Moving to Mallorca

Buying a home is not a residence permit

A purchase and a move run on two separate legal tracks. Anyone can buy in Mallorca once they have a NIE (see how to get a NIE number), but the deed gives no right to live in Spain. Citizens of the EU, the EEA and Switzerland may live here if they work or have enough means and health cover, and they register rather than apply for a visa. Everyone else, including British citizens since 1 January 2021, needs a national visa or a residence authorisation. Without one, a non-EU owner is a visitor, limited to 90 days in any 180-day period across the Schengen area. The UK government warns that overstaying can lead to an entry ban of up to three years.

1. 1

   Choose your route

   EU, EEA and Swiss citizens register after they arrive. Non-EU citizens normally apply for a visa at the Spanish consulate for the place where they live, before they travel. The digital nomad permit can also be requested from inside Spain while you are there legally.

2. 2

   Have your NIE ready

   You need it to buy and for most later steps. If you bought your home you already have one, and it does not change.

3. 3

   Settle your address

   The padrón and most later steps need the address where you actually live: the home you bought, or a rented one while you look (see renting long-term).

4. 4

   Register on the padrón

   Sign up at the town hall. The certificate is your proof of address for schools, the health service and other offices.

5. 5

   Register as a resident

   EU citizens apply for the registration certificate within three months of arrival. Holders of a non-lucrative visa apply for the TIE card within one month of entry. A digital nomad visa needs no TIE while it is valid.

6. 6

   Health, tax, car and school

   Register for healthcare, review your tax position, exchange your driving licence in time and apply for school places.

EU, EEA and Swiss citizens: the registration certificate

Under article 7 of Real Decreto (royal decree) 240/2007, an EU or EEA citizen may live in Spain for more than three months if they work or are self-employed here, if they have enough money for themselves and their family plus health insurance covering all risks in Spain, or if they are enrolled as a student with insurance and enough means. You must apply in person for entry in the Central Register of Foreigners within three months of arrival. The certificado de registro (registration certificate) is issued on the spot and shows your name, nationality, address, NIE and date of registration.

• Book through the government’s cita previa (appointment) system. In Mallorca EU registrations are handled by the Policía Nacional’s Oficina de Comunitarios at Carrer Felicià Fuster 7, Palma; check the office named on your confirmation.
• Bring your passport or national identity card, the EX-18 application form, proof that you paid the fee and evidence that you meet one of the conditions, such as an employment contract, or proof of enough money together with health insurance covering all risks in Spain.
• Pay the police fee on form 790, code 012: €12.00 in October 2026.
• Family members who are not EU, EEA or Swiss citizens apply for a separate family member residence card, also within three months of arrival.

Non-EU and British buyers: visa routes in 2026

For British, American and other non-EU buyers the move usually starts at the Spanish consulate for the place where you live. On the non-lucrative route you apply for a visa there, enter Spain while it is valid (at most three months), and within one month of entry apply in person to the police for the TIE (foreigner’s identity card). This comes from Real Decreto 1155/2024, the immigration regulation in force since 20 May 2025 (articles 63 and 209); the amending decree of April 2026 (Real Decreto 316/2026) did not change the rules described here. A digital nomad visa works differently: under Ley 14/2013 the visa itself lets you live in Spain while it is valid, and a TIE follows once you obtain the residence authorisation. The police fee for a first TIE is €16.08 and for a renewal €19.30 (October 2026). The two routes most buyers consider are compared below.

The non-lucrative visa also asks for a passport valid for at least a year, a criminal record certificate from the countries where you lived in the last five years and a medical certificate. Foreign documents must be legalised or apostilled and translated into Spanish by a sworn translator. Renewals go to the foreigners’ office (Oficina de Extranjería) and require children of compulsory school age to be in school (article 64). They can be filed online or in person: a Supreme Court judgment of 8 July 2026, published in the BOE on 22 September 2026, struck down the rule that made online filing compulsory. After five years of continuous legal residence, non-EU residents can apply for national long-term residence (article 183) or for long-term EU residence, which also requires stable resources and health insurance (article 176). Absences of up to six months at a time, and ten months in total, do not break the five years.

The golden visa has closed. Ley Orgánica 1/2025, published on 3 January 2025, emptied the investor visa articles of Ley 14/2013 (articles 63 to 67) with effect from 3 April 2025. Applications filed before that date are decided under the rules in force when they were filed. Investor visas and permits valid on that date keep their validity until they expire, and renewals are decided under the rules in force when the permit was first granted. A purchase made now does not lead to residence on its own.

• Since 1 January 2021 the UK has been a non-EU country for Spain, so British buyers use the routes above.
• British citizens legally living in Spain before 2021 are protected by the Withdrawal Agreement. The UK government says the TIE is the only residence document listed in that agreement.
• Residents holding a TIE do not register in the EU’s Entry/Exit System at the border. Holders of the old green EU certificate do, so the UK government advises them to get a TIE.
• Time spent in Spain on a residence permit or long-stay visa does not count towards the 90-day visitor limit.

Tax residence: the 183-day rule and what changes

Your immigration status and your tax status are separate questions. Under article 9 of the income tax law (Ley 35/2006), you are tax resident in Spain for a calendar year if you spend more than 183 days in Spain that year, counting sporadic absences unless you prove tax residence in another country, or if Spain is the main centre of your business or economic interests. You are also presumed resident, unless you prove otherwise, if your spouse (not legally separated) and dependent minor children usually live in Spain.

