Things To Do When You Move to Spain (Step-by-Step Guide)
Did you just move to Spain from the United States or from another non-European Union country? First off, congratulations for starting an exciting new chapter of your life! Now that you’ve arrived, there’s a few things you need to do in order to make your transition as smooth as possible.
I’ve compiled the to-do list below based on my experience moving to Fuengirola, Malaga, Andalusia in September 2022. Please note that the following list is based on my own experience moving to Spain to work as an auxiliar de conversación (English language assistant) in a particular time and place. Other regions and municipalities in Spain might have other requirements and useful things to do. I hope you enjoy my step-by-step guide for moving to Spain, and I hope it makes your own move abroad a little easier.
1. Get a Spanish phone number.
For most US cellular service plans, adding international data may not be financially feasible if you plan to stay in Spain for an extended period of time. Luckily, getting a Spanish phone plan is a cheap and easy solution!
You might be thinking, “Do I really need to get a Spanish phone number? I have a great international plan from my home country.” That may be true, but having a Spanish phone will make a lot of other things on this list much easier for you. And, most importantly, you will need a Spanish phone number to make an appointment for your foreigner identification card, aka tarjeta de identidad de extranjera (TIE).
If you really don’t want to sign up for a Spanish cell service plan, you could ask a friend to provide their Spanish phone number to make the TIE appointment. Still, in my opinion, it’s really helpful to have a Spanish cell phone plan so that you can receive calls from local businesses in Spain. Most people use WhatsApp to text and call in Spain, but many businesses do not.
Check out my post Getting a SIM Card and Phone Number in Spain to read about my experience signing up for a phone plan in Spain.
2. Try to get your NIE if it wasn’t on your visa.
Your número de identidad de extranjero (foreigner identification number), or NIE for short, is helpful to have for a variety of reasons, most importantly for opening a bank account in Spain. (Other businesses, such as gyms, might also ask for it, but they will often accept your passport number too.)
Hopefully, you already have this number on your visa. If you do, congratulations! That will make things a lot easier for you in Spain! You can skip this part.
If the number is not on your visa, you have a couple of options. First, you can contact your consulate in the US and your local immigration office in Spain. (Please note, your local immigration office is likely located in the capital of your municipality. For instance, I lived in Fuengirola, and my local immigration office was in Málaga.) Some of my friends got their NIEs by contacting the Málaga immigration office by email. Every region is different, though, so you might also try calling by phone or going in person to the office. If that doesn’t work, you will at the very least get your NIE when you receive your TIE.
For those who don’t have any luck getting their NIE before receiving their TIE, I have heard of some folks who had luck opening Spanish bank accounts using only their passport numbers by going into physical bank locations. However, I also have some friends who have attempted to do this and failed. It all depends on the specific bank location, and even specific employee, you’re dealing with. Good luck!
3. Make your empadronamiento appointment.
The empadronamiento, or padron for short, is a document that details where a person resides in Spain. Acquiring one of these is necessary for getting the ever-important TIE (foreigner identification card) I mentioned earlier.
In order to get an empadronamiento, you will need to demonstrate that you have an address where you will be residing in Spain for the period of your residence. Most likely, since you just moved abroad, you will be renting an apartment or house. If you haven’t found a place to live yet, that is totally fine, and you can still make an appointment for the empadronamiento. You will just need to make sure that you sign a rental contract BEFORE your appointment. The empadronamiento appointments are often full for a few weeks anyway, which is why I recommend securing your appointment as soon as possible. In Fuengirola, I made my empadronamiento appointment in late September before I signed a lease, but even then, the earliest appointment I could get was October 14. By then, I had lived in my new flat for over two weeks.
In order to make an appointment for your padron, you’ll need to find the website for the ayuntamiento (town hall) of your city in Spain. You can likely find it by searching “ayuntamiento” and the name of your Spanish town. From there, you’ll need to search the site for a place to make an appointment. It will likely say something like cita, cita previa, or solicitar cita. When you find the place to make an appointment, you’ll need to select the option that mentions the padron or empadronamiento. For the Ayuntamiento de Fuengirola, for example, the name of this type of appointment is padron de habitantes.
Check out my post How to Get an Padron in Fuengirola, Spain to read about my experience as a US citizen getting a padron in Fuengirola, Spain.
