{"id":1199,"date":"2019-08-09T10:00:13","date_gmt":"2019-08-09T08:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sonneil.com\/blog\/?p=1199"},"modified":"2026-06-05T11:17:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T09:17:21","slug":"retiring-in-spain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sonneil.com\/blog\/en\/retiring-in-spain\/","title":{"rendered":"Retiring in Spain"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"bsf_rt_marker\"><\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There is a reason\nthat some 70,000 British pensioners have chosen to retire in Spain. <a href=\"https:\/\/sonneil.com\/blog\/en\/5-reasons-for-living-on-a-golf-course-on-costa-blanca-2\/\">There are the amazing golf courses<\/a>, complemented by its food and climate,\nwhich have been recognised by the World Health Organisation as the best in the world\nin terms of offering a healthy lifestyle. Not to mention that the cost of\nliving in Spain is around 30-40 percent lower than in the UK, meaning that your\nmonthly pension payments go significantly further in Spain than in the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Besides all of this,\nthere\u2019s the fact that common membership of the EU made it almost as easy to\nretire in Spain as to retire in the UK. Obviously that\u2019s all going to change\nwith the UK set to depart from the bloc; however, the Spanish government has\nbeen eager to address the concerns of the British expat community in Spain. To\nthis end Madrid announced in March that Britons living in Spain will be able to\napply for a &#8220;foreigner identity card&#8221; before 31 December 2020 to\nprove their legal residency status. Once this is obtained, expats should find\ntheir access to services like healthcare and social security largely unchanged\nregardless of whether the UK leaves the EU with or without an agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So, Brexit\nnotwithstanding, what are the administrative steps to be taken to settle down\nto retire in Spain?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">First you need a\nresidence permit, to get this you need to register at your local Oficina de\nExtranjeros who will then issue you with the permit. Once you have this you can\nregister on your local town hall\u2019s census (padr\u00f3n), which brings a variety of\nbenefits including the right to vote and free or discounted access to services\nsuch as sports centres and libraries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Pension<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Retirees living in\nSpain who are in receipt of a UK State Pension can choose to have their monthly\npayments paid into either UK or Spanish bank account. For the second option,\nyou\u2019ll need the international bank account number (IBAN) and bank\nidentification code (BIC) numbers for your Spanish account. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you have a private\nor workplace pension plan in place it is advisable to talk to a financial\nadvisor before leaving the UK. They will look at the various pension funds and\ninvestments available to you as well as tax efficient options for structuring\nyour assets and funds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To retire on a modest\nsalary in Spain, you might plan to spend around \u20ac17,000 a year, but to retire\ncomfortably it would be good to have around \u20ac25,000. If you\u2019re willing to\nbudget and live cheaply, as little as \u20ac15,000 yearly will do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Healthcare<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Emergency cover in\nSpain is available to anyone, whether you are an EU or non-EU citizen. To\nqualify, if you live in Spain and receive a UK state pension or long-term\nincapacity benefit, you may be entitled to <a href=\"https:\/\/sonneil.com\/blog\/en\/national-healthcare-system-for-expats-in-spain\/\">state healthcare<\/a> paid for by the UK. You will need an\nS1 form, which must be obtained in the UK and certifies that you are of\nretirement age and have paid all the necessary social security taxes in the UK.\nYou will then be entitled to the same benefits as a Spanish national.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There is a reason that some 70,000 British pensioners have chosen to retire in Spain. There are the amazing golf courses, complemented by its food and climate, which have been recognised by the World Health Organisation as the best in the world in terms of offering a healthy lifestyle. Not to mention that the cost [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1191,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-get-to-know-spain","category-living-in-spain"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Retiring in Spain<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There is a reason that some 70,000 British pensioners have chosen to retire in Spain. There are the amazing golf courses, complemented by its food and climate, which have been recognised by the World Health Organisation as the best in the world in terms of offering a healthy lifestyle. 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