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BUREAUCRACY

Padrón: How to register at your town hall in Spain

Find out all about the "empadronamiento" process in Spain and why you should apply.

Published: 7 December 2020 15:44 CET
Updated: 22 September 2023 10:08 CEST
padron spain
One of the most important things you should do when you move to Spain is register at your town hall, it'll make other processes much easier. (Photo by PHILIPPE DESMAZES / AFP)

What is it?

The empadronamiento is a certificate you are supposed to get within the first three months of moving to Spain or if you move home within Spain.

It’s essentially a document which proves your address and adds you to the census of the area where you live, although it serves many other purposes. 

What do I need it for?

There are several things you might need to show a padrón certificate for, including applying for a public health card, getting your children into a local school, getting married and obtaining a social security number.

Each area or Town Hall will also benefit from you registering for the empadronamiento, as they receive funding based on how many people are ‘empadronados’ in their area.

While it is not a strict requirement to register you may run into difficulties with certain administrative procedures if you don’t have one. It has also been advised that anyone trying to register for residency in Spain because of Brexit should apply for the certificate in order to prove that they are a permanent resident in Spain.

READ MORE: 

How do I apply?

You can apply for the empadronamiento through your local council at the ‘Oficina de empadronamiento’ or ‘Oficina d’atencion ciudadana’ depending on what it is called in your area.

In most towns and especially in big cities such as Madrid and Barcelona, you will need to apply for an appointment or cita previa first. This can be done online or is sometimes done in person at the machines in your local office.

Each of the different neighbourhoods in the big cities has its own Ayuntamiento or Town Hall, and as part of this its own empadronamiento office or citizen’s attention office.

Once you get your appointment you will need to fill out a form called the Solicitud de Empadronamiento and bring along several documents. 

After applying, you’ll either be given the certificate straight away or will have to wait a couple of weeks, depending on how the process works in your municipality. When you have the certificate, you will be described as ‘empadronado’ in that town or neighbourhood.

What documents will I need?

There are several official documents you’ll need in order to apply for the empadronamiento. Remember that you will need originals and photocopies of each of these documents. These include:

  • ID documents such as your passport, green residency document, TIE or DNI
  • Proof of residence such as a rental contract, deeds to your property or a recent utility bill

As is often the case in Spain when it comes to bureaucratic matters, different town halls tend to do thing in their own way and may ask you for additional documents, such as a copy of the documents of family members living with you, birth certificates of your underage children if you’re registering them, or a written confirmation from your landlord stating that you live at the property, along with a copy of their ID.

It’s worth checking on your Spanish town hall’s website beforehand to find out if there’s anything additional you need to provide

Other things you should know

Keep in mind that waiting times for appointments vary greatly and may be issued for three months in the future, so you need to apply as soon as you can if you need to show your certificate for something.

Most official offices will require that your empadronamiento certificate be issued within three months, so remember you that you may need to renew it if doing anything official.

You also need to remember that you will need to apply for a new padrón each time you move home so that your address and record of where you live is up to date. This is true even if you’re moving somewhere else within the same city.

In some cases, it’s possible to complete the process online, but it depends on several circumstances.

READ ALSO:

Useful Spanish vocab: 

Certificado de empadronamiento – Town hall registration certificate 

Empadronarse – To register at the town hall of the municipality where you live

Empadronado – Registered at the town hall, when you have completed the process 

Oficina d’atencion ciudadana – Citizen advice office 

Sede Electrónica – The webpage of the town hall where you can complete the padrón process online, with a digital certificate

Ayuntamiento – Town Hall 

Cita previa – An appointment made in advance, often for official processes

Member comments

  1. Hmmmm … Having just gone through this experience, I also needed a signed confirmation from the landlord of the apartment that we are renting, along with a copy of his NIE, his passport and confirmation of his paid taxes in 2019.

  2. Also will need to provide information of others living with you, spouse NIE, children NIE and birth certificates of children. The certificate is also only valid for 3 months so if you need one later you don’t have to reapply or “renew” as the article states but you get a new copy with a new date.

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For members

HEALTH

Does permanent residency in Spain equal free public healthcare?

Permanent or long-term residency gives non-EU nationals in Spain extended rights, but does it also give foreigners access to public healthcare even if they’re not contributing to the country’s social security pot?

Published: 12 April 2024 12:02 CEST
Does permanent residency in Spain equal free public healthcare?

All foreigners in Spain (those with residency papers and those who are undocumented) technically have the right to public healthcare assistance, according to Spanish law. 

However, when it comes to non-EU nationals, this universal ‘right to healthcare’ may only apply in practice to medical emergencies, while access to all other public healthcare services will depend on your residency status.

For example, a third-country national from the UK or the US that moves to Spain on a temporary residency visa will not be able to register with a public doctor for the first five years initially unless they are:

  • Employed or self-employed and therefore paying social security contributions.
  • Able to register a social security exchange form that grants them right to public healthcare in Spain (such as the S1 form for Brits in Spain).
  • Paying into the convenio especial social security scheme that gives access to public healthcare after one year living in Spain.

READ MORE: The pros and cons of Spain’s ‘convenio especial’ healthcare scheme

If you don’t meet this criteria, you will have to get private health insurance cover for your first five years of residency in Spain, which will be a requirement even when applying for your temporary visa (non-lucrative visa, digital nomad visa etc).

READ ALSO: The best private healthcare for foreigners in Spain

Free public healthcare with permanent residency?

After five years living continuously in Spain, you will be able to apply for permanent residency which will theoretically give you the right to public healthcare without the need to pay for it or private healthcare anymore.

That is what the healthcare in Spain section on gov.uk states, as does the Spanish branch of International Organization for Migration (IOM), who say that applying for permanent residency will give you access to state healthcare – la sanidad pública – on the same basis as a Spanish citizen.

However, on online forums Citizens Advice Bureau Spain and Brexpats in Spain, commentators have said that getting public healthcare on permanent residency without paying social security appears to be at the discretion of the regional healthcare systems. 

Whilst Murcia may not allow it, Valencia and Andalusia will – another example of how the interpretation of the rules in Spain can vary depending on who you ask and where you are; but it’s still worth a try.

According to IOM, once you’re a permanent resident, you need to register at your local INSS social security office. 

You may need to show a ‘legislation letter’ (‘documento de no exportación’ in Spanish) stating that you are not covered by your home country for healthcare. You can request this from your country’s healthcare services.

The INSS will give you a document which you need to take to your local health centre.

Remember that if your country pays for your healthcare, you cannot register for healthcare as a permanent resident.

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