You go yourself
Residencia prepared 190 €
Documents checked, translations commissioned and verified, fee form completed and made payable, appointment booked, folder handed over. You walk up to the counter. The fastest route when time is short.
Residencia Clara · Door 1
Settling in: residencia, NIE, empadronamiento, health card — with us at the counter.
Everything a newcomer needs in the first months, in the order it is needed. Below: what we do, what it costs and how long it takes.
The limit, plainly put
What we do — and what we don't
For the certificado de registro, the Policía Nacional requires you to appear in person. Nobody can attend that appointment for you — not even a provider holding power of attorney. Accompaniment is therefore not a workaround: it is the only form of help that exists here.
This we do
- Check and sort your documents and write the list of what is missing
- Digitise your papers — exactly as translators and authorities need them
- Commission and check the sworn translations
- Fill in forms from what you tell us — you sign them
- Complete the Modelo 790 fee form and make it payable
- Book the cita previa and keep watch on it
- The drive, the waiting and interpreting at the counter
- Open and translate your official post and point out the deadline it states
This we don't
- We do not represent you before the authorities. You remain the applicant.
- We give no legal or tax advice.
- We promise no outcome. Your application is decided by the authority.
- We do not trade in appointments and use no booking bots.
- We do not quote a price that later goes up.
The residencia
Two routes, two prices
You go yourself, or we come with you. What lies between is a mountain road — and 150 euros. Both are here, for you to check. The full price list with all 25 positions is further down.
We come with you
Residencia accompanied 340 €
The same, plus the drive to San Sebastián, waiting together and interpreting at the counter. Only on our fixed travel days — in return you do not drive, do not park and need not speak a word of Spanish.
Not on La Gomera? Preparation, translations and appointment booking we do for every Canary Island — that needs no presence. Accompaniment in person is available on La Gomera and, with a ferry day, on Tenerife.
- Round trip
- ≈ 100 km
- Driving, both ways
- ≈ 2.5 hrs
- Wait at the office
- 1–3 hrs
Where the difference comes from
150 euros is a day of your life
Between “prepared” and “accompanied” there are no further forms. What lies between them is the road to San Sebastián: some fifty kilometres of mountain road each way, plus the wait at the office that nobody can predict.
Going yourself means setting aside a whole day and having a car that takes the route in its stride. Coming with us means being picked up, and waiting next to someone who translates.
You can check the price yourself: nine hours of total work at our published rate of 33 € an hour, plus about 40 € of vehicle costs for the hundred kilometres, built into the fixed price. That comes to 337 €. The list says 340 €.
- Our hourly rate
- 33 €/hr
- 9 hrs of work + 100 km
- 337 €
- List price
- 340 €
- Your effort with us
- come along
If the mountain road doesn't agree with you: the sea routeJune – September
The road to San Sebastián climbs across the island and back down twice, through the mist of the Garajonay. Anyone who regularly struggles with travel sickness travels with us by ferry along the coast instead — seventy minutes of calm sea, and the harbour is two hundred and fifty metres from the office.
The day takes longer in return: the sailings back are fixed, and more than three hours separate the first from the second. You book your own ticket — currently around 30 € return (as of September 2026), for as long as you have no residencia and therefore no resident discount. Ours is included in the surcharge.
From October to May we travel overland. In the low season the ferry does not leave until the afternoon — by which time the office has long closed. And if it is cancelled for weather, we drive; the surcharge is then dropped.
+ 40 €surcharge
Coming from the UK
Your visa is issued in Britain. Everything after that happens here.
Since 2021 British citizens are third-country nationals: retiring in Spain takes the non-lucrative residence visa, applied for in person at the consulate in London, Manchester or Edinburgh. That part we cannot accompany. What comes after — the card, the padrón, healthcare, a bank account, the renewal — is accompaniment work like for any other client.
After the visa
TIE, padrón, S1, bank account, health card
Within one month of arrival you must apply for the card (TIE) in person. We book the fingerprint appointment, pay the fee (16.08 €), sort the padrón, register your S1 with the INSS and come along.
accompanied 340 € · prepared 190 €
After year one
Renewal, two plus two years
The renewal is applied for in Spain, electronically, in the two months before expiry. We assemble the file (means, insurance, 183 days); you file it with Cl@ve — or our lawyer does.
preparation 190 € · filing by the lawyer at her fee
Here since before 2021
Card swap: five to ten years
Withdrawal Agreement cards expire in 2025/26. Swap with EX-23, padrón, fee, photo and appointment; many police stations only swap after expiry, waits run six to fourteen weeks. We handle the appointment and documents and come along.
prepared 190 € · accompanied 340 €What you should know first. Financial threshold 2026 for the visa: 28,800 € a year for one person, 36,000 € for a couple (400 % IPREM plus 100 % per dependant). The S1 from the UK State Pension is accepted by the consulates as health cover if pre-registered with the Seguridad Social. Living on Tenerife: we come on a Tenerife day (160 € plus ferry).
The process
From the first question to the certificate
Seven steps, the same every time. At every point you know what is happening and what is needed from you next.
