Questions
What EU, EEA and Swiss citizens ask us
Swedes, Germans, Italians, Norwegians and Swiss: on Tenerife your passport gives you the right to live and work, and the paperwork is about registering it. These are the questions that come up most.
I am Swedish and moving to Tenerife for good. Do I need a NIE or a registration?
A registration. As an EU citizen staying more than three months, you apply with form EX-18 for the registration certificate, and your NIE is assigned with it. The bare NIE (EX-15) is for people who do not settle.
Which office should I book, Santa Cruz or Adeje?
Both list EU registration and NIE assignment. Choose the one you can reach most easily on the day: Santa Cruz for the capital, La Laguna and the north-east, Adeje for Arona, Los Cristianos and the south-west coast. The office is fixed by the slot you accept.
What proves that I can live on the island?
A work contract or your self-employment registration or, if you do not work, sufficient means and health cover. Students show enrolment, means and cover. Pensioners often use the S1 form from their home system as health cover.
My Spanish stops at “buenos días”. Is that a problem at the counter?
Rarely. A tidy file does most of the talking, and before the day we give you the handful of questions the officer may ask, with the answers in both languages.
Is there a state fee?
Yes: the tasa on the 790-012 slip, settled before the appointment, at an amount the state sets. What we charge is separate, and agreed with you before any work begins.
I only come for the winter. Should I register?
If the island is your home and you stay beyond three months, registration is expected. A winter visitor who lives elsewhere and needs the number for a purchase uses the EX-15 instead.
And my partner, who holds a third-country passport?
They apply on the EX-19 for the family-member card. Your own certificate goes into their file, so register first, or both on the same trip.
Request help
Your question is not here?
Write it in the form with your town and nationality: we reply by email with the answer for your case, and the next step if there is one.
- North or south: we check which office takes your procedure.
- EX-15, EX-18, EX-17 or EX-19, prepared for your case.
- Plain English with you, the right Spanish on the forms.