:


> The green paper is known as a NIE you need it to open a bank account buy property and all official business
> 
> He is entitled to work here. He can even get jobseekers allowance paid here for a while if its the case that he is unemployed in the UK.


It isnt that easy. First of all he would be working - on his brothers house so he couldnt claim legally! As for claiming JSA in Spain, you have to have been claiming JSA for a few months in the UK before you can attempt to transfer it then its incredibly complicated to get it transfered and to sign every fortnight - the Spanish officials tend not to agree to it - end! In any case its for a limited period and isnt enough to live on in Spain. 

Yes he is entitled to work, but there isnt much at all. The green certificate is NIE/residencia and you can open a non residents bank account without it, but you do need it for a residents account and as you say, to buy large items and utilities

Jo xxx


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

actually - has anyone been to get just a NIE as a non-resident recently?

what colour is that??


my original NIE is white - that's from the days when certain 'categories' of people didn't _have to_ apply for old-style residencia

my shiny 'new' resident cert. which we are _all_ supposed to get if resident, is green - & of course has my NIE on it - the same number too, of course


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

xabiachica said:


> actually - has anyone been to get just a NIE as a non-resident recently?
> 
> what colour is that??
> 
> ...


 I have a friend who only had an NIE number. She didnt get a certificate and was told it was only valid for 3 months

Jo xxx


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

jojo said:


> I have a friend who only had an NIE number. She didnt get a certificate and was told it was only valid for 3 months
> 
> Jo xxx


I've heard of that - we only had NIEs for years until the law changed with the new 'residencia' - but ours was 'for life'


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## Lunar-Tech (Nov 21, 2011)

jojo said:


> It isnt that easy. First of all he would be working - on his brothers house so he couldnt claim legally! As for claiming JSA in Spain, you have to have been claiming JSA for a few months in the UK before you can attempt to transfer it then its incredibly complicated to get it transfered and to sign every fortnight - the Spanish officials tend not to agree to it - end! In any case its for a limited period and isnt enough to live on in Spain.
> 
> Yes he is entitled to work, but there isnt much at all. The green certificate is NIE/residencia and you can open a non residents bank account without it, but you do need it for a residents account and as you say, to buy large items and utilities
> 
> Jo xxx


Nothing is ever easy with Spanish officialdom !!!!!

If he wasn't getting paid for working on his brothers house other than in leu of rent, then he could claim legally as long as he was actively seeking work! 
But as you say there's not much work around for anyone but he may get lucky though! 

I wanted to make give you some useful links the rules don't allow me yet!


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

Lunar-Tech said:


> I wanted to make give you some useful links the rules don't allow me yet!




Have a quick look at the rules though before you do won't you 
Thanks


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## Lunar-Tech (Nov 21, 2011)

Stravinsky said:


> Have a quick look at the rules though before you do won't you
> Thanks


OK!


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Lunar-Tech said:


> Nothing is ever easy with Spanish officialdom !!!!!
> 
> If he wasn't getting paid for working on his brothers house other than in leu of rent, then he could claim legally as long as he was actively seeking work!
> But as you say there's not much work around for anyone but he may get lucky though!
> ...


we have lots of useful links in the 'useful links' sticky above............the ones you want might well be already there .............


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Lunar-Tech said:


> Nothing is ever easy with Spanish officialdom !!!!!
> 
> If he wasn't getting paid for working on his brothers house other than in leu of rent, then he could claim legally as long as he was actively seeking work!


.... and prove it!!? Legally claim is one thing, getting the people at INEM to honour it or even get involved is a different matter. You can only claim it for a few weeks, which by the time you've managed to argue, photocopy, beg, the funcionarios.. it would all be too late! I've yet to hear of anyone who has managed to do it - unless you know different?????


Jo xxx


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## Lunar-Tech (Nov 21, 2011)

xabiachica said:


> we have lots of useful links in the 'useful links' sticky above............the ones you want might well be already there .............


No they are not there I had a look! 
Still not enough posts so you will have to google them

Here is a websites to explain your entitlement as an EU Citizen.

europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/work/job-search/social-security/index_en.htm]Right to benefits - Your Europe - Citizens

And if you still have problems when the Spanish don't play fair (unrecognized qualifications etc.
ec.europa.eu/solvit/site/success/index_en.htm

Or if they really don't play fair!!

ec.europa.eu/eu_law/your_rights/your_rights_forms_en.htm]Application of EU law - Making a complaint

As I said before though nothing is ever easy when it comes to spanish officialdom !
Well not here in Huelva anyway !


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

Lunar-Tech said:


> The green paper is known as a NIE you need it to open a bank account buy property and all official business
> 
> He is entitled to work here. He can even get jobseekers allowance paid here for a while if its the case that he is unemployed in the UK.


No, I'm afraid you are mistaken.

NIE's on their own are still issued on white paper (I helped get one recently) and, by definition almost, last forever!

The green paper is simply proof of being registered on the list of foreigners and is commonly known as a residencia. This will ALWAYS have the NIE on it.


For people applying for a residencia and not already having an NIE, this can be done in one step.


