How to get empadronado in Spain: Where to go / What to do?

Empadronamiento is perhaps the first important thing you have to do when you move to Spain. It adds your name and address into the register of the city you’re living in, and is a prerequisite for many administrative processes such as getting a social security number, public health care and even residency and marriage.

Where, why, and how to get empadronamiento:

What is it? It's the process of letting the City Hall know where you live. It's one of the most important administrative processes you'll go through.
You need: a lot of documents. It's important to take everything to your appointment.
Where to go: it depends on your city. Read on to find out more.

Getting empradonado in Spain is a must for anyone living here long-term, and it’s also very easy to do! Today, we at Spotahome would like to give you a guide to **empadronamiento in the Spanish cities we operate in:

Common information about how to get empadronado in Spain:

**What is Empadronamiento?**

Empadronamiento is the act of letting the city know where you live. To do so, you need to fill out a form and hand it over to the City Hall’s citizen register — Oficina de empadronamiento or Padrón Municipal. It’s mandatory and very useful if you want to stay in Spain for good.

Once you are empadronado, there are two different documents that show where you live in: Certificado and Volante. Since both documents have the same information, what’s the difference between them? First, it’s how you get them. Second, what they are use for. It’s very important to check this when you are asked for it in future encounters with Spanish bureaucracy.

Certificado is the official document and proves where you live. The easiest way to get a certificado is by going to one of the city hall offices. Mainly, you will be asked for it in:

Judicial bodies
Civil registry (marriages, nationalities,…)
Other Official Registers, national employment system (INEM), and Universities.

To get a legal residence status by arraigo (you need to prove that you have been living in Spain for at least 3 years)

Volante has informative purposes and doesn’t prove where you live. Official institutions ask for it when the certificado is not required expressly. To get your volante, you only need to allow the administration to check your address in “El Padrón Municipal”.

For more information, here are the City Halls’ official websites for the following cities in which Spotahome rents out homes:

Madrid
Barcelona
Valencia
Granada (on Padrón de Habitantes y Censo Electoral)
Seville

What documents do I need for getting empadronado in Spain?

Application form or Solicitud de Empadronamiento

Documents that prove your identity: Passport or Residence Card.

Proof of residence: last provider bill (water, electricity or gas bill) or rental contract.

**Process: how to get your empadronamiento in…**

…Madrid

Fill out the Application form or Solicitud de Empadronamiento
Get an appointment or cita previa.
Get to the office and hand in the documents.

…Barcelona

Send the online application form or Alta en el Padrón
You’ll receive registry documents in your ordinary mail
Fill them out and send them back

…Valencia

Application form or certificado de empadronamiento
Get an appointment here
Go to the office and hand in the documents.

…Granada

1.Application form or hoja de empadronamiento
2. Go to one of the offices here

…Seville

Application form or hoja padronal
Two options:

Get an appointment or cita previa and deliver all the documentation
Fill out this online form and wait for a public servant to contact you

Finding housing in Spain

Before you get empadronado you obviously will need to find a place to live, which is where Spotahome can help! We provide hundreds of personally checked rooms, apartments, and studios in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Granada or Seville. Check out all our available homes here. Your next house could look like this!