Non lucrative visa application

Are you aware that with the non-lucrative visa you are only allowed to spend a total of 10 months outside of Spain in the first 5 years?

Hi KT, thank you for responding to my question ! No, I certainly wasn’t aware of that being the case, it would seem I was misinformed if that is correct as  I have been told that you have to apply for the visa and once granted, you have to re-apply each year to renew for 4 consecutive years before being granted a residents visa on the 5th year. The literature reads that the NLV gives you free passage to come and go as you please for as long as you want in any EU country ? 

The actual legislation regarding this is set out in Article 162.2 of a Royal Decree 557/2011

https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2011-7703

In applying for the NLV you are stating that you want to become resident in Spain (and tax resident paying Spanish taxes on your worldwide income). It is not merely a means of getting around the 90 day rule.  The Golden Visa would meet your requirements if you have the required capital to invest in Spain.

We do want to be Spanish residents and we own our property in Lo Pagan and we pay taxes here in Spain. We took early retirement to leave England for a life in Spain and are fully up to date with taxes in UK and Spain, do you pay special taxes that I don’t or don’t know about then ? 

Hi

Firstly, if you want to move to live in Spain from the UK, you need a visa. If you are retired you need a Non Lucrative Visa (NLV). I successfully completed the NLV process in May 2021. This visa is for people who want to move to live in Spain permanently. I have heard of some solicitors touting this as a way round the 90 in 180 day rule, but this is not the case. As a previous respondent stated, you can only be outside Spain for a maximum of 10 months if the 5 years of the NLV until you obtain permanent residency.

You need to apply for your visa at the appropriate embassy / consulate in the UK. Broadly speaking, London serves the south of England; Manchester from the Midlands to the North West and Edinburgh for the very north of England and all Scotland. The consulate websites, visas sections, provide the list of requirements, as per below - with my added comments in bold.

LIST OF REQUIRED DOCUMENTS FOR A NON LUCRATIVE RESIDENCY VISA (NLV)

1 Passport or travel document valid for at least 6 months beyond the intended arrival to Spain with at least two blank pages to affix the visa.

2 One completely filled and signed National Visa Application Form.

3 Ex-01 form and 079-052 fee form to be paid at the Consulate on the day of your appointment. The visa and appointment fee totals approx. £600 per person.

4 One recent passport colour photograph. (No more than six months old)

5 For non-British citizens: A UK residence permit valid for at least 3 months. It can be either in form of Visa stamped on the applicant’s passport or a Residency Card. If you are a 'normal UK subject / citizen, this doesn't apply.

6 Medical (Health ) Certificate signed and stamped by a registered doctor. This Certificate must literally state that the Applicant does not suffer of any illness which represents a risk or a danger for the public according to the International Health Regulations of 2005. The document must be translated by a Sworn Translator only, and with the Hague Apostille if the country is a member. Otherwise the document must be verified by the Spanish authorities in the country of issuance. Our doctor charged £25 per certificate, using a template provided by our Spanish solicitor.

7 Certificate of Good Conduct issued by the country or countries where the applicant has resided in the past five years. The document must be translated by a Sworn Translator only, and with the Hague Apostille if the country is a member. Otherwise the document must be verified by the Spanish authorities in the country of issuance. This is a Police Certificate which is obtained from the ACRO website, at a cost of, I think, £55 per person - turnaround time was about 10 days.

Note - docs 6 & 7 had to be notarised (our UK solicitor charged £25 to do all our documents). The Hague Apostille is an additional government service, which costs £30 per document and has a turnaround time of about 10 days.

8 Full health cover for applicant and, if applicable, family member. There are specific private health insurance policies, which must not include 'co-payments', which are acceptable for the NLV. Many companies offer these. We used Sanitas (which is part of BUPA), as our bank had a linked offer. I have seen DKV recommended by other people on this forum. The policy needs to be paid up front for a year and be 'live' at the date of the NLV application. We were 50 & 48, with no pre-existing conditions and our policy cost around £1,200 for the two of us. I have seen people with pre-existing conditions getting quotes as high as £6,000 pa each. It's important to shop around as prices vary significantly.

