Hi all,

OK today we obtained, relatively painlessly, 4 shiny new residencia certificates from the very helpful foreigners office in Denia - from what I read our experience was comparatively straightforward.

We had to apply so that I could register the kids as my dependents and get SIP cards for them (that’s next week’s project), but meantime I was trying to get my head around the full implications of Residencia and had some questions…

1. Do I still have to carry my passport everywhere - or do I carry this instead, or as well?  It’s not exactly portable…

2. Presume we can now change our bank acct to a residents one, is this financially advantageous to do?

3. Does it mean that if the Policia pull us over again and find some excuse to fine us for some obscure imaginary misdemeanour, we can now request the fine be issued postally rather than being shaken down at the roadside?

4.  Our kids now appear to have NIE NUMBERS (as theyre on the residencia and we had to pay tasas for that), but they told us they didn’t require NIE Certificates - does anyone know if this is correct?  Until last week I didnt know they’d even require numbers (they’re only 4 and 9).

Anyway sorry to ask 4 questions in one but I seem to be receiving and reading some conflicting information sources and so often in the past, someone on this forum has just cut straight through all the waffle to the heart of what actually happens in practise, that I thought I would ask it here..!

My thanks in advance,

Maya

1. Do I still have to carry my passport everywhere - or do I carry this instead, or as well?  It?s not exactly portable?

Yes you have to carry Id with you all times ..... have you got Spanish ID card yet ? and if has photo on it no pasport then

2. Presume we can now change our bank acct to a residents one, is this financially advantageous to do?

Its lot cheaper ......

3. Does it mean that if the Policia pull us over again and find some excuse to fine us for some obscure imaginary misdemeanour, we can now request the fine be issued postally rather than being shaken down at the roadside?

Post for now on ,

4.  Our kids now appear to have NIE NUMBERS (as theyre on the residencia and we had to pay tasas for that), but they told us they didn?t require NIE Certificates - does anyone know if this is correct?  Until last week I didnt know they?d even require numbers (they?re only 4 and 9).

Yes you kids get NIE NUMBERS wish stay with them for life

You are obliged by law to inform your bank when you become a resident so that the 18% retention tax is taken at source.

Since the demise of the residents card the only legal option is carry round a passport, but the Spanish driving licence is widely accepted as ID which is another good reason for obtaining one.

Interesting question regarding :

Does it mean that if the Policia pull us over again and find some excuse to fine us for some obscure imaginary misdemeanour, we can now request the fine be issued postally rather than being shaken down at the roadside?

The answer is probably NO because how are the police going to know that you are resident?
However with a Spanish DL you will have the option to pay the fine at Santander bank or the Correos.

Thanks very much for that Jurdy and Rob.

I guess the next project is getting the car replated!  And new driving licences.  Been here nearly 5 months and the list is still a long one!  But the Residencias feels like a significant step forward, and it all happened very easily and punctually - in and out in 20 minutes including popping out to pay the tasas. 

Now if they could just sort out some alternative to the system for actually making that appointment in the first place (ie queing from dawn)... but I guess that would take all the fun out of it!

Maya