[Closed] I’m moving to madrid - me estoy mudando a madrid

Hi/Hola,

I'm from the UK originally, and now I'm living in the north of Spain, so I'll try and help.

The NIE, isn't so important if you're only going to be here for less than a year (my friend moved to Madrid and he was given an appointment to get his NIE 8 months after he called to make the appointment, so it's probably not worth it for you!). If you create a bank account with your passport, then that should be all you need as verification. (BTW, you'll need to keep your passport on you all the time, too.)

Sometimes people will insist on a NIE, but your passport will always be sufficient. Maybe it's because I live in a rural area, but we've had discussions with bank-folk because they're used to dealing exclusively with NIE/DNI and not dealing with passport numbers, but if you kick up enough of a stink you'll be fine.

With regards to healthcare, if you sign up in the UK (I'm assuming you're British) for the EU health-card then that'll cover you. With regards to forums, the Expat Forum is really good for general advice, and everyone there has been through some sort of bureaucratic nightmare, so you can see where the problems normally arise.

One word of advice, with anything official you'll need about a million photocopies of your passport and some passport sized photos, so it's best to stock up on these (particularly the photos!) before you come.

Espero que tengas suerte con la mudanza!

hey thanks a lot for your help Helipacter

if anyone else has any other spain/madrid related advice that'd be great..

Ever considered moving a bit further south, down to Gibraltar?