# The Experiences Of A Dude In His 30's Moving To Spain



## David1979 (Feb 15, 2013)

I've thought about doing a thread like this since I moved out here at the end of June, and hope that by describing my experiences and how I've went about things here (both the right & wrong ways!) that I may be of assistance.

I'll be describing the process of getting my NIE number, setting up business, applying for residency, buying a Spanish car, swapping my UK driving licence for a Spanish equivalent and so on.

I'll also throw in some of the less than ideal situations that I find myself in, the problems I encounter, and how I deal with the Spanish way of life!

Hopefully this will be of assistance to anyone looking to make the move, and provide some of our more experienced members a bit of a chuckle!

The first entry will be posted soon...


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

David1979 said:


> I've thought about doing a thread like this since I moved out here at the end of June, and hope that by describing my experiences and how I've went about things here (both the right & wrong ways!) that I may be of assistance.
> 
> I'll be describing the process of getting my NIE number, setting up business, applying for residency, buying a Spanish car, swapping my UK driving licence for a Spanish equivalent and so on.
> 
> ...


Great!
Any up to date info is welcome.
Roll on episode 1


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## cyclequeen (Oct 5, 2012)

Yes David I will be watching your posts with interest too as we moved here same time as you


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## Lolito (Aug 25, 2012)

Pics as well, pleaseeee !


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

That will be invaluable for new immigrants as well as entertaining!


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## webmarcos (Dec 25, 2012)

Sounds a great idea!


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Adds to the wealth of information. - Great Idea


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## Addixxtion (Jul 28, 2013)

This would be fantastic as I'm 31 and waiting on a job in GiB but thinking about living in La Duquesa if anyone lives there please let me know what you think of the area and any good estate agents for long term rentals etc, thanks.


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## Sirtravelot (Jul 20, 2011)

I'd laugh if we never heard from TS again.


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## David1979 (Feb 15, 2013)

Okay, the first entry to my Spanish journal will be my journey to attain *a bank account and an NIE number.*

My bank of choice was Santander. All I required for opening a basic account, which I needed for paying my monthly rent, utility bills and suchlike, was;

*Passport
Property rental agreement*

*You do not require an NIE number to open a bank account.*

Now, on to the issue of the NIE number.

First of all, I should probably point out that I had my Abogado sort out the paperwork for me, so when I left his office I had the form (an EX-15 I believe) filled in for me, and a photocopy of the form itself and my passport, along with a payment form (790).

Payment of *€9.27* was made to my local bank (in this case it was BBVA, although any bank will do the job).

Living in Benalmadena, my local national police station (it has to be a _national_ police station) was in Torremolinos.

I'd been advised that attending early is the best option, which is true as the police station is open from 9am until 2pm.

I arrived at around 8:30am, and a queue had already began forming outside the gate. There was a brief instance of chaos as people arrived late and positioned themselves outside the gate, appearing to completely dismiss the queue altogether, which upset a few of the people who had been waiting (understandably).

Once the gate opened the officer asked for the Spanish citizens who were waiting to pick up passports to come forward (these were the people who weren't wanting to stand in line), then he asked for the rest of us to come forward.

There was a line for foreigners, and a line for Spanish nationals. By this time I had my form filled in, all the required photocopies, and my payment form.

I was met at the desk by a woman, who informed me that I had to make an appointment. This was an appointment to submit my NIE form, which was given for ten days later for 9:15am.

*Now, I'd like to point out that if I had the chance to redo the process I would have rang the station earlier and made the appointment in advance of getting the required forms and having them filled in, speeding up the process rather than me having made a somewhat wasted trip and having to sit kicking my heels for ten days.*

Anyway, I returned to the station ten days later, repeating the process of arriving before 9am for my appointment at 9:15am.

The gate was opened, my forms were taken and I was shown to a seat in a waiting room, where I sat until 10:45am before being given another appointment to come in and pick up my NIE number. This appointment was for the following Monday (I was there on the Friday). It wasn't time-specific.

Now, I've seen various posts and information given regarding what is required for this process. Below is a list of what I had to take, and what was asked of me;

*NIE application form, filled in & signed, plus a copy
Payment form, filled in and stamped after payment at BBVA bank
Passport and copy*

I've seen it mentioned that passport photos are needed. This wasn't the case for me.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

The process varies. At Estepona Police Station we needed passport photos, birth certificates and form downloaded from stickies.
Process took an hour.


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## David1979 (Feb 15, 2013)

mrypg9 said:


> The process varies. At Estepona Police Station we needed passport photos, birth certificates and form downloaded from stickies.
> Process took an hour.


When did you apply for your NIE though?


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

When we opened our bank account we had to have an NIE. This was nearly three years ago so things might have changed. It happens in Spain.


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

David1979 said:


> When did you apply for your NIE though?


Why have you applied for an NIE and not go for the 'residencia' straight away?


