Moving to Spain from the UK: Visas, Healthcare and Who to Tell

We arrange the health insurance for moves like these, and in this guide we point out the places where a move can come unstuck. Healthcare gets the most space, because the National Health Service (NHS) stops covering you once you move. The list of who to tell in the UK is at the end.

Facts checked on 8 November 2026.

1. Already living in Spain before 2021?

If you were living in Spain before 1 January 2021, you and your family are covered by the Withdrawal Agreement. That is the Brexit treaty that protects people who were already living in the EU, and it means you do not need a visa. Anyone who arrived from 1 January 2021 onwards does need one. The exception is close family members joining someone the Withdrawal Agreement covers.

Anyone still holding the old green certificate, the residence certificate Spain issues to EU citizens, should swap it for the foreigner's identity card (TIE) at a police office. Some of our longer-standing clients still carry one. The Spanish authorities and the British Embassy both strongly recommend the swap, according to the UK government's Living in Spain guidance. Spain also says the TIE is the only document that stops your days being counted at the border. If you lived here before 2021 and never registered, do it now and get a TIE.

2. Which visa fits you

The right visa depends on what you will be doing in Spain. The money figures below are the ones in force in 2026. They are worked out from Spain's public income index (IPREM), which is €600 a month, and the Spanish minimum wage, which is €1,221 a month paid 14 times a year.

The digital nomad figures are twice the 2026 monthly minimum wage, plus 75% of it for the first family member and 25% for each further one. Confirm the current figure with your consulate, because it changes whenever the minimum wage does.

The non-lucrative visa

This is the visa for living in Spain on money you already have. You can show the money as a regular income, such as a pension, or as savings that cover your first year. A couple needs €3,000 a month (€36,000 a year).

The rule people trip over is work. You may not work in Spain on this visa, and that includes remote work for a UK employer or UK clients. If the plan is to keep your UK job going from a laptop, look at the digital nomad visa below instead. Anyone retiring should also read our guide, can I retire to Spain as a UK citizen.

The digital nomad visa

This one is for people who carry on working remotely. You must have worked with the company or client for at least the last 3 months. If you are self-employed, up to 20% of your work can be for Spanish clients. Get your foreigner's identity number (NIE) first, because the London consulate asks for it before you apply. Unlike the non-lucrative visa, you can also apply for this one from inside Spain, as long as you are there lawfully.

3. Healthcare after Brexit: the GHIC, the S1 and private cover

Health cover comes up twice. You need proof of it to apply for the visa. After that, you have to keep it running to renew your permit.

Your GHIC is for visits, not for living here

The GHIC covers necessary state healthcare while you are on a visit. It does not pay for private treatment or for being flown home. Once you live in Spain as a resident, you must not use a UK GHIC for healthcare here. Students are the one exception. All three UK consulates accept a GHIC for a student visa, but not for any other visa.

The S1 form is for UK state pensioners

If you receive a UK State Pension, ask NHS Overseas Healthcare Services for an S1 form and register it with Spain's social security institute (INSS). You and your dependants then use Spanish state healthcare in the same way a Spanish citizen does. The London, Manchester and Edinburgh consulates accept a registered S1 instead of private insurance for the non-lucrative visa. Until your S1 registration goes through, you are responsible for your own cover. Do not leave a gap.

The NHS stops when you move

The NHS goes by where you live, not by your passport or the National Insurance you have paid. Once you move abroad for good, you are no longer automatically entitled to NHS treatment, and you should tell your general practitioner (GP) surgery. A registered UK S1 changes this a little. Since 1 January 2024, people who have one can use the NHS like a UK resident when they visit England.

Joining the Spanish public system later

Working in Spain and paying social security gives you and your dependants state healthcare. If you do not work, you can pay into the Convenio Especial, a monthly agreement with your regional health service. It costs €60 a month under 65 and €157 from 65. You need a year's residence first, which can include time in the UK, and you must be on the padrón (the register of residents at your town hall) when you apply. Each region applies the rule in its own way, and the Convenio Especial cannot be used for a first visa.

The UK government's healthcare in Spain guidance lists every route, and our guide to healthcare for UK expats in Spain walks through them.

