What it costs to move a family to Spain

Rate for US citizens under reciprocity, listed as the fee from January 1, 2026. Applicants of other nationalities pay 106 dollars at the same window. Every family member, including each child, pays it. The consulate states fees are revised quarterly with exchange rates. A separate residence permit application fee of 13 dollars, form 790-052, is collected at the same time.

The test is 400 percent of IPREM, the Public Income Indicator for Multiple Effects. IPREM in 2026 is 600 euros a month, or 7,200 euros a year over 12 payments, so 400 percent is 28,800 euros a year. The IPREM figure is confirmed on the Consulate General of Spain in Los Angeles IPREM table at https://www.exteriores.gob.es/Consulados/losangeles/en/ServiciosConsulares/Documents/IPREM.pdf. The visa does not permit any paid work in Spain, including remote work for a foreign employer.

An additional 100 percent of IPREM per year for each accompanying dependent family member, which is 7,200 euros at the 2026 IPREM.

Same 100 percent of IPREM uplift as for a spouse. A couple with two children therefore needs 28,800 plus three times 7,200, which is 50,400 euros a year.

Rate for US citizens under reciprocity. The consulate page carries no effective date for this figure and states that fees are revised quarterly. The income test for this route is set as a multiple of the Spanish minimum wage, and the consulate page still shows the 2025 minimum wage, so the 2026 threshold is withheld here until an official source publishes it.

Tariff for the TIE that documents the first grant of a temporary residence authorisation. The renewal TIE is charged at 19.30 euros on the same form. Each family member pays separately.

The education law text is at https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2006-7899. Article 78 of that law requires education authorities to place children who join the Spanish system late, including children arriving from other countries, at the year that fits their age and prior schooling, and guarantees that placement at compulsory school age. Article 9.4 of Ley Organica 4/2000 requires resident parents to evidence that school-age children are enrolled when they renew their residence permit.

Both schools publish fees per term and both state a three-term year, so annual figures are the published term fee times three. Runnymede College 2026-2027 runs from 3,100 euros a term for pre-nursery, which is the low end here, to 7,900 euros a term for Years 12 and 13. International College Spain 2026-2027, at https://www.nordangliaeducation.com/ics-madrid/-/media/ics-madrid/pdfs/ics-tuition-fees-2026-27.pdf, runs from 4,216 euros a term for Kindergarten 3 and 4 to 8,870 euros a term for Grades 11 and 12, which is the high end here. The American School of Madrid publishes annual tuition of 12,173 to 25,072 euros at https://www.asmadrid.org/admissions/tuition-and-fees, but that page states no academic year. Tuition excludes lunch, bus, materials and examination fees, which all three schools bill separately.

International College Spain charges 3,000 euros from Grade 1 upwards, plus a 1,000 euro application fee and a 1,500 euro refundable deposit. Runnymede College charges 3,500 euros on enrolment at https://runnymede-college.com/quick-links/fees/. The American School of Madrid charges a 250 euro application fee, a 2,000 euro registration fee and an 8,100 euro one-off capital fee for students in EC5 to Grade 12.

The insurance wording is from the Consular Section of the Embassy of Spain in Washington DC at https://www.exteriores.gob.es/Consulados/washington/en/ServiciosConsulares/Paginas/Consular/Visado-de-residencia-no-lucrativa.aspx. We do not publish a private family premium because no insurer figure was verified at the insurer's own published rates.

The rate is 157 euros a month for a subscriber aged 65 or over. Regions may add to the rate if they add services. Article 3 of the same decree requires effective residence in Spain for a continuous year immediately before applying, registration on the padron of a municipality in that administration's territory, and no access to public health protection by any other route. It is a per-person agreement, not a family policy.

SERPAVI publishes rent per dwelling and per square metre, never by bedroom count, so this is a mapping and it is ours, not the ministry's. The figure is the median monthly rent declared to the tax authority for flats in the municipality of Madrid, 868.75 euros across 300,447 dwellings, on 2024 tax data. The median flat behind it is 66 square metres of built area, which is a normal two-bedroom in Madrid. The published spread for the same municipality is 700 euros at the 25th percentile and 1,166.17 at the 75th, and rent per square metre is 13.97 euros a month at the median, 11.03 at the 25th percentile and 17.92 at the 75th. These are rents across live tenancies, not asking prices for new lets. Publication is SERPAVI 2026, first electronic edition March 2026, revised July 2026, data year 2024. We did not multiply a per-square-metre rate by an assumed flat size, because the ministry's own methodology shows rent per square metre falling as floor area rises, which makes that arithmetic overstate larger homes.

Same source and the same caveat as the two-bedroom line: SERPAVI publishes no bedroom breakdown, so the mapping is ours. The figure is the 75th percentile of monthly rent declared for flats in the municipality of Madrid, 1,166.17 euros, on 2024 tax data. The flat at the 75th percentile of built area in the same municipality is 84 square metres, which is a normal three-bedroom. The median is 869 euros a month at 66 square metres and the 25th percentile is 700 euros at 52 square metres. The percentile of rent and the percentile of floor area are separate published measures, not the same dwelling. Publication is SERPAVI 2026, first electronic edition March 2026, revised July 2026, data year 2024.

The Annex II list including the United States of America was read at EUR-Lex, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32026R0636. The ministry publishes the current list of Traveller Entry Points on the same page. A movement of more than five animals, or one with a commercial purpose or a change of owner, is not treated as a pet movement and follows import rules instead.

A treaty existing is not the same as a treaty removing a tax bill. Nothing here is a calculation of what a specific family owes.