Residencia

Hi All

I have looked through the forum to see if there are any posts on residencia, can anyone comment on the pros and cons of obtaining their residencia status please.

regards

Tim

Permiso deResidencia does not exist now for members of the EU.  instead one applies for a useless piece of paper ,which contains no photo, states name , address and not much else is a glorified empadramiento. One can obtain it from in most cases the National Police. The queues are horrendous and as I say the paper is useless.Another piece of  ball**** from the EU. 

Really, getting Residencia ( in whatever form ) is not an option if you are liing in Spain for 183 days or more, it is the Law.

There has been a whisper that 'they' are going to revert to the old type Residencia in the not too distant future.

Morerosada, details '2001' are a bit out of date I think, we need to get our residencia 'certificate' so more up to date details would be appreciated if anyone out there has done it.

RESIDENCIA INFO !?!

I may be wrong, but I think you'll find the 183 day rule is not consecutive. My understanding is that your place of habitual residence is considered to be the place where you spend the majority of your time. Hence, if you spend 183 of any one year (usually 365 days), there is no question about where the majority of your time is spent. So, if you stayed 180 days, left for a couple of days, then came back for another 180, you could not claim to be non-resident just because you didn't clock up 183 days consecutively.

Incidentally, whilst I agree wholeheartedly about the stupid Certifacte of Residency being Unfit For Purpose, it is still necessary if you need to actually prove your residency status. The problem arises however when trying to prove that the certificate belongs to you, since it only has your Spanish NIE number on it, whilst the only legally acceptable form of identification for Brits now is their passport - which of course only has the passport number, not the NIE. How to link the two? No idea. Fortunately, when I got my certificate, I asked to keep my expired Residency card (they were going to take it off me), so although they clipped the corner off it to show it's expired, as long as I can retain my youthful (good?) looks, I can produce it to prove that both the passport and residency certificate belong to the same person.

Brussels really did themselves proud on this one!

By the way, in case you're wondering why you would need to prove you are a resident, one example is when/if you ever sell a property and don't want the 3% non-resident retention against possible CGT held at the notary. In order to obtain a Fiscal Resident Certificate from Hacienda, you'll need the useless Certificate of Residency first. (plus numerous photocopies of every piece of paper you've ever handled since birth - as usual  )

You're physically present in Spain for more than 183 days (including sporadic absences).

FROM LAWYER SITE

How does anyone know though ?

Hi Howard and Kay,

Go to Orihuela Police station and collect and fill in the forms,they will give you a date of approx 4-6 weeks when you need to return.

You will need to take one of the forms to the bank and pay for your residencia application.

It is actually breaking the law not to have residencia if you are living here for more than 183 days per year...

I had a friend who bought a car in the UK from a garage that turned out to be stolen,he was totally unaware of this at the time and was driving here in Spain when he was arrested  by the Guardia on the orders fron Interpol,they knew exactly where he was and impounded the car.

JUST TO SAY THAT THE POLICE NO MORE ABOUT WHERE YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU ARE UP TO THAN WE GIVE THEM CREDIT FOR!!!!!

You're physically present in Spain for more than 183 days (including sporadic absences).

How does anyone know though ? "

Well, the Agencia Tributaria (www.agenciatributaria.es) publish a very handy little booklet in English titled Taxation of Non-residents, which is available free of charge and includes all you need to know, including how to complete form 214, and on the first page it states:

"Individuals are deemed to be residents in Spain when they meet any of the following criteria:

*They remain in Spain for more than 183 days during a calendar year...."

So, no mention of it being consecutive, just 183 days in a calendar year (or more, of course!)

I said it was >>>>FROM LAWYER SITE <<<< though Robert, I didn't make it up.  I was just copying & pasting what was on there & giving the link, which is not what many do either so we can look it up for ourselves.

Hope you are ok.

Yeah, sorry, I left the link out just to avoid repeating it again, I should have quoted you in full, because now it looks like I was contradicting you, which was unintentional.

If you've been following the recent thread about LFOs and the exchanges between a couple of Spanish lawyers, I think you will agree that sometimes you have to careful about what even lawyers tell you, as their interpretation of certain things can be alarmingly differing

For that reason, I think that the definition given by the tax authorities themselves is probably a safer source!

If you think you may spend more than the 183 days in total, you'll no doubt want to look into whether there's any advantage or not in becoming a resident. Of course, it's up to you really, since nobody is likely to know unless you volunteer the information!

Roll on the 13th! All the best to you and Mr.MoreR - don't forget to pack plenty of high SPF.

I have tried to get into Agencia Tributaria to obtain the free booklet Taxation of Non-Residents in English but cannot find it. Can anyone help on how to get the English version?

Many thanks

Val