Spain Retirement Visa for Americans, Canadians and Other Non-EU Retirees

We arrange the health insurance for moves like these, and over the years we have seen where retiring in Spain comes unstuck. This guide is for Americans, Canadians and retirees from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and other countries that need a visa.

Facts checked on 9 November 2026.

What people call the Spanish retirement visa

Spain's immigration regulation, Royal Decree 1155/2024, lists six kinds of temporary residence, and none is called a retirement visa. Retirees use the first one, the non-lucrative permit, which lets you and your family live in Spain without working. There is no minimum age. So yes, Americans and Canadians can retire in Spain.

The visa gets you into Spain and the permit lets you stay. The first permit lasts one year from the day you arrive. After that it is renewed for two years at a time.

You cannot start this visa on a holiday. Americans can visit without a visa for up to 90 days in any 180 across the Schengen area (the European zone without internal border checks). The visa, though, is applied for at the Spanish consulate for where you live, before you travel. Our guide to visa requirements for Americans in Spain covers short visits and the other visas.

Spain retirement visa requirements in 2026

• Money: €2,400 a month (€28,800 a year), plus €600 a month (€7,200 a year) for each family member in your care.
• Health insurance from an insurer authorised in Spain, with no co-payments (no charge each time you see a doctor). Most US and Canadian consulates also refuse waiting periods.
• A clean criminal record from every country you have lived in during the last 5 years. Each certificate needs an apostille (the Hague Convention stamp that confirms a document is genuine) and an official Spanish translation.
• A medical certificate saying you have no disease with serious public health effects under the International Health Regulations 2005.
• A passport valid for at least 1 year.
• The fees: for US citizens in 2026, $140 for the visa plus $13 for the permit, and a service charge if a BLS International visa centre takes your application.
• No work in Spain, and that includes remote work.

By law, consulates have 3 months to decide. It can take longer if they ask for an interview or more documents.

What retiring in Spain costs

Spain is not as cheap as it was. Rents, energy, insurance and eating out have all gone up. Build a real budget, and include community fees (the charges for shared areas in a block or development), prescriptions, tax advice and trips home. The Costa del Sol, where our office is, has good flights and hospitals but is expensive in the prime spots. Visit in winter as well as summer, and rent before you buy. Our tips for renting long term in Spain will help. For the climate, the food and the places people choose, read our guide to the reasons to retire in Spain.

How much income you need to retire in Spain

The figure comes from the IPREM (indicador público de renta de efectos múltiples), Spain's public income index, which is €600 a month in 2026. You need 400% of it for yourself and 100% for each family member in your care, for the whole period of the permit. That is €2,400 a month (€28,800 a year) for one person and €3,000 a month (€36,000 a year) for a couple.

You can show a regular income, or savings that cover the period. The Washington consulate accepts Social Security benefits, public or private pensions and life annuities as income.

Each consulate asks for the proof in its own way, so follow your consulate's list to the letter. San Francisco's list for retirees says investment accounts will not be accepted, while Los Angeles and Washington accept them. If most of your money is in a 401(k) workplace plan or an individual retirement account (IRA), ask your consulate how it wants that shown. If you retire early, Los Angeles and San Francisco ask for proof of a pension or a letter showing your job has ended.

Family means your husband, wife or partner, your unmarried children under 18 and adult children with a disability who depend on you. Ask your consulate about any other relative. Plan for the renewal too. A renewed permit lasts two years, so at 2026 rates you show €57,600 for one person or €72,000 for a couple. Our guide to the minimum income for residency in Spain covers every visa.

Healthcare for retirees in Spain: the insurance the consulate checks

You need health insurance to apply, and you must keep it running to renew. Your cover from home will not meet the rules.

Medicare and Canadian provincial plans

Medicare's own guidance says it usually does not cover healthcare outside the US, and Medicare drug plans do not cover prescriptions bought abroad. If you are on Medicare, ask Social Security about Part B (doctors and outpatient care) before you go. Joining later can mean waiting for the General Enrollment Period (1 January to 31 March) and paying a late penalty.

Canadian provincial and territorial plans are based on where you live. You must spend a set number of days in your province each year to keep them. Once you move abroad for good you stop meeting that rule, so check with your province's health plan before you leave.

Spain's public health system

The non-lucrative visa does not give you free care in Spain's public health system. When you arrive, your private policy is your healthcare in Spain, so choose cover you will actually use, not just a document for the consulate. If you do not work, you can later 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 in Spain first, 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.

What the visa insurance must cover

For the non-lucrative visa, 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). Most US and Canadian consulates also ask for no waiting periods and no coverage limit, and San Francisco refuses a policy that excludes conditions you already have. Read your own consulate's list before you buy. Travel insurance is not enough.

Your insurance certificate must show the start and end dates of cover, and consulates such as Washington and Los Angeles want it valid for one year. Keep the cover running for at least your first 12 months, because 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

Applying for the visa from the United States

You apply in person, through the Spanish consulate for the state where you live, and you prove you live there with your state identity card or driving licence. BLS International, a private company, runs the visa centres for most of these consulates.

California is split by county between Los Angeles and San Francisco. These are the documents that most often trip Americans up.

