Tool
Relocation checklist
Not a hundred items «just in case» but your twenty: by passport, route, housing and who comes with you. Ordered by time, because an apostille takes weeks and a criminal record certificate expires.
Move dateEvery item becomes an event dated from your move.
About you
Passport
Route
Housing
With you
Done0 / 23
Ticks live in the page address: save the link and the list comes back. Nothing is stored on the site.
While deciding
Six months out and earlier. Mistakes are cheapest here.
- Take the coast match and get three places with reasonsmore →
- Cost the first year — on your own spending, not averagesmore →
- Check winter liveability of your shortlist: visit in November or February, not Augustmore →
- Work out which route resembles yours and write down questions for an attorney
- Ask a tax adviser what changes after 183 days in Spain — before moving, not after
- Decide what replaces a nómina for renting: guarantee, prepayment, guarantor
Two to three months out
Documents with an expiry window go last, not first.
- Order criminal record certificates from countries of residence — they expire, count back from the filing date
- Get apostilles: criminal record, marriage and birth certificates — in the issuing country, the slowest item
- Order sworn translations — after the apostille, not before; the translator works remotely for all of Spain
- Assemble the landlord pack: statements, employer letter, passport, prepayment or guarantee
- Get three movers' quotes and decide what not to bring at all: furniture in Spain is cheaper than shipping it
- Book temporary housing for the first month: hunt for the permanent one on the ground and in February
The first two weeks
Order matters: without town hall registration half the rest will not happen.
- Register at the town hall for your address — with the lease or the owner's letter. First thing
- Book fingerprints and the residence card within the window after entry — missing it means starting over
- Open a Spanish bank account — you will need the NIE and an address; no account, no utilities
- A Spanish phone number — bank codes and government appointment confirmations go there
- Register at the health centre for your registered address
The first three months
What gets postponed and regretted in February.
- Check the flat for damp before the first rains: heating, glazing, corners behind furniture
- Mark day 183 in Spain in the calendar — from then you are a tax resident, foreign assets included
- Hunt for permanent housing: February shows whether the area lives in wintermore →
- Note the date from which you can apply for renewal or for the in-country authorisation
- Start Spanish: the padrón office, the clinic and the building manager speak nothing else
- Find where your people are: a community with a doctor and a lawyer in your language saves monthsmore →
What is left out on purpose
Not a single «file it like this» or «you will be approved». The checklist is about what you do yourself: documents, insurance, registration, school. How to file and what to write — that is the route guide and an attorney.