4. Make your TIE (tarjeta de identidad de extranjero) appointment.
If you plan to stay in Spain after your visa expires, you will need to apply for a tarjeta de identidad de extranjero (foreigner identification card), or TIE, as the locals call it. The TIE will serve as your identification card and will allow you to leave the country and re-enter as much as you like until the TIE expires.
TIE appointments are generally booked well in advance, and they tend to fill up quickly once released. As soon as you can, you should reserve a TIE appointment slot. You can make your appointment through the government website here.
Check out my post Getting a TIE in Malaga, Spain - Step-by-Step Guide to read about my experience as a US citizen making a TIE appointment in Malaga, Spain.
5. Open a Spanish bank account.
Since you’re living in Spain, you will likely need to open a Spanish bank account. Having a Spanish bank account will make it easier to pay for things like rent and utilities. It is also useful to open a Spanish bank account so that you can withdraw cash more easily without extra fees.
So, how do you go about opening a Spanish bank account? First, you’ll need your número de identificación de extranjero (foreigner identification number), or NIE, for short. If you’re lucky, this number will be on your visa. If it’s not, you can try to request it from your local immigration office in Spain. My friend was able to get her NIE by emailing the immigration office, but you might also have some luck by going in person. I don’t have any personal experience with getting a NIE, because mine was (luckily!) on my visa.
Banks may vary by region in Spain, so I definitely recommend asking about local banks in a Facebook group or subreddit for the area you’ll be living. That being said, I ended up choosing an online bank, anyways: N26. Since I needed to open my Spanish checking account on a weekend when the physical banks were closed in my town, I decided to open a bank account with N26. I’m happy with my choice, because the N26 app is really user friendly and easy to use.
6. Transfer funds from your bank account in your home country to your new Spanish account.
After opening a bank account in Spain, you’ll likely need to transfer funds from your bank account in your home country. Many banks can do this, but they often charge high fees and/or have bad exchange rates. Popular alternatives among American expats are companies that offer these exchanges for low fees and good exchange rates, like Wise and Revolut. Based on conversations with friends in my area, I decided to open an account through Wise, and I’ve been very happy with it since.
Sign up for Wise using my invite link to get your first transfer fee-free up to 500 euros. Disclaimer: This is an affiliate link, and at no extra cost to you, I may receive a commission.
7. Look for a place to live.
Now that you have funds in your Spanish bank account, you should start looking for a place to live. But where do you even start? Again, housing availability depends on your region, so I would strongly recommend consulting local Facebook groups and subreddits about where to look for housing. Still, there are a few popular places to check.
First off, Idealista, Fotocasa, and Pisos.com are among the most popular websites to search for houses and apartments in Spain. Again, additional websites might be popular in your region of Spain, but these are some of the biggest Spanish home search sites.
Another way to find a home in Spain is contacting local inmobiliarias (real estate agencies). Real estate agents at the inmobiliarias will be able to show you all of the homes they have listed in your price range and neighborhood, which may be very helpful. Of course, they charge an extra fee for this work, which is often as high as one month’s rent. It is also common for landlords and inmobiliarias to require one or two month’s rent as refundable deposits. Please be warned, there are individuals looking to steal money from foreigners in these situations, so make sure you have signed a contract before you pay anything, and it is more secure to pay using direct bank transfers rather than in cash so that you have a record of the amount you have paid. If you do pay cash, at the very least, you should make sure to ask for a receipt.
Interested in reading more about my experience finding an apartment in Fuengirola (Malaga), Spain? Check out my blog post here: How to Find an Apartment in Fuengirola Spain: A Guide for Renters.
8. Make some friends!
Now that you’ve got those pesky logistical tasks completed, you’ll likely want to make some friends in your new town in Spain. For this, social media is super helpful. Search for local groups on Facebook and MeetUp. Look for groups that do activities you enjoy! You might also find some people to hang out with through social media groups for expats. Bumble BFF is also quite useful for making new friends. Always be cautious when meeting up with people from the internet and use public spaces to meet with someone for the first time.
Want to learn more about how I made friends in the Fuengirola and Malaga region? Read my blog post: How to Make Friends in Spain as an Expat.
9. Enjoy life!
You made it to Spain, and that is a HUGE accomplishment! It’s also incredibly exhausting to travel—especially internationally. Your body and mind need time to adjust, so don’t be surprised if you feel fatigued or overwhelmed during the first week or two. Give yourself a break! It’s a really big deal to move to another country. Relax a bit, explore, and enjoy this life-changing experience!