Step 0Day 1
First conversation, 30 minutes, free
We ask: nationality, how long you have been in Spain, working or retired, how you are insured, how you live. At the end we tell you which service fits, what it costs and when the next travel day is. A written quote follows by email — always, even for 35 €. By accepting it you give us a written engagement with authorisation for what we do in your name: book the appointment, commission the translator, pay in the fee. That is not a power of attorney for the procedure — you remain the applicant.
Step 1Week 1
Documents
First the passport check: the spelling of your name, character by character, against your German documents. A birth name, a second forename, a “née” in the wrong place — this is where applications most often come back, because a sworn translator is not allowed to smooth anything over.
For pensioners in a statutory scheme: the S1 form from your insurer replaces the sworn translation of your insurance certificate. It saves you money — and us as well.
Step 2Weeks 1–2
Sworn translations
We commission a sworn translator (traductor-intérprete jurado), bundle all documents into a single order and verify the electronic signature before anything moves on. Delivery is normally two working days. The cost is passed on 1:1 — 30 € net per page, plus 10 € each for the stamped paper original and the courier, which you need for the appointment.
The translations run through us. We commission them, we pay for them, and they are delivered to us — not to you. You never have to speak to the translator, transfer money to Tenerife or react to a Spanish text message. If something gets stuck, we see it.
Step 3Week 2
The fee
The Modelo 790, Código 012 costs 12,00 € and must be paid before you go to your appointment. There are two routes: the counter of a Spanish bank — or online, but only with a Spanish digital certificate and an NIE. Anyone who has just arrived has neither.
That leaves the counter. And there it is up to the individual branch: some accept the payment from anyone, some only from their own customers. No rule requires it — but you cannot rely on it either, and a second attempt costs you a day.
So we pay it in for you. The person paying need not be the applicant; what matters is that the form is in your name. We go to a branch where we are customers ourselves, and you receive the stamped receipt in the original.
Step 4Weeks 2–8
Cita previa
The appointment is booked through the sede electrónica, “Policía — Certificado de registro de ciudadano de la UE”. Slots are released irregularly, including at night; we look early and repeatedly. Expect one to six weeks of waiting — we tell you that beforehand, not afterwards. We place your appointment on the next grouped travel day, not on the first slot that appears. If there is no slot on that day, we take the travel day after — and tell you so beforehand.
Step 5Travel day
The travel day
The evening before, we go through your folder: passport in original and copy, EX-18 signed by you, stamped fee receipt, sworn translations as stamped originals, a copy of everything. On the day itself: meeting point, the drive, waiting together, up to the counter with you, interpreting, and the drive back. If all is in order, the certificate is usually issued at the appointment itself.
If something is missing despite the preparation and the fault is ours, the second attempt rides along on the next travel day at no extra charge.
Step 6+ 4 weeks
Afterwards
A scan of the certificate for your records; the original stays with you. An invoice with the fixed price, the IGIC, the translations without markup and the official fee as a disbursement. Four weeks later we call once more to ask whether everything is going well. That is not a sales technique — it is exactly the point at which most providers disappear.
Staying. Your post keeps coming. If you wish, we read it from now on: open with your authorisation, translate, name the deadline. 45 € a month, two actions a year included, cancel any time.
Sounds like a lot? For you it is two appointments: the first conversation and the travel day.
Thirty minutes by phone, then a written quote. You decide in your own time.
Self-employed on La Gomera
Anyone working here needs no proof of insurance. But they do need an order of events.
As a self-employed person you obtain the residencia as a worker — the office then asks for neither insurance nor a bank statement. In return, six steps hang together, and each needs the one before. Tackle them in the wrong order and you drive to San Sebastián twice. We walk them with you in the right one.
1
NIE first
Without the number there is no account, no certificate, no form. That is why it comes first — unlike for a pensioner, who gets it with the residencia.
190 € · fee 9,84 €
2
Digital certificate
Your key to the tax office and the Seguridad Social. It stays with you — we never ask for it and never use it. Everything that follows you click yourself; we sit beside you.
120 €
3
Autónomo registration
Modelo 036 with the tax office, alta RETA with the Seguridad Social. Which activity code and tax regime you choose you decide with your asesor — we transfer and translate.
190 €
4
Residencia as a worker
With the registration in the folder, insurance evidence and bank statement fall away — and with them, usually, the sworn translations. You still have to appear in person; we drive with you.
190 € · fee 12,00 €
5
Empadronamiento
Registration at the town hall. In practice the office wants to see it, and the Cuota Cero requires it.
80 €
6
Handover to the asesor
From here on come quarterly returns. An asesor does those — not us. You meet them before you register and know beforehand what they cost. Nobody is left stranded after the registration.
included in the packageAll together
“Arriving self-employed” package 690 €
The six steps in the right order, on our travel days, with us at the counter. Separately 770 €. Official fees about 22 € on top. All prices plus 7 % IGIC.
A year later
Cuota Cero 90 €
The Canaries refund new autónomos the reduced contributions of the first year — about 1,000 €. The application has a fixed window after the year ends; miss it and the money is gone. We note the date, gather the documents and sit beside you when you file.
