MORE FAQs (FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS!)





My husband and I both have Residencia in the Alicante province, and are now moving to the Valencia province.  What is the procedure for changing details of address please?

Alicante and Valencia are separate autonomous regions, and the regulations sometimes vary between the two.  Assuming the procedure is the same as that for Alicante, you should attend the Comiseria in Valencia with a Certificado de Empadronamiento (certificate from your local Ayuntamiento confirming your new address) your residencia and passport, 3 passport photos and a completed application form marked to indicate the request is necessary due to a change of address.  You will sign and fingerprint the new card, and be given a slip with which you collect the new residencia after a month.  The reason for this is that previously, the Residencia cards were made of cardboard and the new address could be typed on immediately.  The new style cards are rigid plastic, and therefore need to be left at the Comiseria to be processed.  





I have a plot of land in the Alicante province which I believe I owe Suma taxes on.  Can you please advise me of Suma's address and  what reference number I need to quote to check on this.

Every plot of land has its own reference number (known as "referencia catastral") which identifies it to the Suma office.  This reference should be shown in your Escritura, but if this is not available, and you do not have an old tax bill from the previous owner, you should request a plan from Suma and outline your plot of land.  You can just give the plot address, but when the land was first registered it may have been identified in a different manner, so it is safer to show the exact location of the plot.  Each town has its own Suma office (except Javea, whose taxes are administered by the Ayuntamiento direct), and the address for each will appear in the Guía, or telephone book.  





My wife and I are getting conflicting advice as to whether we should apply for residencia: most of our friends say we should but our abogado advises us not to for tax reasons.  We are both below retirement age and plan to work.  We have bought a villa and put a deposit on an apartment which is not yet built.  We will probably sell or let one of them out in due course.  Can you please clear up the confusion?

Legally, anyone who is planning to spend more than 6 months of the year in this part of Spain should apply for Residencia.  As you are not retired, and plan to work, you should in any event be making an application.  There seems to be a loophole at present where if an individual has a work contract, they can receive a social security card and start paying tax, but if you do not have a Residencia card it could affect your entitlements to pensions, etc in the future, and is not recommended.  If you intend to work on a self employed basis, you can apply for your Residencia at the same time as registering yourself within the system.

The main advantage to becoming a resident is that you will pay a reduced or nil Capital Gains Tax amount should you sell one of your your properties, and when you are both over 65, no Capital Gains Tax at all is levied  your main residence Spanish property you sell, providing you use the money to purchase another main residence.  Capital Gains Tax on any secondary property will be calculated at the reduced rate.

I assume your abogado is thinking of the tax implications insofar as when you become resident, you are obliged to make an annual Tax Declaration on worldwide assets/earnings over and above that covered by your automatic tax deduction from your wage. This is also the case if you are not working. The base rate for tax here is slightly higher than that in the UK (starting at 15% up to 43% maximum), and if you still make a Declaration in Britain you will pay the difference here. If you have various earnings, rental income, etc you may therefore find this is not so cost effective for you.  You should also take into account the fluctuation of the exchange rate, as the UK has not adopted the Euro currency, which can vary the balance of tax paid.

As you can see, there are many variables to this answer, depending on your specific situation, so I would suggest once your work is in place you review the situation.  I know of many people who live here all year but choose not to take Residencia, and there are persistent rumours that these cards will eventually be scrapped, but I reiterate that at the present time, they are still a legal requirement.





We are thinking of moving to the Costa Blanca, but as an ashmatic, I am concerned about the medical aspects. I have heard there is a state of the art hospital in Alicante, but what about local medical facilities? For example; can I register with a doctor, would they want my medical records from my doctor in Britain, is there any delay in getting appointments and can I expect a reasonable standard of English to be spoken, as I have difficulty expressing myself in Spanish.

There are a number of private doctors in this part of Spain, most of whom speak excellent English, and whose services are available either on a "pay as you go" basis or through private healthcare.  As in the UK, there are both private and public hospitals in the province, and reports vary depending to whom you speak, but I get the impression that the state healthcare service is well regarded here and overall is relatively modern and progressive.

If you wish to use the national health provisions, you must first apply for a Residencia.  In order to do this, you will need the relevant form from the DHS in the UK: an E121 if you are of pensionable age, or an E106 if you are not.  You should note the E106 only provides temporary health cover up to two years, and if you are not eligible for an E121 by that time, you will in any event be expected to provide your own health care if you are not working and paying your "stamp".  

The question of medical records tends to be individual to the doctor: some request them and some do not.  Similarly, some doctors arrange set appointment times and for others you just turn up and wait. With regard to the language, you will find that a number of national health doctors in towns with a diversity of nationalities speak a little English.  However, this is not always the case, and you would need to check in the specific town where you are planning to live.