Moving to Spain before the end of the transition period

"or savings of around 9.000€" 

Should that not be AND? 

Thanks everyone.

To give a bit more info, we are currently renting a property in the UK and the tenancy ends May 2021.  My wife has taken a long time to be convinced about moving to Spain - for many years I have been trying to convince her!  Finally she has agreed and it's very bad timing in terms of the widthdrawal agreement ending on 31st Dec.

I can drive down at any weekend to kick things off, though I still have some reading to do in terms of knowing how long I might need to be away from home for and how many trips back and forth I'd need to make.  The financial requirements are all ok, whether it's monthly income or savings - but I don't have a Spanish bank account currently.

I need to go and read Jims guide's again, I get serious brain fog when I think about the order I need to do things in with regards bank account, NIE, autonomo, padron, resdencia, having an address in spain, etc!  Sounds like I might need to have money in the bank there for 3 months before I can do much else, but I'll have another read...

Hi,

Yes you will need to prove that you have enough income paid into a Spanish bank for a 3 month period which I understand is between €750 - €900 per person. When applying for residency you will need a letter from your bank as proof that it's your account and a stamped copy of the statement. It will be worth opening a non residents bank account at your earliest opportunity. 

Steve 

Annoyingly - I started the process of opening a non-residents account with Sabadell last year, then my wife declared there was no way she was moving, so I stopped. :)

I know a couple who were in a similar position,  he wanted to be here badly and she eventually caved in and they came together. She soon got homesick and wanted to go back........You can imagine the rest. Make sure you are both in the same opinion for moving out here as the paperwork and jumping through hoops can put a lot of pressure on both of you.

Steve 

Yep - always a worry but I'm sure she'll love it!  I think it's more anxiety of the move than Spain itself.

I've done a bit more reading.

When it comes to applying for residency, is it a strict requirement to prove that you have been living in Spain for 3 months prior?  Makes sense if so, but means we will need to be apart for at least 3 months I guess.

I ask because initially thought I'd be able to pop back and forth as needed but I don't think that's possible now. So, instead, rough plan is:

1. Find a long term rental for myself, as flexible as possible in terms of time and cheap.

2. Get my NIE, open a bank account (joint if possible, else just my name)

3. Get private health care?  We have a UK Ltd co and will continue to operate it, paying corporation tax in the uk and personal tax in Spain after we move here.  I was thinking I need to be autonomo with private health for this, but not sure at which point.

4. Put an initial sum into the Spanish bank account (not sure how much) and then start paying 2k eur per month into it and use it to pay rent, buy food, etc.

5. After 3 months, apply for residency, wait for TIE card.

6. Go back to the UK for 3 months or so, prep to move, find a new rental and go.

Can anyone tell me how I can include my wife into this process without her needing to be present?  The reason I ask is that she is high-risk for covid so no flying at the mo and also we have cats which need to stay home until we actually move (in some kind of luxury lounge on wheels!).

You do not need to live here for 3 months to apply for residency. You can apply from day one! It's the bank balance that you need to show 3 months of deposits at the amounts mentioned. IMHO you should have a joint account to prove that the monies are a joint income. An NIE will be issued to you when applying for residency, your wife will also be issued an NIE. You will both need to be present to sign documents and have a finger print taken for the TIE.

Oh that’s a relief!

One more question for now... Our tenancy in the UK finishes in Jun 2021 and we don't have a break clause unfortunately.  So we can't move until Apr/May 21 (some period less than 6 months to avoid losing our residency).

I'm assuming that this means that when we apply for residency in Oct 20, we need an address in Spain.  We don't have any friends there, so would need to rent a place.   All I can think is to rent a place cheaply and as soon as we have our TIE cards, give notice on that rental, go back to the UK for a period less than 6 months and then find our "real" rental.

Whilst this could work, it doesn't seem very fair to the first landlord...  any ideas for an alternative route?

I'm setting up a bank account to pay into for the next 3 months.  Health care is another thing which is probably going to need an address in Spain, I forgot about that.

So that long term rental is looking like a must again... then healthcare, padron and residency application.  It's 6 months before you're tax resident isn't it? So if we arrive in Oct, that'd be Apr if I understand that right.

It'll be nice to get a feel for the amount of time between applying and getting an appointment for residency in Alicante.  It's probably all up in the air at the minute after the change last week!  Reason being, it'd be nice to try and time this so that the residency appointment is shortly after the bank account has been open and fed for 3 months...

Maybe we should speak to our landlord to agree a slightly earlier departure.  Stupid brexit!