• **»>First, you need to obtain a personal digital certificate

Preparation of Materials for Spanish Non-Lucrative Visa Renewal

Submission period: You can submit your application online starting from 2 months before your NIE card expires up to 3 months after it expires.

Many documents need to be scanned. It’s best to buy an all-in-one color printer and scanner. Set the scanning resolution not too high, but not so low that it becomes blurry. Scan to PDF format. The official requirement is that a single document cannot exceed 6MB. With the right settings, a full passport scan won’t exceed 3MB.

The residency renewal is for a 2-year visa, so the financial proof required is double that of the initial non-lucrative visa application, which is 8 times the IPREM. For each additional family member, an extra 2 times the IPREM is needed. Based on the official 2024 data from Spain where the annual IPREM is €7,200, a family of three would need 12 times the IPREM, which is €7,200 × 12 = €86,400

Main Applicant

  1. Scanned copy of the entire passport (if you’ve renewed your passport while residing in Spain, the old passport must also be scanned and uploaded)
  2. Bank certificate of account ownership and balance
  3. Bank statements for the last six months
  4. Certificate of average balance for the last 6 months (provide if available)
  5. Scanned copy of the front and back of the NIE card
  6. New annual insurance policy, as well as previous insurance policies from your residency period
  7. Most recent empadronamiento certificate (issued within the last 3 months)
  8. Scanned copy of the rental contract or property deed
  9. Proof of payment for form tasa 790-052

Dependent Applicant

  1. Scanned copy of the entire passport
  2. Bank certificate of account ownership and balance
  3. Bank statements for the last six months
  4. Certificate of average balance for the last 6 months
  5. Scanned copy of the front and back of the NIE card
  6. New annual insurance policy, as well as previous insurance policies from your residency period
  7. Most recent empadronamiento certificate
  8. Rental contract or property deed
  9. Proof of payment for form tasa 790-052

Child

  1. Scanned copy of the entire passport
  2. School enrollment certificate
  3. Travel authorization from the other parent
  4. Front and back of the NIE card
  5. New annual insurance policy, as well as previous insurance policies from your residency period
  6. Most recent empadronamiento certificate
  7. Legalized and apostilled birth certificate
  8. Proof of payment for form tasa 790-052

Have your personal digital certificate ready. Minors’ applications are submitted by their legal guardians.
Have the AutoFirma software ready.

Submission Portal:
https://sede.administracionespublicas.gob.es/pagina/index/directorio/mercurio2

This link may change. You can also find this portal from the homepage of the Spanish Public Administration’s electronic headquarters.

It is recommended to first translate the help and introduction pages on the official website to fully understand the process before submitting.

Rough steps:

  1. Personal Access
  2. Select Digital Certificate
  3. Submit Application
  4. Select “Submit New Application” (You can add supplementary documents here after receiving an application number)
  5. Select EX-01
  6. Select “First Renewal” for non-lucrative residency (for the second renewal, select “Second Renewal”)
  7. Fill out the form. You can use one person’s digital certificate to fill out the forms for the whole family. Remember to check the box for minors.
  8. Select “Submit Electronically”
  9. Upload the scanned copies of the required renewal documents. Note: It’s best to accurately label the filenames in Spanish with the content of the document to make it easier for the reviewing officer.

Some points to note:

  1. If you upload the wrong document or miss one during the initial submission, don’t worry. Once the application is being processed and you have received an application number, you can select “Add Documents” in step 4 to supplement or delete documents.

  2. After submitting the application, you should generally receive a notification of receipt within 2-3 working days. If not, please check if your application was submitted correctly.

  3. Be sure to register on the administrative notifications website https://dehu.redsara.es/ using your digital certificate and authorize the receipt of electronic notifications.
    Notifications regarding supplementary materials, approval, etc., will be issued on this site.

  4. The processing time varies by location. Cities with smaller populations tend to have faster processing times. If you don’t receive a decision within 3 months, according to Spanish law, it is considered approved by default (positive administrative silence). The immigration offices of each Spanish province publish their processing progress monthly. For example, the province of Valencia provides monthly immigration processing progress reports for download as PDF documents on this page.
    https://mpt.gob.es/portal/delegaciones_gobierno/delegaciones/comunidad_valenciana/servicios/extranjeria.html

  5. If your application has been in the “processing” state for more than 3 months, you can inquire with the immigration office through the link below.
    https://centrodeservicios.redsara.es/ayuda/consulta/ExtranjeriaCG
    You can write the inquiry in Spanish like this: My application file number is: xxxxx, submitted on [date], which was x months ago, and it is still in process. Due to [reason], I need my application to be processed as soon as possible. Thank you very much.

Homepage of the Spanish e-Government Services website:
https://sede.administracionespublicas.gob.es/
You can also go directly, though the link may change: https://icp.administracionelectronica.gob.es/icpplus/citar
Select Foreigners > Immigration Appointment > Access Procedure > Select Province > Select Office (optional, will be assigned randomly; offices in larger cities are harder to book and have longer waits) > Select Procedure (Fingerprinting) > Fill in applicant information > Confirm appointment. After successfully booking, print and save the appointment confirmation.

Booking tip: Appointments are usually released around 8:00 AM and 2:00 PM on weekdays. If you don’t want to keep refreshing the page yourself, you can pay a scalper.

Official download page for EX-17 and tasa 790-012:
https://sede.policia.gob.es/portalCiudadano/_es/tramites_extranjeria_tramite_tarjeta_residencia_residenciaytrabajo.php

  1. Fill out and print the EX-17 form
    Tip:
    Because the way Chinese people write English letters and numbers can be very different from Spanish handwriting conventions, they may not recognize them. It is recommended to use a PDF editor to fill out the form on the computer before printing it. You only need to sign your name in Chinese in the signature field.

  1. Pay the fee for tasa 790-012.

Once ready, take the following documents to the police station for your appointment to renew your residence card and provide fingerprints. Attendance is mandatory for everyone, including minors:

  1. Appointment confirmation
  2. Completed EX-17 form
  3. Tasa 790-012 form
  4. Receipt for payment of tasa 790-012
  5. Passport-style photo with a white background. Both 2-inch and 1-inch sizes are acceptable; it’s just for scanning.
  6. Residence approval letter, downloaded and printed from DEHú.
  7. Passport
  8. NIE card
  9. Empadronamiento certificate. The one you obtained for the renewal application is sufficient; you don’t need a new one.

The queuing process may differ at each police station. I still recommend booking an appointment at a police station in a smaller town. This is because smaller towns have fewer people, so you won’t have to wait in long lines, and often, smaller police stations don’t require one appointment per person; you can process the whole family with a single appointment. In large cities like Valencia, there are too many people booking, so it’s strictly one person per appointment.

After giving your fingerprints, you will receive a receipt for card collection. Once the NIE card is ready, usually in about a month, you can go to the police station to pick it up. The cardholder must go in person. Some places require an appointment for card collection.