Registration, banking and utilities in Madrid

The NIE

The número de identidad de extranjero is your identification number as a foreigner and it appears on every contract, bank form and tax filing you will sign. It can be applied for at a Spanish consulate abroad or at an Oficina de Extranjería or designated police station in Spain, using form EX-15 and the tasa 790 payment slip. Whether you need a simple NIE or a residence card depends entirely on your nationality and circumstances, and those rules change — confirm the current route with the consulate or an immigration lawyer.

• Form EX-15 plus the modelo 790 código 012 fee receipt, paid at a bank before the appointment.
• Bring the original passport and a photocopy of every page you are asked for.
• Appointments are booked through the cita previa system; cancellations reappear at odd hours.

Empadronamiento

Registering your address at the Junta Municipal de Distrito produces the certificado de empadronamiento, and that certificate is what healthcare registration, school enrolment and most residency procedures ask to see. You register with your passport or NIE, the lease, and often a recent utility bill in your name. The padrón is also how the city counts you for services, so it matters even if no procedure has demanded it yet.

• Bring the signed lease, passport or NIE, and the completed hoja padronal.
• If you are subletting or living with someone, the account holder must sign an authorisation.
• Certificates can be requested as a volante or a certificado — some procedures insist on the latter.

Banking and social security

A non-resident account can usually be opened on a passport, with a certificado de no residencia; a resident account wants the NIE. Once open, everything runs by domiciliación — rent, utilities, gym, phone — and Spanish life assumes direct debit rather than manual transfer. If you are employed, your employer registers you with the Seguridad Social and you receive a número de afiliación, which is what the health system is keyed to.

• Ask for the IBAN in writing and confirm the account accepts domiciliaciones.
• Self-employed people register as autónomo with Hacienda and the Seguridad Social separately.
• Cl@ve and a digital certificate from the FNMT make almost every online procedure possible without an appointment — worth setting up early.

Utilities and connectivity

Electricity, gas and water in an existing flat are transferred rather than newly connected, using a cambio de titular. Push until you have written confirmation it has happened, because an unchanged account leaves the previous occupant's debts attached to your supply. Fibre is fast, cheap and near-universal in Madrid, and the operators bundle internet and mobile with minimum terms of a year or more.

• Cambio de titular for electricity, gas and water — get the confirmation in writing.
• The potencia contratada on the electricity contract sets a fixed monthly cost; check it is not oversized.
• Canal de Isabel II supplies water in the Madrid region.

In order

1. 1Book the NIE cita previa, from abroad if you can.
2. 2Attend the appointment with EX-15, the paid 790 fee slip and your passport.
3. 3Open a Spanish bank account.
4. 4Sign the lease.
5. 5Empadronarse at the district office and collect the certificate.
6. 6Register with the Seguridad Social through your employer, or as autónomo.
7. 7Take the padrón certificate to your centro de salud for the tarjeta sanitaria.
8. 8Set up a Cl@ve or FNMT digital certificate to avoid future queues.