If Spain and another country both treat you as resident, the double tax treaty between them decides which claim wins; the UK and Spain have one. People who become resident because they move to Spain for a job (including remote work for an employer), to become a company director or for certain entrepreneurial or start-up work, and who were not resident in the previous five years, can opt for a special regime (article 93 of the income tax law, often called the Beckham law) for the year of the move and the next five. The option must be exercised within six months of the start date shown in the Spanish social security registration, or in the document that keeps you in your home system (Real Decreto 439/2007, article 116).

Registering on the padrón

The padrón is the municipal register of inhabitants. Article 15 of the local government law (Ley 7/1985) says everyone living in Spain must register in the municipality where they usually live, and someone who lives in several places registers where they spend most of the year. Your entry is official proof of residence and address, and certificates from it are public documents (article 16). Schools, the health service and other offices ask for one. The padrón gives no residence rights, and it is separate from your NIE.

1. 1

   Book an appointment

   In Palma, registrations and changes of address are made in person at a citizens’ office (OAC) with an appointment booked on palma.es, or online with a digital certificate or electronic DNI. People over 65 can go to the Son Moix office without an appointment, from 8.30 to 13.30.

2. 2

   Fill in the registration sheet

   Every adult being registered signs it. For children, both parents sign and bring copies of their identity documents.

3. 3

   Prove your identity

   EU citizens bring a passport or national ID card. To appear on the register with your NIE you need the green EU registration certificate, as the white NIE certificate is not accepted. Non-EU citizens bring a passport or TIE.

4. 4

   Prove you live there

   Owners bring the deed, a nota simple (Land Registry extract), the latest IBI (property tax) receipt or a utility bill in their name from this month or last. Tenants bring a lease of at least six months with proof of a recent rent payment, or a recent utility bill.

Healthcare: IB-Salut, S1 forms and private insurance

Public healthcare in the Balearic Islands is run by IB-Salut (Servei de Salut de les Illes Balears). Under the national health law (Ley 16/2003, article 3), foreign residents receive publicly funded care if they live here legally and are not required to show health cover by another route, for example private insurance as a condition of their permit. The law gives the Ministry of Health the task of recognising this right, and the national social security institute (INSS) the cases that come under international rules, such as S1 forms (article 3 bis).

With the right in place, you apply for the TSI (individual health card, valid for four years) online with a digital certificate, electronic DNI or Cl@ve permanent, or at your local health centre after booking on 971 220 000. Bring your NIE (EU citizens also a passport or ID card), a recent colour photo (26 x 32 mm) and, if your address has changed, a current padrón certificate. Palma, Calvià, Manacor and 23 other Mallorcan towns let the health centre check the padrón online instead.

Schools: state, state-funded and international

School is compulsory from 6 to 16. There are three kinds of school. State schools are run by the regional government. Concertada (state-funded) schools are privately run but paid for with public money, and both fill their places through the same official admissions process. Fully private schools, including international schools teaching British, German or other curricula, set their own admissions and fees.

Catalan and Spanish are both official in the Balearics. Under the regional education law (Ley 1/2022, article 135, as amended in December 2024), Catalan must be the teaching language for at least half of school hours, and each school’s language project can add more Catalan or use Spanish as a teaching language. The law also provides language support for pupils who join late. Separately, the regional government runs a voluntary pilot plan for free choice of language, first run in 2024-25 with a small number of publicly funded schools and opened to more schools for 2025-26; its final list of participating schools was published in July 2025, and the department’s page showed no update for 2026-27 when checked in October 2026. Only schools that sign up take part, so ask each school what it does.

1. 1

   Register on the padrón

   The schooling office asks for a recent padrón certificate for the child and one parent.

2. 2

   Gather documents

   The child’s and parents’ passports or NIE documents, and the family book or birth certificate. For a child with special educational needs, bring reports in Spanish or Catalan.

3. 3

   Apply out of period

   Children who arrive after the yearly admissions round apply fora de termini (out of period) through the schooling office for the area. Pupils coming from another Spanish region also bring proof of the school year they are enrolled in.

Driving licences

1. 1

   Get a check code

   UK licence holders generate a DVLA check code on gov.uk (DVA in Northern Ireland) before applying.

2. 2

   Pass a medical

   Get a fitness report from an authorised driver medical centre (Centro de Reconocimiento de Conductores).

3. 3

   Apply to the DGT

   Apply online to the DGT (Spain’s traffic authority) with a digital certificate or Cl@ve, or in person at a traffic office with an appointment. Bring your licence and your TIE or registration certificate.

4. 4

   Pay the fee

   Fee 2.3 is €28.87 in October 2026. In person it is paid by card, never cash.

Bank accounts and language

Buyers who are not yet resident open their Spanish account as non-residents. The bank records your passport number and, within 15 days of opening, asks for proof of non-residence: for foreign individuals, a certificate of non-residence from the Interior Ministry issued no more than two months earlier. It asks again every two years. When you become resident, tell your bank. Banks must reclassify an account once they know your status has changed, and the Banco de España accepts that an account may be blocked if you ignore requests for an overdue tax residence declaration.

If you are legally resident in the EU you can ask for a basic payment account, although a bank may refuse if you already hold a current account in Spain. Banks may charge at most €3 a month for it, an amount the Banco de España can review every two years. Opening an account before you buy is covered in the buying process.

Catalan, spoken in Mallorca in its island variety, and Spanish are both official languages in the Balearics. The Statute of Autonomy (article 4) gives everyone the right to know and use Catalan and bars discrimination on grounds of language. Foreign documents for immigration procedures usually need a sworn translation into Spanish or the co-official language, and an apostille or legalisation. When a non-lucrative residence is renewed, the authorities assess your efforts to integrate; a favourable report from the regional government can mention learning the official languages (Real Decreto 1155/2024, article 64).

Questions buyers ask