Moving to the Costa del Sol from the UK: the checklist, in order

This is the order of a move from the UK to the Costa del Sol, as the rules stand in October 2026. It runs in three stages: before you go, the first month in Spain, and the first year. Each step names the office that deals with it, links the official rule and points to the guide that covers it in full. Since 2021 a British citizen moves here as a non-EU national, on a residence visa, so the visa comes first and the rest follows from it. If you are retiring, retiring to the Costa del Sol takes the same move from the side of the pension and the health service.

The checklist at a glance

Before you go

1. The visa. Article 63 of Real Decreto 1155/2024 requires the non-lucrative visa, the route for living here without working, to be applied for at the Spanish consulate for where you live, before you travel. Spain’s non-lucrative visa sets out its 2026 income test and documents. If you will keep working remotely for employers or clients outside Spain, the digital nomad visa is the route built for that. Until you hold a visa, the 90 days in any 180 apply, whether or not you own a home here.

The UK government’s guide to moving, living or retiring abroad notes that a visa application may need a copy of your police record. UK documents can be legalised with an apostille by the Legalisation Office, at £45 a document for its standard service in October 2026, plus postage, and the consulate’s own list says which of your papers need one.

2. Health cover. The UK government’s page on healthcare in Spain says you must show proof of health cover when you apply for a visa and before you can register as a resident. A UK State Pensioner requests an S1 form by phone from the NHS Overseas Healthcare Services. Anyone without an S1 or a job in Spain needs a private policy until the state’s own paid scheme opens to them after a year, and healthcare for residents covers each route. gov.uk adds that foreign travel insurance is not meant to cover you once you live abroad, and that you may lose free NHS treatment in the UK when you move permanently. Speak to your GP about your medicines before you leave.

3. The NIE, the bank and the money. The NIE is the identification number every Spanish transaction runs on, the deed of a purchase included. You can apply at your UK consulate before you go or at the police in Spain, as getting a NIE from the UK explains. A Spanish bank account can be opened before you move, and a UK State Pension can be paid into it. gov.uk says the pension can go into a bank in the country where you live, usually converted at the exchange rate on the day, with a conversion charge of 0.39% taken before payment. Getting your money to Spain compares the ways to move the larger sums.

4. Schools. All children aged 6 to 16 must attend school in Spain, the UK government’s guidance on living in Spain notes. With children, choose the school before the home. International schools on the Costa del Sol has the fees, curricula and admissions, and the best towns for families compares the towns around them.

5. The home. Some people buy before they move and some rent first. If you are buying while still in the UK, buying from the UK sets out how a purchase runs from there. If you rent first, the Costa del Sol in winter shows which towns stay open all year.

6. Tell the UK. gov.uk’s page on tax if you leave the UK says you must tell HMRC when you leave to live abroad permanently: on form P85 if you do not usually file a Self Assessment return, or through the residence section of your return, form SA109, sent by post, if you do. Tell your council, so the Council Tax stops. The same page notes that you may be able to keep paying National Insurance from abroad if you plan to claim the State Pension later.

A UK State Pension is claimed and run from abroad through the International Pension Centre, which takes changes of address or bank by phone or in writing, as gov.uk’s page on the State Pension abroad sets out. Many income-related benefits, such as Pension Credit and Housing Benefit, stop when you are abroad for more than four weeks. A UK Blue Badge goes back to the authority that issued it. And if you want to keep voting in UK Parliament elections, you can register as an overseas voter and renew the registration every three years.

7. Pets. A dog, cat or ferret needs a microchip, fitted before or with its rabies vaccination, and the vaccination at least 21 full days before travel. Your vet then issues an animal health certificate, valid for entry to the EU for 10 days from issue. If you live in England, Scotland or Wales, a pet passport cannot be used to enter the EU. The details are in gov.uk’s guidance on taking a pet abroad.

8. The car. The DGT’s page on importing a vehicle from outside the EU calls the process complicated. It runs through customs clearance, a Spanish roadworthiness inspection (the ITV), the registration tax or proof of exemption, the town’s road tax and Spanish plates. It is worth pricing that against selling the car in the UK and buying here.

If you want to move straight in, the finished new builds are the ones you can view and buy as they stand.

