If you have your visa and your health coverage set, time to move to Alicante.

Where to live in Alicante

Depending on what your needs are:

  • Playa San Juan is where people from Alicante have their summer home. It’s a bit boring in the winter and takes a while with the tram to get to downtown or to a major grocery store. However, the beach is one of the best in the world and there are a fair number of restaurants open all year around now.
  • El Campello. Lots of foreigners live here if you like the beach. Not Alicante, but you might like it there.
  • Cabo de Huertas: If you really need to live in an expensive house, this is probably the nicest area. Pretty quiet and no much to do.
  • Downtown Alicante: Very walkable and everything is close by.
    • Avoid: Old town (anything east of Avenida de Federico Soto): lots of noise at night. Especially avoid the area around Calle Castaños it is LOUD.
    • Good: Mercado (Calle Poeta Quintana) bustling area, lots of shops and a good neighborhood spirt
    • Good: West of Avenida de Federico Soto: commercial area usually pretty quiet at night.
  • I STRONGLY advise visiting the area you plan on living in on a Friday or Saturday night after 11pm. Foreigners just don’t appreciate the level of noise that Spanish people are capable of producing. After that you get all the even louder drunk foreigners.

Buying a place

If you want to buy, you can do this before you get your visa (and in some cases can be helpful in getting one). The only thing you need is the NIE and money (the banks are unlikely to give you a loan). Getting an appointment to get a NIE can be difficult but real estate agents can find a way to squeeze you in. Closing costs are approximately 10% of the price and normally paid by the buyer.

In Spain real estate agents DO NOT work for buyers. They will only show you their own inventory, so you have to look on Idealista or one of the other portal and then contact them. The agents will sometimes pressure you to sign a “visit sheet” which in small print promises them a commission that you pay. You are not obliged to sign, they are already getting a commission from the seller.

You are generally expected to negotiate the price, even if they say they don’t. Especially if the place has been on the market for a long time. Things to watch for:

  • How much is the community fee?
  • Has the building had its 50 year inspection? (many buildings in Alicante are nearing that milestone)
  • Look for signs of water leaks from upstairs.
  • Are there any upcoming assessments for major repairs (“derrama”)?
  • Not a bad idea to get an independent lawyer to help you out since the real estate agent is not on your side (no matter how nice).

Renting

Things to watch out for:

  • See the place in person. There are scams, especially if you are trying to get just a room.
  • Confirm with the landlord that you will be able to register your address with the townhall (“empadronamiento”). For example, if someone is renting out an office as a living space, the townhall won’t let you register your address there any you will have all kinds of problems later.
  • By law the landlord is supposed to pay the commission to the real estate agent if there was one. Many agencies try to get you to pay them anyway (eg one month rent), but don’t, it’s illegal.
  • Rental can be renewed automatically up to 5 years, only after which the landlord can evict you. After 6 months you generally have the right to break the lease with 30 days notice regardless of what the contract says.

Digital certificate

Required: NIE + Passport

Once you have your NIE, do yourself a favor and get a digital certificate. For example, you can make an appointment at SUMA and get a digital certificate give to you via email.

Empadronamiento (registering with the town hall)

Required: Rental contract / House deed + NIE

One of the most important documents you will get. In theory you can even get it before you are resident. You can make an appointment at the Alicante town hall, or you can try to submit it online with your digital certificate (the process is not for the feint-of-heart). The disadvantage of using the digital certificate is that it takes a long time to process and there isn’t a way to correct mistakes, but on the bright side in many cases there are no in-person appointments available to register.

Health care coverage

Although Spain has government-run universal health care for all legal residents, getting some amount of private coverage is recommended. It’s usually about 150 euros a month and gives you some piece of mind for non-urgent care that might put you on a waiting list in the public system.

Once you have a residency permit, you are entitled to public health insurance (even though the government tries to make it hard). There are two steps:

  • Make an appointment at Social Security (search for “seguridad Social cita previa”). Appointments randomly become available though the day. I’ve been lucky and have an appoint pop up in downtown Alicante for the same day.
  • Bring your residency permit and ask for your S1 certificate of coverage. If you have it then give it to them, but if you don’t just tell them you have no coverage from your home country whatsoever.

Once they grudgingly give you your certificate, congrats!

  • Head over to the “Centro de Salud” on Calle Gerona, 22. You don’t need an appointment. Given them your certificate of coverage and ask for your SIP (health card).
  • They will print out a provisional card on the spot and a week later you can pick you your actual card.

European Health Card

Although theoretically Spain is required to give a European Health Card to all people that are covered by the public system, in practice they don’t give it to anyone who isn’t paying or receiving money from the pension system. The EU has complained about it but Spain is ignoring them. However, they will print you out a “Certificado Provisional Sustitutorio (CPS) “ covering the days that you are outside of Spain (limited to 90 days a year).