Spain · administrative route
Emigrating to Spain
As a Dutch citizen you need no visa — you may simply live there. The challenge is a different one: getting through the bureaucracy in the right order, at counters that make each other's papers a condition. This page shows what that order is.
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- Kind of journey
- No visa needed
- Obligation
- Register after three months
- Lead time
- Three to nine months (indicative)
Last updated: August 2026
The journey
Five phases, from orientation to being settled
Unlike a visa journey you wait for nobody's permission, so the pace is up to you. Where it does have to go strictly in order is the registration: there every document is the key to the next, and one missing paper means a new appointment.
- 1
Orientation
Being allowed to stay is something else than being settled
As an EU citizen you may live and work in Spain without a visa. But stay longer than three months and you're obliged to register — and that registration has requirements: demonstrable income or assets, and healthcare cover. If you work in Spain, that's arranged automatically. If you work remotely for a Dutch employer, or live off assets or a pension, your first homework is here. This is also the phase in which you choose your region, and that's more than a matter of taste: education, healthcare and tax are arranged regionally.
- 2
Closing the Netherlands
What's easier to arrange from here
Your NIE — the identification number you need for almost everything — you can already apply for from the Netherlands at the Spanish consulate. That's the biggest head start there is: many people lose their first weeks in Spain getting an appointment for it. Also deregistering with the municipality, health insurance, benefits and the tax return for the year of emigration. And just as important: knowing what you deliberately should not do yet from here.
- 3
The move
By road, so more choice
Spain is reachable by road, and that gives options a shipment doesn't have: a full lorry, a part-load, driving yourself, or selling everything and starting again there. Pets simply come along with an EU pet passport, valid rabies vaccination and a microchip — no quarantine. If you bring your car, you may drive it there for a limited time and then it has to go on Spanish plates. You don't have to do this in one go, by the way: going with suitcases first and having your household contents come later is a common route, and sometimes the wisest.
- 4
Registration in Spain
Every document is the key to the next
First the empadronamiento, your registration at your address at the town hall. That paper is the condition for almost everything after: health card, school, buying a car and the green registration certificate. That certificate you then apply for with proof of your income and healthcare cover, and every family member needs their own copy. One missing document means a new appointment, and appointments are scarce.
- 5
Arrival
From settled to simply living
With your padrón you enrol the children definitively; public schools allocate by address. Bear the language in mind: young children pick it up surprisingly fast, for teenagers the transition is harder and extra support is no luxury. Then health card, GP, and the question of where you'll pay tax — that last one deserves more attention than it usually gets.
Look inside
This is what one step of your plan looks like
Not a brochure but the real thing: this is one of the steps of the Spain journey, exactly as it appears in your personal step-by-step plan — with the deadlines, the counters and the sources.
Step 4.3 of your plan
Get your evidence ready and pay the fee
- Lead time
- a week of collecting
- Costs
- fees — about ten euros per person, to be paid in advance with modelo 790, code 012
This is the step people skip, and skipping it costs an appointment. What you bring to the registration appointment depends on your situation from step 1.2:
- Working in Spain? Your employment contract, or your registration as an autónomo.
- Not working in Spain? Proof of sufficient means — a bank statement, not a screenshot of your balance — and your health policy that covers all risks in Spain.
- Retired? Your S1 form.
Also pay the fee in advance with form modelo 790, código 012 — the proof of payment goes into your file. Only once all of this is ready do you make the appointment. One missing paper means starting from the beginning, and appointments are scarce.
This is step 4.3 of 29. The other 28 are ready for you — each with the same sources, the same counters and a planning that watches your dates.
What it costs
A rough indication for your situation
A few short questions, and you get a range instead of an amount. That's deliberate: an exact figure would suggest a precision nobody has.
Count on a total of
€ 2.600 – € 6.800
Where does that difference come from?
- De eerste maanden€ 2.500 – € 6.000
Open the breakdown below: there you'll find per item where the upper and the lower limit come from.