1. The criminal record check. Only the fingerprint-based Identity History Summary from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is accepted, issued no more than 6 months before you apply. State and local police checks are refused. Make sure the check you receive is authenticated by the FBI, because that is what allows it to be apostilled, and the FBI will not authenticate a result after it has been issued.
2. The federal apostille. It must come from the US Department of State in Washington. A state apostille is refused, and so is a check with its staples removed.
3. The Spanish translation of the FBI check, made by a certified translator or by a sworn translator approved by Spain. The translation needs no apostille.
4. The medical certificate, issued no more than 90 days before you apply. It must be signed by a doctor (a physician, not a nurse practitioner or physician assistant), with the doctor's stamp and licence number, on letterhead or on your consulate's own template. Use the bilingual template if your consulate has one, because then no translation is needed. Otherwise the certificate needs a Spanish translation.
5. Police records from any other country you lived in for 6 months or more in the last 5 years, apostilled and translated.

Order the FBI check first, because it still needs the federal apostille and the translation once it arrives. Then time the medical certificate and the insurance to your appointment. Miami takes applications up to 3 months before your trip. The Washington consulate's non-lucrative visa page lists every document, and our step-by-step guide to the non-lucrative visa goes through the application.

Applying for the visa from Canada

Toronto covers Ontario (except Ottawa and the National Capital Region) and the provinces and territories west and north of it. Montreal covers Quebec (except Gatineau) and the Atlantic provinces. The Embassy in Ottawa covers Ottawa and Gatineau.

You need a certified criminal record check from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), taken with your fingerprints. Local police certificates are refused. The Apostille Convention came into force for Canada on 11 January 2024, and Global Affairs Canada now adds the apostille to the RCMP certificate. The certificate then needs a Spanish translation. The Toronto consulate wants the medical certificate apostilled and translated too. Fees for Canadians are higher, so confirm them when you book.

Canada's Old Age Security pension can be paid in Spain if you lived in Canada for at least 20 years after age 18, and the Canada and Spain social security agreement can count time in Spain towards that. Our guide to moving to Spain from Canada covers the rest.

Applying from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa

• Australia. Canberra covers only the Australian Capital Territory and Queanbeyan. Sydney covers New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory, and Melbourne covers the other states. You need the Australian Federal Police National Police Check with fingerprints. You apply for the fingerprint check by post, because it cannot be done online, and it takes 15 to 30 working days. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade adds the apostille. See Spain visa requirements for Australians.
• New Zealand. Apply to the Spanish Embassy in Wellington. Ask the Ministry of Justice for your own criminal record, which is free, and ask for the full record of convictions. It takes up to 20 working days, and the Department of Internal Affairs adds the apostille.
• South Africa. Apply through BLS International. Its Cape Town office takes residents of the Northern, Eastern and Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, and its Pretoria office takes residents of Limpopo, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, North West and the Free State. The consulate also lists a BLS office in Durban. The South African Police Service issues the Police Clearance Certificate from your fingerprints in about 15 working days, and the Department of International Relations and Cooperation adds the apostille. Cape Town wants the certificate issued no more than 90 days before you apply, and it names Sanitas among the Spanish insurers that offer the cover it asks for. See visas for South Africans.

Your first weeks in Spain: residence card and town hall register

Enter Spain within the dates printed on your visa. At most consulates that gives you 90 days.

1. Apply for your residence card within 1 month of arriving. This is the TIE (tarjeta de identidad de extranjero, the foreigner's identity card). You apply in person at the police station or immigration office. See our guide to residency in Spain.
2. Register on the padrón at your town hall. Everyone living in Spain must be on it. See how to register on the padrón.
3. Keep your NIE to hand. This is your foreigner identity number (número de identidad de extranjero). You need it for a bank account, a rental contract, buying a home and your tax return. If you do not have one yet, see how to get your NIE number.

When you travel, show your TIE with your passport at the border.

Pitfalls of retiring to Spain that catch people out

No work, not even remote work. Los Angeles and New York say the visa does not allow teleworking, and Washington rules out online work too. If you want to keep working for clients back home, look at the digital nomad visa instead. It asks for twice Spain's monthly minimum wage, which is €2,442 a month in 2026. Confirm the figure with your consulate when you book.

You must live here to renew. Article 64 of the decree asks for more than 183 days in Spain in the calendar year, health insurance kept running the whole time and the money for the next two years. Apply in the 2 months before your permit expires. The insurance rule is why we tell clients never to let a visa policy lapse, not even for a day. See our guide to renewing your non-lucrative visa.

You become tax resident. More than 183 days in Spain in a calendar year makes you tax resident here. US citizens still file US tax returns on their worldwide income, and the US and Spain tax treaty lets the US tax Social Security. We are insurance agents, not tax advisers, so speak to a cross-border tax adviser before you move. Our article on whether Americans living in Spain pay tax twice is a good place to start.

Social Security follows you. It keeps paying US citizens who live in Spain, as long as they remain eligible. See collecting Social Security in Spain.

A house no longer buys residence. Spain's golden visa for property investors ended on 3 April 2025, so buying a home now gives you no right to live here.

Five years brings long-term residence. After five years of legal, continuous residence you can apply for long-term residence, which lets you live and work in Spain indefinitely. Absences of up to 6 months at a time, and no more than 10 months in total, do not break the five years.

The everyday mistakes. The ones we see most are choosing a town after one good holiday, buying too quickly and never learning basic Spanish. Make a Spanish will that covers foreign assets as well.

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.