Moving to Spain from Ireland

The NIE is still valid, however, your EU temporary residence certificate may have expired or extinguished. 

These links will provide full details:

https://balcellsgroup.com/how-long-outside-spain-without-losing-residency/#:~:text=In%20any%20of%20these%20cases,able%20to%20renew%20your%20residency.

https://www.immigrationspain.es/en/maximum-time-outside-spain-without-losing-residency/#:~:text=Possession%20of%20a%20residence%20permit,more%20than%20you%20have%20to.

Hi Alex,

Your NIE does not expire, it's your unique tax identification number and you have it for life.

The residency issue requires a little more explanation.  As an EU citizen, you apply for a Certificado de Registro, rather than Residency.  However, the process is exactly the same and the Spanish call it Residencia!  

As you only had 'temporary' residency, i.e. less than 5 years' continuous registration, and have been out of Spain for 5 years, your residency has already expired.  But did you de-register when you left Spain?  If not, you may be able to resurrect it by applying for 'permanent' residency, but there's a risk attached in that the authorities could ask for proof of your Spanish income tax declarations for the last 5 years which, presumably, you haven't been submitting?

In your situation, I would simply apply for registration again - it's a relatively straightforward process for EU citizens.  To maintain your residency, you should not leave Spain for 183 days (6 months + 1 day) or more in each 12 month tax year of the first 5 years.  You can then apply for 'permanent' residency, following which you are allowed to leave Spain for a continuous period of up to 2 years.

If you need help, I'd recommend speaking with Uma Sanz, a gestor who works for Get Legal in Spain:

https://www.getlegalinspain.com/

Kind regards,

Kim

As someone on the EU register you lose your residency if you are absent for more than 2 consecutive years. Only family members lose their residency if outside Spain for more than 6 months in any one year.

So, yes, residency would have expired so best to reapply rather than reinstate. If you do leave Spain, you should remove yourself from the register so that problems with income tax declarations don't happen.

This is really helpful advice thank you! Actually, I did not de-register when I left in 2019 as I didn't know this was a requirement. I wonder do you know if I start the process again by registering for the EU certificate but I already have a NIE, do I need proof of my NIE or old registry cert? There is a lot of info online that groups the NIE and the EU cert as the same things so it can get quite confusing.

The NIE is simply a number that is approximately like the UK National Insurance number. It stays with you for life and is also you Tax Identification Number but it is nothing to do with actual residency.

You need to apply to go on the register of foreign EU citizens residing in Spain again. You get a green card which shows you are on the register and that is your permission to stay in Spain for longer than 3 months and remain permanently if you so wish. You may need to do the registration for income tax palaver again and start paying income tax once you have been in Spain for more than 6 months in one calendar year.

But the NIE is not the same as the EU register.