- Aanvraag en papieren
- € 50 – € 400
- De verhuizing
- € 100 – € 400
- De eerste maanden
- € 2.500 – € 6.000
View the itemsPer item the amount, the source and whether it's a rate or an estimate
Aanvraag en papieren
- NIE-aanvraag€ 10 – € 10
- Registratiecertificaat (modelo 790, code 012)€ 10 – € 15
- Gestor en beëdigde vertalingen(estimate)€ 30 – € 400
Een gestor regelt de afspraken als er zelf geen te krijgen zijn; het bouwdocument noemt € 50–100 per procedure. Vertalingen alleen waar ze gevraagd worden, en dat verschilt per gemeente.
De verhuizing
- Reis(estimate)€ 100 – € 400
Vliegen of zelf rijden, enkele reis buiten het hoogseizoen.
De eerste maanden
- De eerste maanden(estimate)€ 2.500 – € 6.000
Borg en huur vooruit, tijdelijk wonen, en leven zolang er nog geen inkomen binnenkomt.
And if you buy a house?
This calculation assumes renting: the first months include deposit and rent in advance.
If you buy, count on 10 to 15% of the purchase price on top of this amount. On a home of € 250,000 that's € 25.000 to € 37.500.
Het meeste is overdrachtsbelasting. Bij een bestaande woning is dat de ITP, en die stelt elke autonome regio zelf vast: 6% in de goedkoopste, 7% in Andalusië, tot 10% in Valencia en Catalonië. Koop je nieuwbouw, dan vervangt 10% btw de ITP en komt daar 1,5% zegelrecht (AJD) bovenop. Notaris en registratie samen ongeveer duizend tot tweeduizend euro, en een eigen advocaat — in Spanje gebruikelijk en verstandig — rekent zo'n 1%. De onderkant hoort bij een bestaande woning in een goedkope regio, de bovenkant bij nieuwbouw aan de kust.
An order of magnitude based on averages, not a quote. The real amounts depend on your occupation, your route, the season and dozens of choices you still have to make.
Rates checked on 7 August 2026.
Your complete, personal cost picture — with your route, your documents and your deadlines — you get in Vertrekklaar.
That was the move. And once you live there?
Who may tax your pension once you live in Spain, is there a favourable regime, and how do you become insured? That depends on where your income comes from. Tick it and you see which rules apply to you — with the source.
See the financial conditionsThe departure guide
Five mails, and you see your whole journey
Not ready to start yet? Then we'll send you the departure guide for Spain: five mails in a week and a half, with the order, the pitfalls and the real costs. After that only a short update when something in Spain really changes — at most one a month, no newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.
Read on
The knowledge base on Spain
Per phase, the articles that are already there. They're written from the same journey and go deeper than what fits above.
Orientation
- 3 min
The Beckham regime: 24% flat tax, six years long — and why it isn't for pensioners
Whoever moves to Spain to work or run a business there can opt for the regime of article 93: taxed as a non-resident, 24% on your Spanish employment income up to € 600,000, and your foreign income largely stays out of reach. The condition that excludes most Dutch emigrants: you have to come to work.
Updated 27 August 2026
- 3 min
The income and health-cover requirement: what Spain wants to see before you may stay
Whoever stays longer than three months and doesn't work in Spain has to demonstrate two things — sufficient means and full health cover. What exactly is tested, which evidence counts, and why there's no amount here.
Updated 28 August 2026
- 4 min
Being allowed to stay is not the same as being sorted
As a Dutch citizen you may live in Spain without a visa. That's exactly why people underestimate this process: there's no authority that stops you, and so nobody who tells you what you have to arrange.
Updated 21 August 2026
- 3 min
Why you don't buy a house in your first year
The most expensive mistake in any emigration isn't a forgotten form but a purchase made too early: a house bought before you knew the country, the neighbourhood and your own new life. Rent first — this is why that order is fixed.
