Empadronamiento: how to register, change address and get your certificate

The padrón municipal is the administrative register that lists the residents of a municipality. Empadronamiento means entering yourself on that register with your habitual address. Being on the padrón is the official proof that you live in the municipality and of what your address is.

It is needed for almost any procedure where residence has to be proved: applying for or renewing your NIE and handling your immigration paperwork, registering for the public health card and choosing a health centre, applying for a school place, accessing benefits and social assistance, filing a citizenship application, joining the electoral roll or proving your address before any public authority.

Empadronamiento has nothing to do with owning the home. It reflects where you actually live, not whose the property is. That is why you can register even if you are not the owner of the property.

Everyone living in Spain must register on the padrón of the municipality where they habitually live (article 15 of Ley 7/1985, de 2 de abril, the Spanish Local Government Act). Anyone living in several municipalities must register only in the one where they spend the most time each year.

The duty applies to Spanish nationals and to foreign nationals alike, whatever their administrative status. Empadronamiento does not require a residence permit: a foreign national can and must register even if their situation has not been regularised yet.

You must apply to register when you take up residence in Spain or in a new municipality, and report your change of address when you move within the same municipality or to a different one. You must also register any children living with you.

Take care if you are a non-EU foreign national and do not hold a long-term residence authorisation: your entry on the padrón expires after 2 years and has to be renewed expressly (article 16.1 of Ley 7/1985). The ayuntamiento (town hall) warns you 3 months before that deadline ends; if you do not confirm that you are still there, expiry is declared and you are removed from the padrón, with no prior hearing needed. That removal can break the continuity of residence you later need for arraigo (the residence route based on established ties in Spain) or for citizenship, so it is best to renew in time. Managora monitors the expiry date and files the renewal for you.

You provide 2 sets of documents: one proving your identity and one proving the home where you are registering. For a change of address within the same municipality the paperwork is the same as for a first registration.

Identity: Spanish nationals present a valid DNI (the Spanish national identity card) or passport; children under 14 without a DNI present the libro de familia (the Spanish family record book) or a birth certificate. Foreign nationals present their passport and, if they have one, their residence card (TIE/NIE, the Spanish foreigner residence card and number) or, in the case of European Union citizens, their certificado de registro (EU registration certificate).

Home: you provide the document proving occupation, such as the title deed, a rental contract in force or an authorisation from the owner of the home. Many ayuntamientos also accept a recent utility bill (water, electricity or gas) in the applicant's name.

The ayuntamiento may only ask for documents in order to check that the data are true, that is, your identity and the fact that you really live at that address. Managora checks that your file is complete before filing it, so that you avoid requests for further documents.

If you live in a home that is not yours (a relative's, a friend's, or one sublet to you by a landlord), the usual route is to provide an authorisation signed by the owner of the property together with a copy of their identity document. With that authorisation the registration is completed without you being the owner or appearing on the contract.

If you have neither a contract nor an authorisation, the ayuntamiento cannot refuse you empadronamiento on that ground. It will check that you really live there by other means, such as a report from the local police or from social services. Once residence is proved, the ayuntamiento is obliged to register you.

People who are homeless or living in substandard housing (shacks, caravans or other precarious accommodation) can and must also register, even giving the municipal social services as their address. The 2024 reform expressly reinforced this guarantee.

The volante de empadronamiento (the simple registration slip) is an informative document confirming that you are registered on the padrón. It is fine for simple procedures and is usually obtained on the spot at the counter or through the online portal.

The certificado de empadronamiento (the formal registration certificate) is a public document with full evidential value. It is traditionally signed by the Secretario of the ayuntamiento (the municipal secretary, the senior legal officer of the council), although today many certificates are issued with the Secretario's electronic signature or under an electronic seal (automated administrative action), without the Mayor's approval being essential. It is the document required by formal procedures: immigration and the NIE, citizenship, marriage, court proceedings and many benefits.

Both can be individual (only you) or collective, also called convivencia certificates (everyone registered at the same address). If a procedure asks you to prove residence with official validity, ask for the certificado, not the volante.

Real Decreto 141/2024, de 6 de febrero amended the Reglamento de Población y Demarcación Territorial (the Spanish population and territorial demarcation regulation) and set up real-time interconnection between the municipal padrones and the INE (the Spanish national statistics institute). Registrations, removals and changes are no longer reported monthly and are now reported immediately.

A transitional period has been set until 31 August 2026 for every ayuntamiento to roll out the new system. For you as a citizen the effect is positive: when you move to another municipality, the registration in the new one and the removal from the previous one are coordinated automatically, and duplicate entries are reduced.

The change is technical and administrative: it does not alter the documents you provide or your obligations. The instructions in force are still those of the Resolución de 17 de febrero de 2020 (INE and the Dirección General de Cooperación Autonómica y Local, the Spanish directorate general for regional and local cooperation), amended by the Resolución de 3 de febrero de 2023.