Renewals and other residence permits
Besides residence permits, there are other authorisations and renewals worth knowing about: the most common ones and their main requirements.
Renewal is for those who already hold the one-year card granted after entering on the visa, or who have already renewed once and hold a two-year permit. In both cases the renewal is granted for a further two years if the conditions of the initial grant or of the previous renewal are maintained, which the Immigration Office checks.
Requirements
- EX-01 application form in duplicate, completed and signed.
- Full passport in force, with every page: it is checked that you have resided in Spain for at least six months in a one-year period.
- Sufficient financial means, the most important requirement: the amount set by the applicable legal threshold for the holder, plus the corresponding amount for each dependent family member, which can be proven with bank accounts, shares, investment funds, regular income, rents, pensions, etc.; the full amount does not have to be held in one place and it may be received monthly. Documents for funds held abroad must be legalised or apostilled and translated by a sworn translator; it is advisable to have a bank account in Spain.
- Full medical insurance, public or private, without co-payments and with the same scope as the public system; in some regions the public system can be joined by paying a monthly fee.
- No criminal record in Spain: the certificate from the country of origin is not requested, but it is checked that no record has arisen on Spanish territory.
- School certificate for dependent minors aged 6 to 16, at a public, private or state-subsidised school.
- Administrative fee (form 790, code 052).
- Only if your address has changed, a new, up-to-date municipal registration certificate.
Those renewing may come from arraigo (social, employment or family), from initial work authorisations applied for by a company or from family reunification. The requirements are very similar and focus on proving the continuity or sufficiency of the work activity.
Requirements and possible situations
- EX-03 application form in duplicate, completed and signed.
- Full passport in force, with every page.
- Having worked full time for at least six months in the last year, or keeping the initial employment relationship, with a new contract or registered with Social Security at the time of the application. If the relationship was interrupted for reasons beyond the worker's control, three months of work may be enough, being registered as a job seeker and holding a new contract. Renewal is also possible while receiving contributory unemployment benefit or a public social or employment integration allowance and, without meeting the work requirements, through the financial means of a spouse or partner at the family reunification amounts, according to the legal threshold applicable to the family unit.
- No criminal record in Spain.
- School certificate for dependent minors.
- Two fees: form 790 code 052 (worker) and form 790 code 062 (employer). In some cases it is advisable to provide an integration report from the regional government; only if your address has changed, an up-to-date municipal registration certificate.
It authorises you to live and work in Spain indefinitely, on the same terms as Spanish citizens, as an employee or self-employed and without applying for new permits. It is normally obtained after five years of continuous legal residence; it can also be granted in other cases:
- Holding, or being the family member of a holder of, long-term residence in another EU country.
- Receiving a contributory retirement pension, or a pension for total permanent disability or severe disability.
- Having been born in Spain and resided legally for at least three consecutive years before coming of age.
- Having been Spanish by origin and having lost that nationality.
- Having been under the guardianship of a Spanish public body for five consecutive years.
- Being stateless, a refugee or a beneficiary of international protection.
- Having made a notable contribution to Spain's progress; in this case the Ministry decides.
Basic documentation
- Official EX-11 form in duplicate, completed and signed.
- Passport or travel document in force; the original must be shown.
- School certificate for dependent minors.
- Administrative fee (form 790, code 052, heading 2.6).
- The specific documentation for the ground on which long-term residence is requested.
For those who want to move to live or work in another European Union country. It does not automatically allow you to work in other countries (each state has its own rules), but it makes changing your card in the destination country much easier. The fundamental requirement is sufficient, stable financial means, according to the legal threshold applicable to the family unit (which increases for each additional member), from employment, professional activity or other own means.
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