My Non-Lucrative Visa Renewal Online for Spain

It’s time for me to renew my non-lucrative visa for Spain. As I was researching how to do it, I came across a comment by Duane which led to his website @ Tapas Forever. I’ll take you through my non-lucrative visa renewal online – which is probably a lot more pleasant than having to do it in person.

Overall the process was simple. I had a few glitches which I managed to navigate for my online visa renewal.

Here is the general website for Spain’s government stuff – everything you need in order to get your documents done. If you scroll down, you’ll see the Extranjería link.

Here a few related posts I have written regarding the non-lucrative visa process for Spain.

1. initial non-lucrative visa application
2. getting documents together for non-lucrative visa
3. non-lucrative visa interview
4. non-lucrative visa approval
5. getting NIE and TIE in Spain
6. 1st renewal application of non-lucrative visa – online
7. non-lucrative visa renewal approval

Non-Lucrative Visa Renewal

There are a few criteria you

1) In order to be able to renew your non-lucrative visa, you must have spent at least 180 days in Spain from the time you obtained your visa until the date it expired.

2) You will also need health insurance to cover your private health care. You’ll have to show your health insurance statement, which you can usually print out from the insurance website. I have my insurance through Adeslas which I purchased from Caixabank – €55/month.

3) Some say that you need a valid home address and even an empadronamiento, which is an official government document confirming where you live. I wasn’t asked for this for my online renewal process. It’s possible that they might check for this digitally and if I’m not listed anywhere then they might ask me to get it.

I got it anyway, just to be safe. I went to my local city office and stood in a line and showed them my notary document from the purchase of my condo for the empadronamiento.

4) A bank account showing that you have enough funds to support yourself for 2 years while in Spain. That’s because the renewal will grant you 2 years, not just 1.

5) A bank receipt showing that you paid the tasa, which is form 790-052. However, for Santiago de Compostela (A Coruña) it asked me for form 790-012. At least that’s what I understood and that’s what I submitted.

6) Photocopies of all pages of your passport. I used the Genius Scan app which is free and it worked great to take photos with my cell phone and create a PDF, which I emailed myself.

You won’t need form EX-01 because you’ll fill that out online.

Renewing My Non-Lucrative Visa Online

Here are the steps to follow to renew your non-lucrative visa online. Everyone has a different experience because you might be located in different provinces and probably because each place has their own distinct workflow.

1. Obtain Digital Certificate – Sede Electrónica

Before you can apply online, you need a digital certificate. It’s a way for you to handle much of your tedious paperwork digitally. You get assigned a token that identifies you automatically without having to put in a password or username. This is installed on your computer and helps you with your online non-lucrative visa renewal

To do this, you’ll go to Sede Electrónica and follow the instructions. Some of it is in English and other non-Spanish languages. I used Google Translate to cut and paste or right-click and ask to translate the whole page.

You need either Firefox or IE to get file your renewal for your non-lucrative visa online. Chrome or other browsers won’t work. Install Firefox, as I did, and follow the steps.

2. Go to the Social Security Office

After you enter your information for the Digital Certificate, you’ll be emailed a code which you’ll have to take to the Social Security office in person (you don’t need to print it out). This part is way easier than you think. This whole digital certificate thing has a lot of gov’t push behind it so you can find a lot of offices that are eager to sign you up. And it’s free.

You can make a next-day appointment here in Santiago de Compostela at the Social Security office. They have other sites which also help you obtain the digital certificate which are walk-in.

I messed up and entered my whole name where it asked for your “First Last Name” – I guess they have 2 last names here in Spain. So, the poor guy went through hell trying to figure it out and he couldn’t find me in the system and I couldn’t understand what he was saying.

Fortunately, I took my laptop with me. He asked if I could show him how I was doing it. I connected to my Hotspot (there was no wifi there) and as I was doing it, he realized that I was putting my first name as well.

Problem solved. Everyone was happy! That guy was so nice, so patient. Gracias.

3. Install the Digital Certificate

After you leave the social security office, they will email you a link from which you can download your digital certificate.

I thought this part would be easy but it was a 4.5-hour nightmare. My MacBook wouldn’t allow me to use JavaScript to access the digital certificate which I downloaded and installed on Firefox.

I had to look through a Spanish translating website and Github and finally came across this very tedious website with the PDF titled “Configuración del equipo para Firma y Registro”.

You have to install another client software called AutoFirma which then will perform the authorization instead of Java doing it. Leave a comment below if you have trouble and I’ll assist.

6. Fill Out Online Form

You can still fill everything out online and submit it all in person. You’ll be presented with a window where you can select to do it in-person or online.

You’ll be taken through a series of screens where you’ll have to enter your information such as your address and phone number, email, and your NIE number.

You’ll be entering information that will populate form EX-01.

You’ll have to indicate which region of Spain you’ll be applying for your renewal. Based on the region, there might be some changes to the payment form. I am in Santiago de Compostela, so I chose A Coruña below.

You’ll be asked which mailing address you want to use in order to be notified:

5. Upload Documents

The next step takes you through the upload process. This is where I was getting all of the errors (“Can’t sign documents”). After installing the AutoFirma that problem was solved.

You are asked to upload 4 documents:

• copies of passport
• health insurance
• bank account information
• receipt payment of form 790

I got a bit confused by form 790; I thought I could pay it online because there was something to that effect written. All it means is that you can fill it out online but can’t pay it online – apparently you have to do that in person.

Email Confirmation

Within 24 hours you should receive an email confirming that you submitted your documents online. There will be links for you to check on the status of your documents or add any further documents needed.

That’s why, if you don’t have all of your documents, it’s okay to still submit what you have for the renewal process, and then add whatever else you need later.

I have submitted everything and went to the bank to pay my form 790-012. I uploaded this using the link I got in the email. Now I’m waiting to see what they say. If I don’t get approved then I’ll head back to the US and start the application process over. If I get approved, I’ll get a 2-year visa.