You will now have to go through the whole process again for the 'residencia' which (legally) you should get within the first 90 days. I think it's form EX-18 (but I could be wrong).

Having gone for the NIE first, you will end up paying twice unfortunately.

Going for the 'residencia' straight away also gets you your NIE but costs less in terms of money and time - but you will need more paperwork.


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## David1979 (Feb 15, 2013)

snikpoh said:


> Why have you applied for an NIE and not go for the 'residencia' straight away?


It was all to do with freeing up finances from back home, which will allow me to meet the criteria required to qualify for residence. I didn't have that kind of money initially, but I still required access to telephone, internet and a mobile phone service, which all requires an NIE.

You're right, I will have to pay twice, but sometimes that's how it goes I guess.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

David1979 said:


> When did you apply for your NIE though?


Must have been December 2008. Got Residencia at the same time. 
Gestor defo not needed! We went at 08.30, got a ticket and were home by 11.00.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

thrax said:


> When we opened our bank account we had to have an NIE. This was nearly three years ago so things might have changed. It happens in Spain.


We didn't in December 2008.

Tbh, the whole registration etc.process was a doddle compared to the hoops I had to jump through and bribes paid to get Residency in the Czech Republic.


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## David1979 (Feb 15, 2013)

mrypg9 said:


> Must have been December 2008. Got Residencia at the same time.
> Gestor defo not needed! We went at 08.30, got a ticket and were home by 11.00.


Yeah, I'd also say that a Gestor wasn't needed, but I simply couldn't be doing with the paperwork at the time. I had other more important things to be dealing with, so the Abogado who will be doing my taxes, licencing and suchlike offered to sort it out for me.

I have a feeling that the reason it was such a long, drawn-out process for me was because I did it at the height of summer. 

Anyway, that's my first entry to the thread. Hopefully the information will come in handy to someone at some point.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

David1979 said:


> Yeah, I'd also say that a Gestor wasn't needed, but I simply couldn't be doing with the paperwork at the time. I had other more important things to be dealing with, so the Abogado who will be doing my taxes, licencing and suchlike offered to sort it out for me.
> 
> I have a feeling that the reason it was such a long, drawn-out process for me was because I did it at the height of summer.
> 
> Anyway, that's my first entry to the thread. Hopefully the information will come in handy to someone at some point.


It all seems to vary so much, not just from region to region or province to province but from town to town.
When we were waiting at the Estepona Police Station, a British couple stood behind us with a gestor in tow. They had 'posh' voices, the sort used to giving commands that are obeyed, so I was dead chuffed when the nice Senora at the desk curtly told the gestor to go away and wait like everyone else when he tried to queue jump. I think I began to really like Spain at that point.
The nice Senora also spoke fluent English which was helpful as my Spanish consisted then of few words, none applicable to such situations.
So the well-heeled English couple had wasted their money....

When I went to get Residency at the Foreign Police in Prague, a badly-dressed woman stinking of B.O. insisted that, as an American, I should go to my Embassy for a visa...all this while holding my British passport in her sweaty paw.
After two attempts, the second with a Czech friend to help which ended abruptly with my friend shouting abuse and throwing balls of crumpled paper through sheer frustration at the officials, I gave up and paid an agency/bribe of a couple of £hundred to get what should have been given free of charge.

So I don't pay much attention to moans and whinges about Spanish 'bureaucracy'.


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

Well in 2010 our experience was that the bank required an NIE so we got one but we got the wrong type, a temp NIE which lasted for 3 months. Everything was fine until I went to the bank to draw out the rent and it refused. I went in and complained and was told that a temp NIE only allowed the bank to give us a 3 month service. We required the full NIE/residencia which we duly got and since then all has been fine. It took a further two weeks to get the full NIE but the bank were very kind, they told us that if we went into the branch any time we wanted to withdraw cash they would temporarily (see, I can spell it) open the account for 5 minutes to allow us to access our money... If there was a queue we had to do the whole thing over again.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Our experience:

Being totally ignorant of all things bureaucratic (why is that word so d*mned difficult to spell?) where Spain is concerned (it rapidly becomes a sharp learning curve!) in June 2006 when we first set about looking at property (casually at the time - we still had to find the money for a deposit!) we engaged the services of another Brit who knew the ropes. She took us to the provincial capital (Jaén) and to the relevant office. An hour later we had our NIEs which, at the time, we needed to open a bank account.

Went to Alcalá la Real to open a bank account. Not really having any particular preference, we went to a name that we had heard of - Santander. English (I am but SWMBO who speaks perfect Spanish is Colombian) must have plenty of money (wrong again) so the Manager decided to deal with our case, personally.

He made a complete and utter c*ck-up of the whole shebang so that not only couldn't we open an account with Santander, the Banco de España blocked our opening an account with any bank in Spain for three months. Since we couldn't look seriously at properties, we continued looking but more with the object of identifying areas that were desirable (to us) and also the undesirable. Back in September, opened a non-resident account (with another bank!) and started looking seriously...

