Americans in Spain

Americans in Spain: guides for US citizens

This page covers US citizens; green card holders and dual nationals may differ.

This page lists our guides for US citizens in Spain. The guides report what official pages say, with links and the date we checked them. They are not advice, and they name no firm.

The three guides, in order

1. US citizens: visa paperwork. What official pages and consulates say about the FBI criminal-record certificate and apostille for a Spanish visa, and which consulate page lists your state.
2. US citizens: tax filing and bank-account reporting. What the IRS, FinCEN, the Treasury, the BOE and the AEAT say about a US tax return, foreign-account reports and the Spain-US agreements, and what is unconfirmed.
3. US citizens: Social Security, Medicare and pensions. What the SSA, Medicare.gov, the BOE and the IRS say about Social Security abroad, the Spain-US agreement, Medicare and the pension article, and what is unconfirmed.

Related guides on Spain

• Foreign assets abroad: the Modelo 720 and 721
• Digital nomad visa or non-lucrative visa
• Health insurance for a Spanish visa
• Opening a bank account in Spain
• Empadronamiento (the padrón)
• Getting an NIE

Buying a home in Spain

These existing guides cover buying a home and owning one as a non-resident:

• Buying property in Spain
• Getting a mortgage in Spain
• Non-resident rental property tax

Those pages are written for buyers generally; we have not written a guide on buying a home in Spain for US citizens, so nothing on US tax or US mortgages is covered here.

Where to take questions

The tax filing guide lists the official pages where questions go: where to take questions.

What these pages do not cover

• Passive foreign investment companies, which are signposted only and not explained.
• State taxes.
• Penalties.
• How Spain taxes US retirement accounts.
• Renunciation and exit tax.
• The treaty's saving clause beyond the BOE text.
• Changes from recent US legislation.
• Green card holders.