I am a pensioner thinking about being a resident

It depends whether you want to live in Spain permanently......

If you want to spend more than 90 days at a time here you will need to apply for a visa from the Spanish consulate in the UK before you can apply for residency. 

If you want to apply for the non lucrative visa you will need to prove an income of around 34,000 euros per annum for a couple plus full healthcare cover. 

You can't apply for residency in Spain without some sort of visa. 

If you do achieve residency you will be very limited for being away from Spain in the first 5 years. 

Steve 

Thanks Steve. That’s very helpful will look into it people were saying if your a pensioner it was a bit easier thanks again for that Jimmy. 

No, not easier being a pensioner. If you wish to retire to Spain you can apply for a non lucrative visa in UK. It means you commit yourself to being a resident in Spain and will spend most of your time here, at least in the first 5 years. You cannot leave Spain for more than 6 months in any one year and only a maximum of 10 months out of Spain in total in the first 5 years. After that you become a permanent resident in Spain and are allowed more time outside the country.

There is no getting around the visa requirements nor, indeed, the maximum of 90 days in a rolling 180 days if you are a non EU citizen. Unless you invest in property of more than 500,000 euro and gain a "golden visa" in which case you only need to spend one week a year in Spain.

But just visiting for longer periods is not possible for a non EU passport holder at the moment.

The only thing "easier" for a pensioner is that you can transfer your medical care from UK to Spain and UK will pay for it so avoiding the need to purchase private medical insurance. 

Sent you a PM Jimmy.