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## hobbitt1 (Mar 6, 2012)

Thank you to everyone who replied to my question concerning residence all replies have been very helpful, regards to all


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

snikpoh said:


> No, I'm afraid you are mistaken.
> 
> NIE's on their own are still issued on white paper (I helped get one recently) and, by definition almost, last forever!
> 
> ...


ah - the NIE on it's own is still white then


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Lunar-Tech said:


> No they are not there I had a look!
> Still not enough posts so you will have to google them
> 
> Here is a websites to explain your entitlement as an EU Citizen.
> ...


hardly relevant to the topic we are (meant to be) discussing - but possibly useful otherwise - so I'll put it in the sticky


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

jojo said:


> I have a friend who only had an NIE number. She didnt get a certificate and was told it was only valid for 3 months
> 
> Jo xxx


I've been pondering..................

maybe she should have been given a white one & they meant that after 3 months if she's living here she should go back & get a green one :confused2:


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## Lunar-Tech (Nov 21, 2011)

xabiachica said:


> hardly relevant to the topic we are (meant to be) discussing - but possibly useful otherwise - so I'll put it in the sticky


??? The guy was asking about whether it was ok to come working and living here!


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Lunar-Tech said:


> ??? The guy was asking about whether it was ok to come working and living here!


he hardly needs a link to that website to get an answer to _that _ question

we'd answered him long before you logged on...............


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

xabiachica said:


> I've been pondering..................
> 
> maybe she should have been given a white one & they meant that after 3 months if she's living here she should go back & get a green one :confused2:


Maybe??? She did get something, I cant remember what. But I definitely remember them telling her it was only valid for three months cos I questioned that, saying that the number would always be hers anyway??? She wasnt too worried cos her husband has an NIE/residencia and she only wanted hers so that she could have the car insured in her name?!

Jo xxx


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## natalieml (May 9, 2010)

NIE - OMG!!!

I applied for my NIE at the Spanish Consulate in London in the July before we were due to move here in the December. The reason I needed one was to put my car in Spanish plates as we had a LHD on UK plates and as the car was in my name it was cheaper to put it in my name on Spanish plates otherwise there are new owner registration charges etc...

So after applying for my NIE in July nothing has arriveed by the end of October. The Spanish Consulate informed me that it should hyave arrived and therefore as I hadn't received it I would need to write to Madrid and request they re-send it out. Apparently in Madrid the use of phones or e-mail is not happening and you can only request by letter so that's what I did at the end of October.

By the end of January there is no sign of my NIE number and I need it to sort the car out so Jo suggests we go to Torremolinos Poice Station to get a copy as I am not allowed to apply for a new one becuase of course I have already been issued a NIE number.

Anyone still awake?

So off we go to the police station and request a copy - we are told that if it was applied for in July it would have expired as it is only valid for 3 months. Unbelieveably fror the Spanish they locate me in the computer and confirm that I have a number,they can see my number but it is expired and therefore I have to pay again to have it reinstated. 

Once reinstated it is only valid for 3 months. So I question that I need it for my car insurance and what do I do next year when the renewal id due. We were told you have the same number for life however it is only valid for 3 months but nobody will ever check if it is valid so go ahead and use it to renew the insurance next year.

What kind of crazy system is this?

On another note after my 3 visits to the police station to get the NIE as you have to go back the day after you pay to collect the documement my one from Madrid arrived the sameweek! Dated October it arrived in February so in theory wouldnt have been valid.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

natalieml said:


> NIE - OMG!!!
> 
> I applied for my NIE at the Spanish Consulate in London in the July before we were due to move here in the December. The reason I needed one was to put my car in Spanish plates as we had a LHD on UK plates and as the car was in my name it was cheaper to put it in my name on Spanish plates otherwise there are new owner registration charges etc...
> 
> ...


was it the same number???


all this probably explains why non-residents can't get NIEs from outside spain any more unless the purchase or inheritance of property is involved


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## natalieml (May 9, 2010)

Yes it was the same number and also the white piece of paper.

I could apply from UK but it had to be sent to a Spanish address.





xabiachica said:


> was it the same number???
> 
> 
> all this probably explains why non-residents can't get NIEs from outside spain any more unless the purchase or inheritance of property is involved


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

natalieml said:


> Yes it was the same number and also the white piece of paper.
> 
> I could apply from UK but it had to be sent to a Spanish address.


so that confirms that the NIE _number_ is for life 

this was a couple of years ago, wasn't it?

you can't apply from outside Spain now - it changed sometime last year


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

xabiachica said:


> so that confirms that the NIE _number_ is for life
> 
> this was a couple of years ago, wasn't it?
> 
> you can't apply from outside Spain now - it changed sometime last year


So why are people being told that it 'runs out' after 3 months. It sounds very much like the situation with the padron - your on it (theoretically) for life but the paperwork showing it must be fairly recent to be of any use.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

snikpoh said:


> So why are people being told that it 'runs out' after 3 months. It sounds very much like the situation with the padron - your on it (theoretically) for life but the paperwork showing it must be fairly recent to be of any use.


I guess it might just be that

or maybe they are telling people that so that after 3 months they go back for another one - then if they are actually _living_ in Spain they need to register as resident...............

let's face it, if they aren't living in Spain they aren't likely to go back, are they?


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