Moving to Spain from the UK: the complete retirement checklist
This is the whole list, for a retirement move from the UK. It is built from the same catalogue our free planner uses, so nothing on it applies to somebody else’s country and nothing that applies to yours is missing.
40 steps, grouped into the five phases of the move
Since Brexit a British retiree needs a visa — usually the non-lucrative visa — applied for from the UK before moving. State pensioners can normally still use the S1 for healthcare.
Nothing here is compulsory and nothing is in a fixed order. Timings are the usual ones — your own dates depend on when you are moving.
Discover
Is Spain right for you, and whereabouts?
Decide where in Spain you’d like to live
Narrow the whole country down to two or three places worth visiting.
When: 36–12 months before the move
Work out your monthly budget in Spain
What your life will actually cost, line by line.
When: 30–12 months before the move
Plan
The legal, tax and healthcare route — and what happens to your home.
Understand your residency options
Which permit lets you live in Spain, and what each one asks of you.
When: 18–9 months before the move
Check you meet the visa income requirement
The number the consulate will measure you against, and what counts towards it.
When: 18–9 months before the move
Gather your visa documents
Criminal record check, medical certificate, insurance — each with its own clock.
When: 6–3 months before the move
Apply at your consulate
The appointment itself, and what happens in the weeks after it.
When: 5–2 months before the move
Understand when you become tax resident
The rule that decides which country taxes your worldwide income.
When: 18–6 months before the move
Estimate how your pension will be taxed in Spain
What actually lands in your account each month, after Spanish tax.
When: 18–6 months before the move
Check the double-taxation treaty for your country
Which country gets to tax what — and how you avoid paying twice.
When: 18–6 months before the move
Learn about reporting assets held abroad
Modelo 720: a declaration, not a tax — but one with real deadlines.
When: Around the move itself
Understand what your own country wants when you leave
Ending your tax residence at home is a separate job from starting it in Spain.
When: 9–1 months before the move
Decide how you’ll be covered in Spain
Four routes into cover, and which of them are open to you.
When: 18–6 months before the move
Arrange visa-compliant private health insurance
Not any policy — the specific kind a consulate accepts.
When: 6–2 months before the move
Collect medical records and prescriptions
Arrive with your history in your hand rather than in another country’s system.
When: 3–0 months before the move
Plan how you’ll move money, and in which currency
The cost of a transfer is mostly hidden in the rate, not the fee.
When: 12–1 months before the move
Review your pension options before you move
Drawing, transferring, or leaving it where it is — while you can still take advice at home.
When: 18–6 months before the move
Open a Spanish bank account
You will need one for almost everything, and it is easier with an NIE.
When: Around the move itself
Review your will and inheritance position
Spanish succession rules can apply to you unless you say otherwise.
When: Around the move itself
Decide what happens to your current home
Sell, let, holiday-let or keep. The biggest single decision of the move.
When: 18–9 months before the move
Prepare
Winding things up and packing them off.
Get quotes for the international move
Three surveys, and ask what is not in the price.
When: 9–4 months before the move
Decide what goes, what’s sold, and what’s stored
The cheapest thing you can do to a removal quote is make it smaller.
When: 9–3 months before the move
Sell your car or bring it to Spain
Importing is possible, and it is rarely as cheap as it looks.
When: 9–3 months before the move
Get key documents legalised and translated
Apostille first, then sworn translation. The other way round means paying twice.
When: 6–2 months before the move
Book travel and somewhere to land
The week between leaving and arriving needs a plan of its own.
When: 3–1 months before the move
Cancel or transfer utilities and subscriptions
Everything that renews automatically, found before it renews from Spain.
When: 1–0 months before the move
Redirect your post
For a year, not a month. The important letters come annually.
When: 1–0 months before the move
Review your insurance for the transition
The month around the move is when most policies quietly stop applying.
When: 2–0 months before the move
Move & arrive
The journey, and your first weeks in Spain.
Apply for your TIE
The card that proves your residence, and there is a deadline from the day you land.
When: 0–1 months after the move
Get your NIE
Your Spanish tax and identity number. Nothing works without it.
When: 0–1 months after the move
Register on the padrón at your town hall
The local register. Free, quick, and required for almost everything else.
When: 0–1 months after the move
Find your home in Spain
Most people who rent for a year first are glad they did.
When: Around the move itself
Set up utilities and internet
Straightforward once you have an NIE and a Spanish bank account.
When: 0–1 months after the move
Register for healthcare and get your card
Turn your entitlement into an actual doctor with an actual appointment.
When: 0–2 months after the move
Settle
Closing the loose ends and renewing what needs renewing.
Get through your first Spanish tax return
The one to pay for advice on. Later ones are much easier.
When: 3–15 months after the move
Sort out your driving licence
There is a deadline, and what happens at it depends on where your licence is from.
When: 1–6 months after the move
Consider a Spanish will
A short document that saves your family a long process.
When: 3–12 months after the move
Start learning Spanish
The thing that decides whether you live in Spain or beside it.
When: 0–12 months after the move
Find your community
The part of the move that decides whether you stay.
When: 1–12 months after the move
Renew your residency
The first renewal comes round faster than you expect. Start early.
When: 9–12 months after the move
Turn this into your personal plan
Same list, with your dates on it, the steps that don’t apply to your household removed, and a note of what to do next. Free, and every question can be skipped.
Who does this for a living
The professionals these steps usually need, in Spain and where you are now.
Read more about these steps
- Gestor vs tax advisor in Spain: who retirees actually need
- Nota simple in Spain: checking a property before you buy
- Spain retirement visa: how to get a non‑lucrative visa and what to expect
- Healthcare in Mallorca for foreign retirees
- How to retire in Spain from the US: the legal steps that actually matter