Everything you should know about residence regulation in Spain

When you arrive to a new country usually you don't know how residence right is regulated. Therefore, we must fight against uncertainty.

We begin by defining what town register is: 'it is a document that the local administration elaborates with the basic data of the resident population in a certain city". The information collected is mainly: name, surname, DNI/NIE number -in Spain you have an ID number for citizen DNI is for nationals whereas NIE is for foreigners- , sex, age, nationality, address and occupation.

Essentially, with the elaboration the census town council' seek to know the population in order to find out: the number of inhabitants of their municipality, the demographic composition of the population and its geographical distribution. 

Each new inhabitant is obliged by Spanish law to register in order to receive basic social services. For public administration, those persons who are not registered do not live in the city. Therefore, If you are not registered you will not be able to reach social benefits. It is important to underline that in Spain town councils are not empowered to verify the legal status of a non-Spanish citizen in Spain. 

Some answers that you should know in order not break the law informs Legalitas:

1. Can you register in more than one municipality? No, double registration is not legal. If you live in two or more cities, you must register in the town where you spend the most time per year.  

2. Can you register in a house where you don't live? No, you can't.  

3. Does the law sanction you if the information you provide to the census is incorrect? Yes, according to Royal Decree 1690/1986 it is a punishable. In the same way, article 392 of the Penal Code could be applied if you put incorrect information willfully in a public document  is punished with a maximum of 3 years in jail.

If we speak about residence, nowadays we can't ignore a no deal Brexit posibility and what measures are foreseen by Spain. Don't panic! Firstly, we link an article in English by Garrigues on the topic. Secondly, all the measures foreseen  are described in  Royal Decree Law 5/2019. And finally, we link a text in Spanish by @SepinEditorial .  We highly recommend you to have an effective counseling because of the uncertainty which sorrounds the current situation.