Updated 28 August 2026
The move
- 2 min
Taking your car to Spain: driving in is fine, keeping on driving isn't automatic
You drive into Spain without any formalities — but as soon as you live there, the car has to go onto Spanish plates, and that deadline is short. What the conversion requires, what it costs, and when selling is the smarter route.
Updated 9 August 2026
- 3 min
Taking your pet to Spain: chip, jab, passport — and 21 days of patience
Within the EU your dog or cat simply travels with you, without quarantine. There are only three requirements, and one of them has a waiting period that can shift your departure date if you start too late.
Updated 9 August 2026
- 4 min
Your household contents to Spain: full load, part load or sell
Spain is reachable by road, and that gives options a shipment doesn't have. The difference between the cheapest and the most expensive route runs into thousands of euros — and the cheapest isn't always the wisest.
Updated 8 August 2026
Registration in Spain
- 3 min
Cita previa: getting an appointment when there are none
Almost every Spanish counter works by appointment, and in popular regions there never seem to be any. What's really going on, what helps in practice — and when a gestor is worth the money.
Updated 9 August 2026
- 4 min
Empadronamiento: the registration everything else hangs on
Your registration at the Spanish town hall is free, takes a quarter of an hour, and is the condition for your health card, your children's school and your registration certificate. Yet it's the step people get stuck on the longest.
Updated 8 August 2026
- 4 min
The green registration certificate: what you bring to the appointment
If you stay in Spain longer than three months, you're obliged to register. The certificate costs € 12 and is a matter of one appointment — provided you come with the right papers. This is what's asked of you.
Updated 8 August 2026
- 2 min
Renting in Spain: five years of protection, one month's deposit, and the costs the landlord bears
Spanish tenancy law protects you better than its reputation: five years of security of tenure, a deposit capped by law, and since 2023 the agency fees are the landlord's. Plus the scam signals you need all the more as a foreigner.
Updated 11 August 2026
Arrival
- 3 min
Becoming an autónomo in Spain: since 2023 your contribution hangs on your real income
In 2023 Spain moved away from the fixed monthly contribution for the self-employed. You now pay according to your expected net profit, in bands — and after the year ends it's settled against what you actually earned. Estimating too low means paying extra, estimating too high means getting money back.
Updated 27 August 2026
- 3 min
The Spanish healthcare system: three routes in, and one safety net that costs money
Whoever works in Spain is automatically in public healthcare, pensioners come in with the S1 — and since 2018 legal residents without work have access too. For whoever falls under nothing there's the convenio especial: € 60 a month, with one important exception.
Updated 28 August 2026
- 4 min
Buying a house in Spain: there's no notary who arranges everything for you
In the Netherlands the notary handles the whole transfer: tax, land registry, done. In Spain the notario only signs the deed — the transfer tax, the municipal notification and the entry in the property register are afterwards *your* counters, each with its own deadline. Whoever knows that hires a gestor for it; whoever doesn't finds out when something goes wrong.
Updated 28 August 2026
- 2 min
Your driving licence in Spain: the two-year myth, and what's really required
"After two years you have to exchange it" — for Dutch citizens that isn't true: that rule only applies to licences that are (almost) indefinitely valid. Your licence simply stays valid until the expiry date; *then* you renew in Spain, with a medical.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 2 min
Going to school in Spain: three kinds of school, and an address that chooses
Público, concertado or privado — and an admission in which your home address weighs heaviest. How enrolment works, what happens if you arrive outside the regular period, and how schools take in children without Spanish.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 4 min
Where do you pay tax when you live in Spain?
Almost everyone thinks it's about 183 days. That's not right: the Dutch Belastingdienst looks at your actual circumstances, and you can be in Spain for well over half a year and still live in the Netherlands for tax purposes.
