EU registration certificate in Spain (the green NIE certificate): requirements, documents and appointment

What it is

The EU citizen registration certificate (certificado de registro de ciudadano de la Unión) is the document almost everyone calls "the green NIE", the green residence certificate or, in Spanish, "la residencia comunitaria". It proves that a citizen of the European Union, the European Economic Area or Switzerland is registered with the Registro Central de Extranjeros as a resident in Spain.

It is a piece of green paper the size of a bank card. It shows your name, your nationality, your address, the date of registration and your NIE. It has no photo, so you always show it together with your passport or your home country's identity card.

It is not a TIE. The plastic card is for third-country nationals; we explain it in NIE and TIE: the difference.

Who has to apply, and when

If you are going to live in Spain for more than three months, you are required to register. You apply in person within three months of entering Spain (article 7 of Real Decreto 240/2007).

For stays of less than three months you need nothing more than your passport or identity card. And if you only need a NIE to buy a home or set up a company, without living here, that is a different procedure: NIE assignment (asignación de NIE).

The conditions

You have the right to live in Spain for more than three months if one of these applies to you:

You are employed in Spain.
You are self-employed in Spain.
You do not work, but you have sufficient resources for yourself and your family, and health insurance.
You are studying at a recognised institution, with health insurance and sufficient resources.
You are a family member of a Union citizen who meets one of the conditions above, and you are coming with them or joining them.

The documents, case by case

In every case, your passport or your home country's identity card, valid and in force. If it has expired, a copy of it and the renewal application. On top of that (Orden PRE/1490/2012):

Employed. A declaration of engagement from the employer or a certificate of employment, giving the company's name and address, its tax identification number and its Social Security contribution account code (código de cuenta de cotización). The contract registered with the public employment service, or your registration with the Seguridad Social, is also accepted. You do not have to provide any of this if you consent to the office checking your details with the Seguridad Social.
Self-employed. Registration in the Censo de Actividades Económicas or in the Registro Mercantil, or your registration with the Seguridad Social. Again, none of it is needed if you consent to the check with the Seguridad Social or with the Agencia Tributaria.
Not working. Two things, both compulsory. Health insurance, public or private, taken out in Spain or in another country, with cover in Spain equivalent to that of the Sistema Nacional de Salud. And proof that you have sufficient resources.
Students. Your enrolment, health insurance and a signed declaration (declaración responsable) that you have sufficient resources. The European Health Insurance Card counts as insurance if it covers the whole period of residence. If you come on a European Union exchange programme, taking part in the programme is enough to prove all three.

Pensioners meet the insurance requirement with the certificate showing that their healthcare is paid for by the country that pays their pension.

How much money counts as "sufficient resources"

There is no fixed amount. The law forbids setting one: the office has to assess your personal and family circumstances. What does exist is a threshold above which your resources are treated as sufficient with no further question: the amount the Ley de Presupuestos (the annual budget law) sets each year for entitlement to a non-contributory benefit.

You can prove it with regular income or with assets, and by any kind of evidence: title deeds, certified cheques, proof of income from capital, or a bank certificate showing the credit available on your card.

The appointment, step by step

Get an appointment. The procedure is handled at the extranjería office of the province where you are going to live or at the Comisaría de Policía Nacional that covers it: this depends on the province. On the official cita previa portal it appears, depending on the province, as certificado de registro de ciudadano de la UE, as certificados UE or as trámites para la documentación de nacionales de la Unión Europea.
Fill in form EX-18.
Pay the fee: form 790, code 012, in the box "Certificado de registro de residente comunitario o Tarjeta de residencia de familiar de un ciudadano de la Unión". It is €12.00.
Go in person with the form, the proof of payment, your passport or identity card and the documents for your case.
You are given the certificate. The rules say it is issued "immediately", once the requirements have been checked.

If a document is missing, the office gives you ten days to provide it. If you do not, you are taken to have withdrawn the application.

It does not expire, but you have to keep it up to date

The certificate has no expiry date. It stays valid for as long as one of the conditions that entitle you to it still applies.

You have to tell the extranjería office, or the comisaría, about any change of address, marital status or nationality (article 14).

If you lose your job you do not automatically stop counting as a worker. You keep that status, among other cases, if you are off work because of illness or an accident, or if you have become involuntarily unemployed after more than a year in work and have registered with the employment service.

After five years: permanent residence

After five years of continuous legal residence in Spain you have the right to live here permanently, no longer subject to the conditions on work, resources or insurance. If you ask for it, the extranjería office or the comisaría issues the certificate that proves it (article 10).

Your family

If they are Union citizens too, each of them applies for their own registration certificate.
If they are third-country nationals, they do not get a green certificate but a plastic card: the residence card of a family member of a Union citizen (tarjeta de residencia de familiar de ciudadano de la Unión). On the portal it is listed as familiares de residentes comunitarios.

Students can extend their right only to a spouse or registered partner and to dependent children.

UK nationals

Anyone who was living in Spain before 1 January 2021 keeps their rights under the Withdrawal Agreement, and their green certificate is still valid. They can exchange it for a TIE, with form EX-23, but they are not obliged to. Anyone who arrived later is no longer a Union citizen for these purposes and follows the rules for third-country nationals.

If there are no appointments

In the provinces with the most demand, appointments for this procedure do not last long. Start with what to do when there are no appointments.

You can also create an alert for the registration certificate in your province, and you will get a notification by email or Telegram as soon as our checks find available appointments. You book it yourself on the official portal, free: Cita Ping does not book for you and cannot guarantee you an appointment.