Who this is not for. Anyone not intending to work here should not register to sidestep the insurance requirement: the registration creates contributions, returns and duties that do not stop until you actively end them. For pensioners the S1 is the better route. We tell you so in the first conversation, even if it costs us an engagement.
Common questions
What always comes up in the first conversation
These fifteen questions come up every time. We answer them here so the conversation itself can be about your own situation.
What does the residencia actually cost?
The authority charges 12,00 €. That is the state's entire share. Everything above it is work — documents, translations, appointment, travel — and you can also do it yourself. In the first conversation we tell you honestly whether it is worth it for you.
Do I really have to go myself?
Yes. For the certificado de registro the Policía Nacional requires you in person. Nobody can take that over for you, not even with a notarised power of attorney.
Do I need sworn translations?
For home-country evidence of health insurance and sufficient means: as a rule yes, as a traducción jurada. Around 30 € net per page.
One exception is worth knowing: pensioners in a statutory scheme can obtain the S1 form from their insurer — internationally valid, no translation required.
How long does it take?
Expect one to six weeks for the appointment. The appointment itself usually takes under half an hour, and you normally receive the certificate on the spot. Translations usually take two working days; we book the appointment only once they are in and checked.
I have no Spanish bank account yet — how do I pay the fee?
This is where many people get stuck. The Modelo 790 can be paid at a bank counter or online — but online only with a Spanish digital certificate and an NIE, and at the start you have neither. At the counter, far from every branch accepts payment from non-customers, and without a residencia you often cannot open an account.
The way out: someone else pays it in for you. The form must be in your name; the person paying may be someone else. We do this.
My passport spells my name differently
This is the most common reason for a second attempt. A sworn translator is bound to the wording of the original and may not smooth anything over — not even a typo.
If your passport differs, a new source document is needed, not a corrected translation. That is why we check this before anything is commissioned.
What if something is missing at the appointment?
Then you need a new appointment, and it may be weeks away. If what is missing is down to us, you ride along again on the next travel day at no extra charge.
Does this apply to my partner too?
Each person files their own application, appears in person and pays their own 12 € fee. If the two of you travel on the same day, say so in the first conversation and we will quote for both together.
Do I need the empadronamiento first?
In practice almost always: the office wants to know where you live. For that the town hall in turn needs proof of the home — a rental contract, the escritura or a nota simple. In the first conversation we tell you what applies in your case.
The mountain road doesn't agree with me — is there another way?
Yes. From June to September we travel by ferry along the coast instead of over the mountains if you prefer: seventy minutes of calm sea, and the harbour is two hundred and fifty metres from the office. Surcharge 40 €; you book the ticket yourself.
In winter it is not possible — the ferry does not sail until the afternoon. Then we go overland, and you sit in the front.
Can I register as autónomo to get around the insurance and bank-statement requirement?
Anyone who is in fact self-employed here obtains the residencia as a worker — and then the office asks for neither insurance nor a bank statement. That is the right route for anyone setting up a business here.
As a shortcut it does not work: the registration creates monthly social-security contributions, quarterly tax returns and an asesor you will need for them. A registration without real activity can come back to bite you later. For pensioners the S1 is the better route — and it costs nothing.
Are you a gestoría?
No, and we are not allowed to call ourselves one. “Gestor administrativo” is a regulated profession in Spain with its own licence. We are an accompaniment and interpreting service: we interpret, prepare, book appointments and come along. Representing you here is something nobody can do anyway.
My residencia is done. What about the letters that keep coming?
They keep coming — tax office, town hall, Seguridad Social, insurers. If you wish, we read them on an ongoing basis: we open with your authorisation, translate and name the deadline. 45 € a month, two actions a year included, cancel any time. What to do is your decision — or the lawyer's, once it turns legal.
I live on Tenerife or La Palma. Can you still help?
With everything that needs no presence, yes: checking documents, translations, booking the appointment, official post. Accompaniment in person is on La Gomera and, on the Tenerife day, on Tenerife. We do not travel to La Palma or El Hierro.
Documents
How we exchange documents — with no client account
Passports, bank statements, certificates of inheritance: data that should not sit in a web login we built ourselves. So there is no password with us, but a folder.
1
Your folder
After the first conversation we create a folder on a European server — for you alone — and send you an upload link. You upload scans or phone photos, no account, no app.
2
What we obtain
Nota simple, translations, fee receipt, appointment confirmation, letters from the authority: everything we obtain for you is in the folder the same day. You can see at any time how far the file has got.
3
Afterwards
When the case is done we close the folder; you keep a copy of everything. Originals always stay with you. We talk by phone, WhatsApp or email — whichever you are used to.
The first conversation costs nothing
Thirty minutes by phone or at your home. You tell us your situation, we tell you which route is the right one, what it costs and how long it takes. Then you decide in your own time — and you get a written quote either way.
- hallo@residenciaclara.com
- Phone
- +49 178 81 567 18German number · WhatsApp
- Spanish number
- +34 6·· ··· ···to follow
- Where
- Valle Gran Rey, La Gomera
- Languages
- German · Spanish · English