First Steps
Your First Month in Spain: The TIE Clock and What to Do Around It
The residence card deadline runs from your entry into Spain. How to sequence the TIE appointment, the padrón and your address in the first weeks.
First Steps
The decisions and actions that matter before you book anything, in the order they actually happen. This section is for Americans who are still deciding whether Spain is the right move, and for those who have decided and want to sequence the first months correctly. We cover the honest cost of the move as a one-time bill and as a monthly budget, how to choose between Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Málaga, Alicante and the smaller cities, what changes for retirees, remote workers, families and entrepreneurs, and the pre-departure checklist of things that are far easier to do from the U.S. than from Spain: apostilles, FBI checks, bank arrangements, medical records, shipping.
We also cover the first-month sequence after landing: the NIE and TIE, empadronamiento at the town hall, a Spanish phone number, the banking bridge while your Spanish account opens, and the housing search. The aim is to keep each step from blocking the next one.
First Steps
8 Mistakes Americans Make When Moving to Spain, and the Fix for Each
The costly mistakes after a move to Spain come from rules that apply on a date. Eight of them, from tax residency to the padrón, with the official rule and the fix.
First Steps
Moving to Spain From the US: The Checklist, in the Right Order
The FBI check, its apostille, the medical certificate and your U.S. accounts, sequenced so nothing expires before your consulate appointment.
Banking & Finance
How to Prepare Your U.S. Finances Before Moving to Spain
Keep a U.S. account, get your broker's policy for customers abroad before any address changes, and open the Spanish account knowing why the FATCA question comes up at the counter.
US Taxes Abroad
US State Taxes After Moving to Spain: How to Break State Residency
Federal tax follows your citizenship to Spain. State tax follows your domicile, and California and New York keep former residents on the books unless the move is documented. What each state tests.