What the visa insurance must cover

For the non-lucrative and digital nomad visas, the insurance has to come from an insurer authorised to operate in Spain, and it has to cover everything Spain's public health system covers. Choose a plan with no co-payments (no charge each time you see a doctor). The Manchester consulate's checklist also asks for no waiting periods. Read your own consulate's list before you buy. Travel insurance is not enough.

Buy cover for at least your first 12 months in Spain, which the Edinburgh consulate asks for in writing. Your first permit lasts one year from the day you enter Spain.

We have been Sanitas agents in Marbella since 2011, and we arrange Sanitas plans that meet these rules. For a visa, the plans are Sanitas Mas Salud, Sanitas Mas Salud Family or Sanitas Top Quantum, all without co-payments. If you also want cover outside Spain, choose Sanitas Mas 90 without co-payments or Sanitas Premium 500. You can take these out up to 2 months before the cover starts. They have waiting periods for some treatments, but never for emergencies.

If your consulate asks for no waiting periods, or you need your certificate more than 2 months ahead, choose Sanitas Residents Visa: it has no waiting periods at all and can be taken out up to 5 months ahead. New policies are taken up to age 75 on Mas Salud, Mas Salud Family, Top Quantum and Residents Visa, and up to age 64 on Mas 90 and Premium 500, with no upper age to stay insured.

The certificate and the policy are in Spanish, because the consulate requires it. You deal with us in English throughout. We time the policy start to your consulate appointment and send you the certificate. Sanitas may accept, exclude or decline a condition you already have. If it excludes one, let us know before your appointment and we will check the certificate against your consulate's wording.

Our page on health insurance for your Spanish visa has more detail.

Get a visa health insurance quote

4. Applying from the UK, step by step

You apply in person, by appointment, at the BLS International visa centre for your Spanish consulate's district. Your district depends on where you live.

• Edinburgh covers Scotland, Northern Ireland, Cumbria, Durham, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and Tees Valley.
• Manchester covers Wales, the Isle of Man, the rest of North West England, Yorkshire and the Humber, and the Midlands.
• London covers the rest of England, the Channel Islands and Gibraltar.

The consulate will not accept an application from outside its district. Confirm yours on its website before you book. These are the documents for the non-lucrative visa.

1. The national visa application form, the EX-01 form (the Spanish application for a residence permit without work) and fee form 790 code 052 (the form for paying the government fee).
2. A passport valid for at least a year, with two blank pages, issued in the last 10 years.
3. Proof of your income or savings.
4. A criminal record certificate from every country you have lived in over the past 5 years, no older than 6 months. For the UK, this comes from the ACRO Criminal Records Office. Disclosure Scotland certificates are not accepted.
5. A medical certificate from a registered doctor in the UK or Spain, issued in the 3 months before you apply.
6. Your health insurance certificate, or your registered S1.
7. The visa fee, which the consulate confirms when you book (£516 for UK citizens at the Edinburgh consulate), plus the visa centre's fee.

The criminal record and medical certificates both need an apostille (the Hague Convention stamp that confirms a document is genuine) and a sworn translation into Spanish. This is the bit that catches people out. The apostille must confirm the signature of the doctor or official who issued the certificate, not that of a solicitor or notary.

Book your appointment early. The London consulate has 2 months to decide a non-lucrative visa, Manchester has 3 months and Edinburgh has 90 days. A student visa takes 1 month and a digital nomad visa 10 days. Once a non-lucrative or digital nomad visa is approved, you have 1 month to collect it in person. For a student visa it is 2 months. The London consulate's non-lucrative visa page lists every document.

5. Your first weeks in Spain

Enter Spain while your visa is still valid. Your first permit runs for one year from the day you arrive, and the 1-month deadline for your TIE starts that day too. Our moving to Spain checklist puts every task on one page in date order.

