Updated October 2026

Guides · for people making a big move

Guides for a big move.

Moving country is a chain of appointments and forms, and each one unlocks the next. Our guides put them in the right order, explain them in plain English and link every rule to the official source. The first one covers your first 90 days in Spain.

Guide · 2026 edition

Spain Arrival Kit

Your first 90 days in Spain, in the order that saves the most time.

A calm, step-by-step guide to the NIE, padrón, TIE card, bank account, Social Security, autónomo registration, the Beckham regime and healthcare, for people moving to Spain on a digital nomad, non-lucrative or student visa.

Written for Americans, Brits and other non-EU nationals arriving on the digital nomad visa, the non-lucrative visa or a student stay. It isn’t for EU citizens, and it isn’t a visa application guide: it starts once you have your visa.

$27One-time. PDF, Notion and Excel files.

Get the kit on Gumroad

Information verified as of October 2026. Every rule, fee, form and deadline comes from an official Spanish government source. Not legal advice: each step links to its official page so you can re-check before an appointment.

Guide page 4: Your first 90 days at a glance Guide page 8: NIE, your foreigner ID number Cover of the Spain Arrival Kit: Your First 90 Days in Spain, by Plainfold
Real pages from the PDF: the cover, the 90-day timeline (page 4) and the NIE step (page 8).

In the kit

30-page PDF guide
A 90-day timeline, 10 step-by-step chapters, a document cheat sheet for every step, Spanish phrase scripts and a directory of 40 official sources.
Notion template
Task tracker, document tracker and dashboard. Imports in one step.
Excel / Google Sheets tracker
Key dates calculator: enter your arrival date and it works out your TIE deadline, Beckham deadline, padrón renewal and more. Plus task and document trackers.

What’s inside the guide

  1. Getting started
  2. Your first 90 days at a glance4
  3. Which path are you on?5
  4. 0 · Before you fly6
  5. The steps, in order
  6. 1 · Arrival: stamp, address, appointments7
  7. 2 · NIE8
  8. 3 · Padrón (empadronamiento)9
  9. 4 · TIE residence card10
  10. How to get a cita previa12
  11. 5 · Bank account13
  12. 6 · Social Security number (NUSS)14
  1. 7 · Autónomo registration15
  2. 8 · Beckham regime16
  3. 9 · Healthcare17
  4. 10 · Digital ID: Cl@ve and certificate18
  5. Taxes, driving and travel19
  6. Toolkit
  7. Roadmaps: digital nomad, non-lucrative, student20–22
  8. Master document cheat sheet23
  9. Spanish phrase scripts24
  10. Glossary26
  11. Official source directory27
  12. What to double-check, notes and disclaimer29
Task tracker sheet from the Excel tracker: step, phase, week, who it applies to, status and deadline
The task tracker sheet in the Excel / Google Sheets file, sorted in the recommended order. The Notion template has the same steps.