Public services and online portals

Key authorities

• Ayuntamiento (town hall): padrón municipal (compulsory for everyone who lives in Spain, in the municipality where they live for the longest part of the year), empadronamiento certificate, local taxes (IBI, plusvalía), sometimes social benefits and municipal nurseries.
• Policía Nacional* and *Oficinas de Extranjería (attached to the Delegaciones and Subdelegaciones del Gobierno): NIE, EU citizen registration certificate, TIE cards. See ES-SEJOUR-TOUS-001 and ES-NIF-TOUS-001.
• Agencia Tributaria (AEAT): NIF, tax returns (Renta, IVA), census of the self-employed. Exception: in the Basque Country and Navarre, it is the Diputaciones Forales and the Hacienda de Navarre.
• Seguridad Social: the TGSS (Tesorería General) assigns the Social Security number and handles registrations and contributions (Import@ss portal); the INSS (Instituto Nacional) recognises rights (care, pensions, family benefits). The reception centres are called CAISS.
• SEPE (Servicio Público de Empleo Estatal): unemployment benefits; registration as a jobseeker goes through the employment service of your autonomous community.
• DGT (Dirección General de Tráfico): driving licences, vehicle registration.
• Autonomous community: health service (health card, doctor), education (school admission), social housing, employment services.
• Registro Civil: births, marriages, deaths in Spain.

Online services

• NIE: it is your key to everything else. It appears on your EU citizen registration certificate.
• Social Security number: requested by your employer, or by yourself if you are self-employed or if the employer has not done it (form TA.1, at the TGSS office of your province, or online with an electronic certificate). It becomes your registration number.
• Cl@ve: public identifier for most administration websites. For an NIE holder, the remote route is the invitation letter: you request it online (the site asks you for the support number of your NIE document) and it arrives by post at your tax domicile known to the Agencia Tributaria. Video registration is for the moment reserved for Spanish citizens holding a DNI. You can also register in person at a registration office, or online if you already have an electronic certificate (for example the FNMT one): in both cases you obtain the "advanced" level, needed to sign with Cl@ve Firma (the invitation letter only gives the "basic" level). A foreign mobile number is accepted if it receives SMS messages from foreign operators.
• FNMT electronic certificate (free): online application, visit in person to an accreditation office (Agencia Tributaria, Seguridad Social, some town halls, often by appointment) with your application code; the download is possible straight after your identity has been accredited, on the same computer and with the same user as for the application. The video version (€2.99 + taxes) requires an electronic DNI: not for you.
• Cita previa (appointment): most offices see people by appointment. The administracion.gob.es portal brings the links together: extranjería (Delegaciones del Gobierno), Agencia Tributaria, Seguridad Social (CAISS), SEPE, DGT, civil registry, consulates.

Steps

1. Register on the padrón of your town hall as soon as you have an address.
2. Get your residence registration certificate (with your NIE) at the Oficina de Extranjería, by appointment.
3. Give your address to the Agencia Tributaria if it does not have it (tax domicile), to receive the Cl@ve letter.
4. Get your Social Security number (employer or TGSS).
5. Activate Cl@ve (invitation letter) or request the FNMT certificate (visit to an office).
6. Apply for your health card from your autonomous community (sheet ES-SANTE-TOUS-001), then the other procedures (school, licence, taxes).

Documents

• Passport or identity card from your country, to be carried on you: the law requires foreigners to keep their identity document and the document that proves their lawful residence.
• EU citizen registration certificate (with the NIE) or NIE assignment document.
• Empadronamiento certificate. The law on local government (art. 16) gives it no validity period: it is the administration requesting it that sets the age accepted. Check the date required for each procedure and ask for a recent one.

Costs and timelines

• Padrón, Cl@ve, Social Security number, FNMT certificate: free of charge. For the padrón, registration is an obligation (art. 15 of the law on local government); the town hall may charge for issuing a certificate if its tax ordinance provides for it (art. 20.4.a of the local finance law): check your town hall's website, the online certificate is often free.
• Appointment waiting times: very variable depending on the province, especially for extranjería.

Common pitfalls

• Waiting for the Cl@ve letter at the wrong address. It is sent to the tax domicile registered with the Agencia Tributaria, not to the padrón address.
• Only one NIE per mobile. A phone number can only be linked to one DNI/NIE in Cl@ve: plan one number per adult in the household.
• Getting someone to represent you at the Cl@ve office. In-person registration cannot be done by a third party. For the FNMT, a third party is only possible if your signature of the contract has been certified before a notary (a notarial power of attorney is not enough).
• Forgetting the padrón. It is the proof of residence required for school, health and residence.
• Basque Country and Navarre: for taxes, it is not the Agencia Tributaria. Canary Islands: the Agencia Tributaria Canaria handles the IGIC.

What changes by country of origin

• EU, EEA and Swiss citizens: for the FNMT, present your EU citizen certificate (or the NIE assignment document) with your passport or national identity card.
• British citizens (Scotland included) and other non-Europeans: for the FNMT, your TIE card (or the NIE assignment document) with your passport. Without long-term residence, your padrón registration must be renewed every two years, otherwise it may be cancelled.