1. Apply for your TIE within 1 month. Go in person to the police station or police office for where you live, where your fingerprints are taken. Our guide to residency in Spain explains the appointment.
2. Register on the padrón at your town hall. Everyone living in Spain has a legal duty to register, in the town where they spend most of the year. You will also need it if you ever apply for the Convenio Especial. Our guide shows how to register on the padrón.
3. Open a bank account. Anyone legally resident in the EU has the right to a basic payment account in Spain.
4. Exchange your UK driving licence within 6 months. You can drive on your UK licence for up to 6 months after you become resident. Under the UK and Spain licence agreement, you swap it at Spain's traffic authority (DGT), and a car licence needs no driving test. Take your TIE, your UK licence, a medical fitness report from an approved driver medical centre and a check code from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA). For a Northern Ireland licence, the check code comes from the Driver and Vehicle Agency. Do not renew or replace your UK licence after you move, because Spain only exchanges a licence issued before you became resident. The full process is in our guide to exchanging your driving licence in Spain.

6. The 90-day rule and the Entry/Exit System

Without a visa, British visitors can stay in Spain and the rest of the Schengen area (the European zone without internal border checks) for up to 90 days in any 180. Since 10 April 2026, the EU's Entry/Exit System has been fully running at every external border. It takes your fingerprints and photo and records every entry and exit, so any days over the limit are flagged automatically.

If you hold a residence permit or a long-stay visa, you do not register, and your time in Spain does not count towards the 90 days. British residents with a TIE show it at the border. Holders of the old green certificate must register, which is another reason to swap it for a TIE.

People ask us if they can come out as a visitor and apply for the visa once they are here. For the non-lucrative visa, you cannot. You apply for it only at the Spanish consulate for where you live.

The European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) is the online travel permit visitors will need, and it is not running yet. The EU planned to start it in the last quarter of 2026 but has not announced a date, and it will give notice first. You will not need it if you hold a Spanish visa, a residence permit or a Withdrawal Agreement TIE.

7. Tax: when Spain counts you as resident

Spain counts you as tax resident for a calendar year if you spend more than 183 days here, and short trips away still count as days in Spain. You are also resident if your main business or economic interests are in Spain, or, unless you prove otherwise, if your spouse and dependent children live here.

The UK and Spain tax treaty decides which country taxes each kind of income. If both countries tax the same income, the treaty lets you claim relief so you are not taxed twice in full, and where the rates differ you pay the higher one overall. UK government pensions, such as civil service pensions, are taxed only in the UK.

Residents must also declare assets they hold outside Spain. Modelo 720 (the return for assets abroad) is filed between 1 January and 31 March of the following year when one type of asset, such as bank accounts, investments or property, is worth more than €50,000. After that, you only file again if a type rises by more than €20,000.

We are insurance agents, not tax advisers, so take this section as an outline and speak to a tax adviser in your first year. For your budget, see how the cost of living compares with the UK.

8. Staying on: renewing your permit

The first non-lucrative permit lasts one year. A renewed permit lasts two years. Apply in the 2 months before your permit expires. Up to 3 months after is accepted, but you can be fined, so do not leave it late. Our guide to renewing your non-lucrative visa goes through it step by step.

The renewal rules are in article 64 of Royal Decree 1155/2024. You must have lived in Spain for more than 183 days in the calendar year, and you must show the money for the two years of the renewed permit, which is €57,600 for one person at 2026 rates. Your health insurance must also have run the whole time. That last one is why we tell clients never to let a visa policy lapse, not even for a day.

In practice, if you spend enough time in Spain to renew, you will be tax resident here too.

9. Who to tell in the UK before you leave

With all the Spanish paperwork going on, the UK side is easy to forget. Tell these people before you go, and keep a note of the date you told each one.

• His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC). Tell them you are leaving the UK. If you do not usually fill in a Self Assessment tax return, use form P85. If you do, tell them on your tax return.
• The Pension Service or the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). If you get the State Pension or any benefit, tell them you are moving. State Pensions paid abroad are dealt with by the International Pension Centre.
• Your GP surgery. Tell them you are moving abroad and they will take you off their list.
• Your council. Give them the date you move out and your council tax will stop.
• The electoral register. You can register as an overseas voter and keep your vote in UK general elections.
• Your UK driving licence. You cannot renew or replace it with the DVLA once you live in Spain, so exchange it there within your first 6 months.
• Your bank, pension providers and insurers. Give them your new address. Some UK banks do not keep accounts open for people living abroad, so ask yours before you go.
• The Student Loans Company, if you still have a student loan. You must tell them when you move abroad.

If health insurance for your visa is still on your list, ask us for a quote. We work in English and will time the start date to your consulate appointment.