NLV - Page 2

Another thing I've experienced with lawyers here Dario, is that the expect payments before they finish what you've employed them to do, whereas  I would  just receive a final bill in Scotland to settle after the work was executed. Less than halfway through, they ask you to pay something and you don't get any further unless you do. This can happen more than once and if in the end they can't help you, you've more or less paid for nothing and you'll never get a rebate!   

Hi, both my wife and I obtained NLV in October 2021, are process was a little slow but that was simply because the consulates did not know what they were doing and were very disorganised.

We have since helped/advised 2 other people and their applications went very smoothly and only took a few weeks. It will also depend on what Consulate you use, the London way is very busy and is swamped around September/October due to student applications because the students leave it until the very last minute....

Manchester Consulate is excellent and very efficient but you need an address within their catchment area, we were lucky as we had one.

However you do need documents verified by the foreign office and translated into Spanish. The full list is on the website but please be aware of the wording required on the letter from your GP.

Like most things here, you will find a lot of well meaning comments but not always based on actual facts, for example I was told that getting my car matriculated would be a small fortune, not at all, there can be costs but it depends on your personal circumstances.

Regarding selling your house, I suppose that is a choice based again on your personal circumstances and whether you can afford to keep both running.

Thank you very much for you helpful comments. We will be starting the process around June 2023 so hopefully by then the consulates will have got their act together. Excuse my ignorance but what do you mean about your car? Stewert.

If you bring your UK vehicle to Spain you need to get it matriculated onto Spanish plates. Thus can incur considerable costs but, as per the comment above, in some cases it does not. When we moved over 3 years ago I brought my beloved beamer and it did cost a small fortune to get it registered here in Spain, including the cost of new headlights. Just something to bear in mind.

If you are applying for residency and you are thinking of bringing your car to Spain and using it on a permanent basis, within a period of time, at the moment 6 months, you will need to have your car "matriculated" essentially it will be converted, where required to Spanish requirements and have an IVT, our MoT.

You could be liable or 2 taxes, firstly emissions tax and that is of course variable but a good guideline is the lower you pay in UK road tax, the lower it will be in Spain. I paid the highest rate and I found that reasonable, it is also  "one off" tax. The other is import tax, I heard incredible amounts being quoted but it comes down to this:

If you have owned the car for more than 12 months in the UK, then it is classed as a "possession" and is not subject to import tax, if less then 12 months it may be subject to a tax of upto 31% depending on the view the  Spanish customs take, I believe that at the present, if you are in Northern Ireland then this does not apply as you the NI is still considered to be in the EU for these purposes but please seek advice on the NI situation.

You will pay an IVT fee and a car tax to your local authorities but the car tax is not expensive and much lower than the UK. I was also told that insurance in Spain was more expensive but found that my car here was actually less to insure.

There is also the fact you will be driving a right hand car on the right side of the road, I do not and my wife has got used to driving here now, so to us, not a problem.

I looked into this very carefully before making a decision.

Depending on the age of your car, the more modern ones can have their headlights "adapted" some as simple as a "switch". (They may need replacing but do not get conned, check with your local dealer in the UK). You may also need the reversing light and rear fog switched over, but again dependent on age.

Mine is 12 years old and it cost me €180 for adapting the headlights and €40 for the fog and reversing light, with matriculation, plates, tax IVT and emissions tax, which was nearly half of the total cost, under €1,200. However compared to buying the equivalent car in Spain, that was around €5-6,000 saving and I knew the car, the servuce history and very importantly,  what work had been carried out, timing belt/chain and other major service requirements, in Spain, unless you are very lucky, you get none of that comfort and pay a lot more.

You will hear many stories on here regarding very high costs for matriculation and I received some very stupid quotes because a lot of people think they can rip off the naive Brits arriving here (had exactly the same with kitchen and bathroom quotes with one particular ex-pat living here, once I broke the quote down trying to charge me €2,000 a day labour and another wanting €450 a day for some building work) However there are also some very good and honest businesses and individuals, so please do not be put off.

Hope that helps.

Hi Andymac, 

We are waiting for our NLV interview appointment at Manchester, some forums and our solicitor say we need provide an address in Spain that we will be going to but obviously we don't have one as we're waiting for the visa? 

Can you confirm that this is correct as your application was quite recent?

Thanks

Julie

Hi, we supplied the address of the property we intended to buy and actually had bought it before the process was complete, however I did speak to someone in the Consulate regarding this and they indicated that a rental property or a place where you intended to stay would be sufficient.

As a separate note on this, if you do purchase a property then price will be considered againt the financial requirements laid out inn the application.

Thanks for that Andy mac, very useful

Trouble is if you dont sell your house before you move here, and then decide later to sell it, you will be charged capital gains here and that could cost you a lot more......So you either sell it before or keep it forever....

That's correct, also we are looking to use the capital from the house to give us a comfortable retirement, Stewert.