Subsequently bought our house and moved November 2008. Registered as residents, converted our bank account to a Resident one and so on


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## Guest (Aug 7, 2013)

baldilocks said:


> Our experience:
> Since we couldn't look seriously at properties, we continued looking but more with the object of identifying areas that were desirable (to us) and also the undesirable.


That is the best advice I ever received regarding buying a house. As U.S. (real) estate agents often say: "it's location, location, location!".


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

mysticsmick said:


> That is the best advice I ever received regarding buying a house. As U.S. (real) estate agents often say: "it's location, location, location!".


I'm sure 've heard that somewhere before, Mick


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

mysticsmick said:


> That is the best advice I ever received regarding buying a house. As U.S. (real) estate agents often say: "it's location, location, location!".


But you first need to have clear in your mind what is it about a location that makes it desirable to *you* (YOU, the person who is going to sink his/her money into the property not the estate agent or the seller) and, more importantly, what makes it undesirable and that, as much as anything else, is about understanding the people who are going to be most affected by your choice of location - YOU and YOURS! So many people don't really know themselves and act on a whim that might be relevant at that moment only to realise disappointment days, weeks, months, even years, later.


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## bob_bob (Jan 5, 2011)

Lets leave Dave to write this 'blog' and not fill it with stories from years ago. This thread will be very useful to people looking at moving so lets not confuse things with old tales.


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## Navas (Sep 2, 2012)

bob_bob said:


> Lets leave Dave to write this 'blog' and not fill it with stories from years ago. This thread will be very useful to people looking at moving so lets not confuse things with old tales.


Hm...I wonder if it might be better for Dave to set up a proper blog elsewhere and then link to it from here whenever he updates it? This forum is probably not the best place to avoid 'thread-drift'


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Navas said:


> Hm...I wonder if it might be better for Dave to set up a proper blog elsewhere and then link to it from here whenever he updates it? This forum is probably not the best place to avoid 'thread-drift'


this or any forum really - forums are intended for discussion after all!!


the OP could start a blog elsewhere & put a link to it as a signature - then whenever he joins in other discussions the link to the blog will always be there


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## David1979 (Feb 15, 2013)

I'm not really fussed about starting a blog about the subject to be honest. I'll just post updates in this thread and if they get lost in the mix then so be it.


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## David1979 (Feb 15, 2013)

For anyone who's interested I'm still here, fighting the good fight and all that! 

Not had much time to post a full report of how I'm doing, but everything is going according to plan. I've had to put the tattoo shop on the backburner for present because I've been offered some photography work that will see me through until early next year, and it was too good to turn down if I'm honest. A free working holiday to Florence next month is just the first of a few excursions I should hopefully be taking part in.

A lot of it will involve travel around Europe, and some work here in Spain, so we'll see how that goes.

My partner has also landed a job in a School in Malaga doing a bit of teaching, which is also good.

We also got rid of our UK car, and bought a Spanish car, so we're all sorted on that front (our first convertible!)

Things are ticking along nicely for now


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

David1979 said:


> For anyone who's interested I'm still here, fighting the good fight and all that!
> 
> Not had much time to post a full report of how I'm doing, but everything is going according to plan. I've had to put the tattoo shop on the backburner for present because I've been offered some photography work that will see me through until early next year, and it was too good to turn down if I'm honest. A free working holiday to Florence next month is just the first of a few excursions I should hopefully be taking part in.
> 
> ...


Glad you're still around and progressing. Please keep us posted.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

David1979 said:


> For anyone who's interested I'm still here, fighting the good fight and all that!
> 
> Not had much time to post a full report of how I'm doing, but everything is going according to plan. I've had to put the tattoo shop on the backburner for present because I've been offered some photography work that will see me through until early next year, and it was too good to turn down if I'm honest. A free working holiday to Florence next month is just the first of a few excursions I should hopefully be taking part in.
> 
> ...


Glad you're still around and progressing. Please keep us posted.


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

I really like what you are doing, something I have done but only for me to read (it's full of sentimental baldilocks). We are often down your way (I'm blind so go to Specsavers in Ferengirola -sorry ST fans) but we take our young chap to the butterfly park in Bene quite often so maybe if you are up for it we could meet up and I could tell folk on here if it is really you in the pic lol. I won't be at all offended if you say no - I am so used to it from the OH....


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Must be telepathy..I was thinking about you yesterday. Glad to hear all is well with you both.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

David1979 said:


> For anyone who's interested I'm still here, fighting the good fight and all that!
> 
> Not had much time to post a full report of how I'm doing, but everything is going according to plan. I've had to put the tattoo shop on the backburner for present because I've been offered some photography work that will see me through until early next year, and it was too good to turn down if I'm honest. A free working holiday to Florence next month is just the first of a few excursions I should hopefully be taking part in.
> 
> ...


It all sounds good!!


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