9 Means of maintenance in Spain of €2400 € per month for the main applicant. Each additional family member will need €600 per month. In general, €37,000 pa for a couple.

10 All documents must be translated into Spanish (and where it specifies a 'Sworn Translator', these are specific translation companies that charge a lot of money (however, our Spanish solicitor included this in her price)).

Although I would say that I am quite confident and competent in completing forms, gathering evidence, etc.; as many forms needed to be completed in Spanish (and mine is very limited) we used a Spanish solicitor (Raquel at BeGlobal Attorneys) to assist in preparing all the paperwork, making the appointments, etc. but there is still quite a bit of work you need to do yourselves. I would certainly recommend Raquel.

For the 'means of maintenance' we provided evidence of cash in bank, shares, premium bonds, rental income from a property we own and rent out in the UK, and my pension pot.

In total, the process took us about 12 weeks and cost around £2,300 for the two of us (excluding the cost of the private health insurance) - of which the solicitor's fees were approx. £1,000. When you get the NLV, you then have to enter Spain within 3 months and then start the rest of the process (below) within 1 month of entering.

When we got to Spain, we then had to attend the Foreigners' Office at a specific Police Station to have fingerprints taken; and be added to the padron at the town hall. Approx. 5 weeks after this, we collected our TIE from the Police Station.

This NLV lasts for a year, then you have to renew for 2 years, then a further two years, then you can get permanent residency. I have already had my first renewal and the process was similar ('means of maintenance' & private healthcare, but I didn't need the Police check or the medical certificate).

Regarding tax, you should always check with a professional pension / tax advisor. Broadly speaking, when you move to Spain, you stop paying 'non-resident tax' and become a tax resident and are taxed on worldwide earnings, including, for example your pension (as you would be in the UK). The main difference is that whilst the actual tax rates are similar to the UK, the personal allowance is lower (approx. €6,500 per person - as opposed to c.£12,500 per person in the UK). This means that you would pay a little more tax in Spain than you would in the UK. You also need to declare worldwide assets and are liable for tax on these - however, in reality, you would need to have assets totally more than €2 million to actually have to pay any of this tax.

Hope this helps - and happy to answer any questions you may have.

Thank you very much Rich, very helpful, even though a little traumatic 🙈 as speed is of the essence. Do you know what would happen if for instance, we had to go back to the UK to care for our mothers on year 5 as an example, and it took us over the 10 months limit or we had holidays elsewhere doing the same thing ?? Since posting last week, I have been informed of two other routes .. (1) apply for a long term visa using my wife’s Irish passport and me being her spouse                            (2) Spain have asked the EU for the 90 day rule to be scrapped here for financial benefit and it has been passed by the Spanish government so far, as Spanish can stay for 6 months at a time in the UK and only have to leave for a matter of days to be able to return for another 6 months ?  Thank you Rich 

I don't know anyone that has been involved in any of those circumstances, but I would guess that simply taking holidays and exceeding the limit would not be seen as an acceptable reason; whereas, with proof of the requirement to care for an elderly relative, that may possibly be treated with some discretion. 

Re- (2) The request from Spain to be exempt from the 90 day rule is unlikely to be approved, in my opinion, but they could set up a separate bilateral agreement between the UK and Spain. Either way, it's unlikely to be in effect soon.

Re- (1) However, whilst I have no direct knowledge, I would expect that using your wife's passport as her status of already being an EU citizen and then you moving as her husband would be a far easier way to move to Spain, see the link below...

https://iasservices.org.uk/es/residency/eu-family-member-residence-permit-card-for-spain/

Thanks very much for everything, very helpful 😊👍🏻

“You also need to declare worldwide assets and are liable for tax on these - however, in reality, you would need to have assets totally more than €2 million to actually have to pay any of this tax.”

You have to declare using Form 720 any group of assets worth over €50,000 eg property as one group, pension pot another and so on. The biggest cost could be a hefty fine for non declaration, not sure what the assets tax rate is as we have not got such riches!

Take proper good professional advice.