Moving to Spain Checklist

When you have taken the final step and decided to leave everyone and everything behind in your country of origin, it’s time to start making a “Moving to Spain Checklist”. What things do you need to do? What do you need to take with you? Paperwork? Here some guidelines, although bear in mind that there might be a lot more to think of, depending on your country of origin.

Top categories in your “Moving to Spain Checklist”

Health

In Spain, there are two completely separate health systems:

1. Coverage through the Social Security system, managed and paid for by the Spanish Government
   Everyone who is an official citizen in Spain and makes some form of social security contribution, has the right to access the system. Everyone is accepted, regardless of age or medical status. In terms of medical assistance, they have a very good reputation, but are also unfortunately infamous for the extreme waiting lists for specialist appointments and operations.
2. Private health insurance companies
   These companies work by supply and demand. There are hardly any waiting lists and the hospitals are modern and offer higher standards of comfort and luxury, including a private room and bathroom for every patient, and a bed for a family member to stay the night. With private health insurance, the client can pick the specialist or hospital, find out where the best specialists are, obtain a second medical opinion in case of serious illnesses, etc. The downside is that you will only be accepted if you have no serious medical conditions. Existing medical problems will probably be excluded from coverage and the average age limit to enter this type of insurance is around 67 years.

In view of the above, make sure you take the following into account for your Moving to Spain Checklist:

• If older than 67, will the social security system be enough for you?
• If you have had serious medical care in the past, be sure to bring your medical file with you, preferably translated into English or Spanish, because private health insurance companies will request it and the social security system might need to know about it to be able to offer the appropriate treatment.
• If you’re already pregnant, you’ll have to take into account that the delivery won’t be covered by all private health insurance companies. You’ll have to either pay for the delivery yourself (normally between 2,500 – 5,000 euro depending on complications and the number of days you’ll have to stay in the hospital) or you can go down the route of the social security and give birth in a public hospital. If accepted by a private health insurance company, they do cover all the monthly check-ups.
• The hospitalisation cover offered by Caser Adapta + Dental and Caser Prestigio, however, includes childbirth at no extra cost. Caser Activa and Caser Integral also cover childbirth but it is subject to the corresponding co-payment. Don’t forget that waiting periods may apply, which means that if you’re pregnant when you take out the insurance, the hospitalisation cover for childbirth may not be valid. Check out the cover offered by Caser health insurance plans.

Car

For many people, their car is like a family member, so the need to take it with them to Spain tends to be big. Take into account that the process of importing a car in Spain is long and not always very clear. It may vary per region in Spain and it’s costly. The minimum costs, in case you import the car yourself, are around 500-600 euro, and this is when you don’t have to pay import taxes because your car is part of your household during the immigration process. If you do have to pay import taxes, the cost shoots up depending on the brand and the age of the car. Think twice before you decide to import your car to Spain.

If you decide to go down this route anyway, here are some points to bear in mind for your Moving to Spain Checklist:

• Make sure you have the vehicle's technical specifications document (provided by the vehicle manufacturer), complete with a Spanish translation.
• If you’re from the UK, you will have to change the lights due to the wrong direction. In this case, the process can be costly.
• If you recently passed the MOT in your country of residence, make sure you have proof of this to avoid having to repeat the process all over again in Spain.
• Make sure you have all the official paperwork of the car.

Further information on registering your car in Spain. 

Working in Spain 

Not all academic certificates in Spain are the same as those in other countries. Make sure you bring your certificates with you and bear in mind that, depending on the profession, they might need to be officially translated into Spanish (by a sworn translator) in order to be accepted. This specifically applies to the legal and medical professions. Check out this updated list of sworn translators currently working in Spain.

Living in Spain 

For many official papers, the Spanish government will ask for a so-called “Libro de Familia” which in Spain is a small booklet that registers your marriage, the number of children you have and who their parents are. It is crucial to bring proof of existing family members.

Taxes

Sometimes you can get big tax benefits by moving to Spain before or just after a certain date. Ask your tax counselor for advice before setting a date, as you could save a lot of money by moving on the right dates. Learn the most important taxes in Spain in this blog post.