Expat Academy

Courses

Explore retiring to Spain

Still deciding? Learn what changes, what it costs, and which path fits you.

For Americans thinking about retiring to Spain, part of the year or full time, who haven't decided yet: the four kinds of residence, what the IRS and your state still expect, your income and accounts abroad, Social Security and Medicare, money across the border, two homes on one budget, healthcare and estate basics, plus Spain's residence tests, the non-lucrative visa, the NIE, healthcare, the cost of living and renting.

Eighteen lessons: the Core and the Spain lessons for everyone, with the two-home budget, the day counter and the visa checker. When you decide, what you paid counts in full toward a full course, for as long as your 365 days of access last.

Try it first: C1 The four kinds of "residence", S1 Spain's residence tests (free).

What you keep

Download these while your access lasts: they're yours to keep, to print, and to take to your attorney and CPA. PDFs carry your name.

Printable guides and checklists (8)

  • Comparison (PDF) Spain, Portugal and France side by side

    Visas, healthcare, residence rules, how each country taxes your US income, wealth, inheritance and paperwork, in one table per topic.

  • Guide (PDF) The four kinds of residence

    Immigration status, tax residence, state domicile and Schengen days on one page.

  • Guide (PDF) What the IRS still expects

    Form 1040, FBAR, Form 8938, PFICs and the June 15 extension.

  • Checklist (PDF) State domicile checklist

    What to change, file and keep when you move your US domicile.

  • Checklist (PDF) Documents and apostilles

    The papers to gather before you go, and the order to get them in.

  • Fact sheet (PDF) Spain fact sheet

    The 2026 numbers: tax scales, the treaty, the visa, healthcare, wealth and inheritance.

  • Walkthrough (PDF) Your Spanish forms: 100, 720 and 210

    Where US income, US assets and a Spanish home go.

  • Glossary (PDF) Spanish glossary

    The Spanish words on every form, letter and lease, in plain English.

What's inside: 18 lessons

The Core: retiring abroad on US income

What changes for any American who retires abroad on Social Security, IRAs, a 401(k), an HSA and a brokerage account, whichever country and path you choose: the four kinds of residence, what the IRS and your state still expect, your accounts and benefits, money across the border, paperwork, two homes on one budget, healthcare and estate basics.

Module 1: Residence, and what the US keeps (3 lessons)
  1. C1 The four kinds of "residence" Free preview
    Your visa, your tax residence, your US state and your Schengen days are four separate tests, and they can point in four directions.
  2. C2 What the IRS never lets go of
    The US taxes citizens wherever they live. The return, the foreign-account reports and the fund rules all come with you.
  3. C3 Your US state after you leave
    States aren't bound by tax treaties, and some are hard to leave. Your domicile decides whether a state still taxes you.
Module 2: Your income and your accounts (4 lessons)
  1. C4 Your income, source by source
    Social Security, IRA and 401(k) withdrawals, Roth, HSA, dividends, interest and gains each follow their own rule abroad. Here is the grid the country lessons fill in.
  2. C5 Keeping your US accounts open
    Some US brokers restrict or close accounts with a foreign address, and EU rules block buying US funds. Plan where your money will live before you move.
  3. C6 Social Security and Medicare abroad
    Social Security follows you to France; Medicare mostly doesn't. Decide about Part B before you go, because dropping it can cost you later.
  4. C7 Money across the border
    Your income is in dollars and your life in euros. How much the exchange rate moves your budget, how to move money cheaply, and how much to keep in euros.
Module 3: Setting up (2 lessons)
  1. C8 Identity numbers and paperwork
    Each country gives you a tax number before almost anything else works, and wants US documents with apostilles and translations. Here is the order to get them in.
  2. C9 Opening and keeping a local bank account
    Being American makes banking abroad harder because of US reporting rules. How to open an account, and how to stop it being frozen over a missed letter.
Module 4: Living in two places (3 lessons)
  1. C10 Running two homes on one budget
    Some costs follow you; others keep running in the home you've left. Separating them is what makes a two-home budget honest.
  2. C11 Healthcare models compared
    Medicare at home with travel cover, private cover abroad, or the public system there. Which one fits each track, and what each visa demands.
  3. C12 Estate basics across borders
    Wills in two countries, forced heirship, and inheritance tax where you die. The basics now; a full estate module comes later.

Spain

The Spanish rules in detail: the residence tests, the non-lucrative visa, income tax on US income and the treaty credits, how each kind of account is taxed, wealth and inheritance tax, Modelo 720 and the Spanish return, the NIE and banking, healthcare, the cost of living and renting, and for part-year residents the 90-day limit and owning a home as a non-resident.

Module 1: Residence and visas (2 lessons)
  1. S1 Spain's residence tests Free preview
    Spain makes you tax resident on any one of three grounds: more than 183 days in the calendar year, your main economic interests, or a family that lives there. Why Spain has no split year, and why the date you arrive matters so much.
  2. S2 The non-lucrative visa, step by step
    Spain's route for retirees who won't work: 400% of IPREM a month for the main applicant and 100% for each family member, private health insurance without co-payments, and a residence card renewed after one year, then every two.
Module 3: Daily life (4 lessons)
  1. S10 The NIE, the TIE, the padrón and banking
    Spain runs on a few numbers and registrations: the NIE (your foreigner's number), the TIE (residence card), the padrón (town-hall register) and a Spanish bank account. What each is, the order to get them, and how banks treat Americans.
  2. S11 Healthcare in Spain
    Retirees on a non-lucrative visa start with private insurance, which many keep. After a year of registered residence, the public system's special agreement (convenio especial) is open for a monthly fee. Part-year residents use travel cover.
  3. S12 The cost of living in Spain
    Where the money goes for a retiree in Spain, how regions differ, which costs are lower or higher than at home, and how to build your own budget in euros.
  4. S13 Renting in Spain
    Spanish long-term leases protect tenants: up to five years (seven with a company landlord), a one-month deposit plus at most two months of extra guarantee, and agency fees paid by the landlord. Seasonal lets follow different rules.