If you
are going to apply for residency, registering a
child for school, purchase a Spanish car or
transferring your
imported car over to Spanish registration plates
then you will need a padron. This can be obtained
from your local Town Hall.
The
padron reflects the details for your property so if
your property is owned by a husband and wife then
both their names will be on the padron. You can
however get a padron for one person even through the
property may be owned jointly by two people.
The
padron informs the local Spanish Government in your
area that you are a
property owner, and that you are residing in Spain. You
will then be added to the official database where
they can monitor their annual spending for the area
reflected in the number of padrons they have
processed.
The
Spanish Government are taking large steps to ensure
that anyone processing their residency or buying a Spanish car have
to have a padron so it is important to get this little
bit of paperwork processed as soon as possible. Without
this paperwork it would be illegal to process your
residency or purchase a Spanish car.
If you
are a property owner and are not resident in Spain
then you do not need a padron. If you are driving a
foreign car in Spain for no longer than 6-months
then you also do not need a padron.
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You will
first have to look at one of your utility
bills to ensure that you visit the correct
Town Hall to process your padron. You will find
your nearest town in the address.
Many expats have visited the wrong Town Hall in
the past so this quick check ensures you are
applying at the correct one. This will save
you a lot of time and frustration.
This
frustration comes from some of the Town
Halls being very short staffed and set aside
too few hours to process padron
applications. This is Spanish red tape that
unfortunately you need to get involved in
personally. |
To
process your padron you will need your passport, NIE
number, a utility bill (water, electric, telephone)
and a copy of your title deeds for your property.
If
your Town Hall opens at 8:30am I would suggest you
get their around 7:00am, maybe even earlier
depending on how busy it is. You will normally find
a ticket machine inside the main hallway. Get a
ticket if you can and wait for your number. This wait
could be a few hours.
If no
tickets are available it is possible that your Town
Hall hands the tickets out when they open and they
may restrict the number to 100 - 150 only per day.
In this instance an official (or local Policeman)
will distribute the tickets by hand to the queue.
Once all the tickets have gone that's it. There is
no reason to hang around. Just return the next day
even earlier and join the queue again.
If you
are lucky enough to get a ticket you will get your
padron paperwork in around 15-minutes. They are
completely free of charge. You would normally get
three or four copies which are useful for buying
Spanish vehicles or if you need to show a padron for
health service applications. If they only provide
you with one ask for more copies.
The
padron only lasts for 3-months and if you need to
provide it again after this period then you will
need to take the old one back to the Town Hall to be
renewed. This unfortunately means getting up very
early again to join the queue.