The first month

9. The padrón. On arrival you register on the padrón, the town hall’s register of residents. The UK government’s guidance on registering as a resident says every British citizen living in Spain must be on it, at their usual address, and that the certificate is needed for public healthcare, school places and registering a vehicle. Spanish offices often ask for a certificate issued in the last three months. How each town hall on the coast does it is in registering on the padrón.

10. The TIE. The foreigner’s identity card is your proof of legal residence. gov.uk says your visa sets out whether you need to apply for one and by when, and for the non-lucrative visa article 63 of the 2024 regulation gives you one month from entering Spain to apply in person. The appointment is at the foreigners’ office, the Oficina de Extranjería, or a police station, with your fingerprints taken and your padrón certificate among the papers, and the card takes several weeks. With a TIE you are exempt from registering with the EU’s Entry/Exit System at the border, and gov.uk advises carrying it with your passport whenever you enter, leave or travel within the Schengen area.

11. Healthcare. With an S1, you register it with the Spanish social security office, the INSS, online or at an office. The INSS posts you a Spanish social security number, you take it to your local health centre to register, and you are given a medical card. Without an S1, your private policy covers you through the first year. Which hospital serves each town is in hospitals on the Costa del Sol.

12. The home in your name. Put the electricity, water and internet in your own name, which electricity, water and internet in a new home covers.

Within six months

13. The driving licence. The DGT’s page for UK licence holders says a UK licence is valid for a resident for six months at most from taking up normal residence. To keep driving after that you exchange it for a Spanish one, which for a car or motorbike licence needs no test since the 2023 agreement. The medical report, the check code, the documents and the DGT appointment are in swapping a UK driving licence in Spain.

The first year

14. Tax residence. Spain’s tax agency treats you as resident in any calendar year in which you spend more than 183 days here, or in which your main base of activities or economic interests is here, and you are then resident or non-resident for the whole of that year. The UK works differently: gov.uk says you may be non-resident there from the day after you leave, depending on how split-year treatment applies to you. The difference is why the moving date is worth settling with a tax adviser who works in both countries. Tax residency in Spain covers the test.

15. Renewing your residence. A non-lucrative residence lasts one year at first. You apply to renew it in the two months before it expires, at the foreigners’ office in Spain, and one of the conditions is that you genuinely lived in Spain for more than 183 days in the calendar year (article 64 of the 2024 regulation). The renewed residence runs for two years.

16. Healthcare after a year. If you have no S1 and no job here, gov.uk says that once you have been on the padrón for a year you can apply to join the convenio especial, the state’s paid public health scheme, through the regional health service.

17. Assets outside Spain. gov.uk notes that a resident must declare the assets they hold outside Spain. That return is the Modelo 720, filed between 1 January and 31 March for the year before, as the tax agency’s filing page shows. Under Real Decreto 1065/2007 it covers each class of asset abroad, meaning accounts, securities and insurance, and property, where the class is worth more than €50,000 in total. After the first return it is filed again only when a class has grown by more than €20,000 since the last one.

18. The first Spanish tax return. Once you are resident, you may need to file a Spanish income tax return each spring for the year before. The 2026 campaign, for the 2025 tax year, ran from 8 April to 30 June 2026 on the tax agency’s calendar. Income tax in Spain in 2026 has the rates and allowances for a resident in Andalucía, and wealth tax in Andalucía explains the region’s rebate.

19. Further ahead. gov.uk suggests planning for later life abroad, including a will that will be accepted where you live, and wills and inheritance for a Spanish home covers the Spanish side. After three years’ residence, and once you are on the electoral register, you can vote in Spanish local elections.

How I handle it

When a buyer is moving here for good, I build the purchase around the move. I set the completion date against the visa and the day you plan to arrive, so the keys are ready when you are, and I start the NIE and the bank account early so neither holds anything up. Once you are here, I point you to the town hall for the padrón, the health centre and the traffic office, and I keep a dated list of what falls due, alongside your lawyer and your tax adviser.

I am not an immigration lawyer or a tax adviser, and I say so when a question needs one. Book a call and we can put dates on your own move. Buying with me sets out how I work.

Common questions