Move to Spain

Moving to Spain step by step

1. 1

   Step 1: Determine if you will live in Spain for at least one year. Then you should be deregistered from the population registration in Sweden.

   § 20 § folkbokföringslag (1991:481), checked 5 October 2026

2. 2

   Step 2: Notify Skatteverket of your move at the latest one week before the move, using the e-service or form SKV 7665.

   § 27 § folkbokföringslag (1991:481), checked 5 October 2026

3. 3

   Step 3: Notify Försäkringskassan of your move. If you receive a Swedish state pension: apply for an S1 certificate on Mina sidor.

4. 4

   Step 4: Bring a valid passport or national ID card and the documents showing why you live in Spain, such as an employment certificate or proof of health insurance and self-support, for example.

5. 5

   Step 5: Register with the Spanish authorities after three months and get a registration certificate. Ask the authority in your new location which office will receive you.

6. 6

   Step 6: Terminate your rental agreement or sublet your home in Sweden, and book a removal company for the international move.

7. 7

   Step 7: Send your new address to banks and associations that do not retrieve it from Skatteverket, using the template further down.

8. 8

   Step 8: Submit a certificate of life to Pensionsmyndigheten (the Swedish Pensions Agency) every year if you receive a Swedish pension.

Do I need to register in Spain?

As an EU citizen, you don't need a certificate to live in Spain for the first three months. After three months, you may need to register with the authorities, often the municipality or police, and get a registration certificate. You need a valid passport or national ID card and also:

• as an employee: employment certificate or confirmation from the employer
• as self-employed: proof that you are self-employed
• as a pensioner: proof of comprehensive health insurance and that you can support yourself without benefits
• as a student: enrolment at an approved educational institution, health insurance and a declaration that you can support yourself

No other documents are required. The registration certificate should be issued directly and cost no more than an ID card costs for the country's own citizens. Exactly which office receives you and how you book an appointment is decided by the Spanish authorities; we have not been able to read the Spanish authority's own page in this round.

Source: Your Europe: Register with the authorities after three months. According to the EU's rules on free movement, read 5 October 2026.

How do I report my move from Sweden?

If you are going to live in Spain for a year or more, you report your move from Sweden to Skatteverket no later than one week before the move. The e-service requires, among other things, that you are over 18 and registered as unmarried, divorced or widowed. If you are married or have children under 18, you use form SKV 7665, and the notification for children is signed by all guardians. If the notification is received no later than the moving day, you are considered to have moved out from that day. You retain citizenship and personal identity number.

Source: Skatteverket: Move from Sweden, Folkbokföringslag (1991:481) (riksdagen.se). 20 and 27 §§ folkbokföringslagen (the Swedish Population Registration Act).

Move to Spain as a pensioner

You will receive your income-based general pension even when living in Spain, to a Swedish or Spanish bank account. The guarantee pension is based on you living in Sweden and is withdrawn when you move; this applies to those born in 1938 or later. The income pension supplement is paid out within the EU. Every year, you send a life certificate to Pensionsmyndigheten, otherwise the payment is stopped until the certificate has been received.

Source: Pensionsmyndigheten: Pension for you who are resident outside Sweden, Pensionsmyndigheten: Submit life certificate.

How do I get healthcare in Spain?

If you receive a Swedish public pension and move to another EU country, apply for an S1 certificate on the Försäkringskassan's Mina sidor. With the certificate, you are entitled to the care included in Spain's public healthcare system and pay the Spanish patient fees. You may also be entitled to care and dental care in Sweden. Your spouse, without their own work or pension, makes their own application.

If you work in Spain, Försäkringskassan will assess whether you are still covered by the Swedish social insurance. You cannot be insured in two EU countries at the same time. The EU card is for necessary care when travelling, not for care in the country you have moved to.

Source: Försäkringskassan: Move abroad, Swedish embassy in Madrid: Health care in Spain.

Tax after the move

You may need to file a tax return in Sweden even after you move. This is determined by, among other things, whether you still have significant ties to Sweden, and Swedish pension can be taxed with special income tax. Read the guide on SINK and tax when moving abroad before you move.

Source: Skatteverket: Moving from Sweden.

Moving to Spain with children

Children under 18 are included in flyttanmälan (notification of change of address), which all guardians sign. The compulsory schooling in Sweden may be affected by the population registration, so contact your municipality before the children start school in Spain. The Spanish authorities decide which school the children can attend; we have not gone through that.

Source: Skatteverket: Moving from Sweden.

Template for the new address

To banks, associations and newspapers that do not receive the address from Skatteverket.

The law behind it

The sections summarised, with a link to the legal text on riksdagen.se.