Updated 27 August 2026
Leaving the Netherlands — for every destination
- 2 min
Keeping a bank account and DigiD: the two lines you never cut
After your deregistration you still need the Netherlands for years — for the M return, refunds and your pension. Within the EU your bank account is a right, towards Australia a favour from the bank. And your DigiD you arrange before departure, not after.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 3 min
The protective assessment: the bill that travels with you, and that never expires for one item
On emigration the Netherlands imposes an assessment on your pension, your annuity and your substantial shareholding that you don't have to pay — as long as you do nothing that makes it collectable. For pension and annuity it usually lapses after ten years. For a substantial shareholding it doesn't: that one remains valid indefinitely.
Updated 27 August 2026
- 2 min
Emigrating with children after a divorce: the consent that comes before everything
With joint custody you can't just go abroad with the children — you need the consent of the other parent, or substitute consent from the court. What the court weighs, and why leaving without consent is legally child abduction.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 3 min
Emigrating on early retirement: the CAK route is expected to close as of 1 November 2026
Whoever moves to the EU or Switzerland with a Dutch pension arranges their healthcare via the CAK. That door is closing to a crack: as expected, from 1 November only new applicants with AOW, Anw, WAO, WIA or Wajong will be admitted. Early retirement and RVU fall outside it — whoever is already a customer keeps their rights.
Updated 16 August 2026
- 2 min
The M form: the tax return for the year in which you emigrated
For the year of your departure you lived partly inside and partly outside the Netherlands, and a separate return goes with that. Nowadays it can be done online — but you have to think of it yourself, because an invitation rarely comes by itself.
Updated 9 August 2026
- 2 min
Your AOW accrual stops on departure — and you have one year to repair that
Every year outside the Netherlands costs you 2% AOW (the Dutch state pension), for life. The SVB has a voluntary continuation that closes that gap — but signing up is only possible in the first year after departure, and almost everyone misses that deadline.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 3 min
Your Dutch pension abroad: what comes along, and who levies
The AOW (the Dutch state pension) travels fully to the EU and to Australia — the latter thanks to a treaty from 2001. Your company pension too, but *where* you pay on it depends on the tax treaty, and the exemption you arrange yourself.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 3 min
Cancelling your health insurance without a gap
Your Dutch basic insurance is tied to living or working in the Netherlands and stops being a given on emigration. The art is to have the end date match your new cover — and to know which route belongs to your situation.
Updated 28 August 2026
- 2 min
Taking medicines across the border: certificates, supply and the 90-day ceiling
For medicines under the Opium Act you need a certificate — and the Dutch system only carries you for three months. What you arrange with the CAK, what Australia wants to see at the border, and why finding a local doctor simply belongs to your first weeks.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 9 min
Partner comes along without a job of their own: deregistering, healthcare, AOW and the house
Your partner has a job, a visa or a right of residence there; you come along without a job of your own. Administratively you're then no passenger: the deregistration, the end of your health insurance and your AOW accrual apply to you separately. What you get back if you arrange it well, what it costs if you let it slide — and why "just staying registered" isn't an option.
Updated 7 September 2026
- 2 min
Stopping allowances on emigration: do it yourself, and in time
Housing allowance, healthcare allowance, childcare allowance and child budget don't stop by themselves on the day you leave. Whoever lets them run gets a reclaim months later — this is what you arrange per allowance.
Updated 9 August 2026
- 3 min
Deregistering with the municipality: when exactly, and what stops then
Deregistering from the BRP is only possible from five days before departure, and is compulsory as soon as you're away for more than eight months a year. What stops at that moment, what stays, and which piece of paper you have to ask for right away.
Updated 9 August 2026
- 6 min
When does your pension stay taxed in the Netherlands? The three pots and the three conditions
"Your pension is taxed in your new country of residence" is right by approximation and not in the details. Your AOW, your company pension and your government pension each follow a rule of their own, and with the company pension the Netherlands can still levy if three conditions apply at once. This article explains which three, and which four questions you have to answer for your own situation.
Updated 27 August 2026
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