Moving from Italy to Spain: the AIRE and the padrón registrations

Moving your life from Italy to Spain comes with two registrations, one in each country. In Spain, the empadronamiento: your entry in the padrón municipal, the register of the town where you live. In Italy, the AIRE, the Anagrafe degli italiani residenti all'estero, the register of Italians living abroad.

Each has its own office and its own deadline. And since 1 January 2024, skipping the Italian one can cost between 200 and 1,000 euros for every year it stays undone.

Who has to register with the AIRE

The duty comes from Italian Law 470 of 27 October 1988. It applies to Italian citizens who move their habitual residence abroad. Duration is what counts: article 1 leaves out anyone abroad for twelve months or less and anyone leaving for seasonal work.

A one-semester Erasmus in Valencia does not trigger the AIRE. A permanent job contract in Barcelona does.

The deadline is in article 6: the declaration goes to the competent consular office within 90 days of the change of residence.

How it works: Fast It and the consulate

You apply on Fast It, the online portal of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. You sign in, fill in the form with your full Spanish address and attach two things: a valid identity document, yours and those of the family members moving with you, and a document proving that you live in the consular district.

In Spain the most direct proof is the certificado de empadronamiento, the certificate of your padrón registration. Each consulate can ask for more, so check the page of the office covering your province: in Spain, the Italian Consulates General in Madrid and Barcelona.

Registration is not automatic. The consulate reviews the file and sends it to your last Italian municipality of residence, which takes you off the resident population register and enters you in the AIRE. The consulate has 180 days to send it, but the registration takes effect from the date you filed a complete application.

One detail that trips people up: the AIRE registration certificate is issued by the Italian municipality, not by the consulate.

The penalties in Italy's 2024 budget law

Italian Law 213 of 30 December 2023, article 1, paragraph 242, rewrote article 11 of Law 1228 of 1954, the Italian population register law. The new paragraph 2 fines anyone who fails to declare a move abroad on time between 200 and 1,000 euros for each year the omission lasts.

Three points in the text are worth knowing:

• if the declaration is no more than ninety days late, the fine drops to a tenth of the minimum, so 20 euros, as long as the breach has not already been found and no checks you have been formally told about have started;
• the fine is assessed and imposed by the municipality whose register you are on;
• it has to be served by 31 December of the fifth year after the year in which the declaration was omitted, or the right to collect it lapses.

The same applies on the way back: someone who returns to Italy and does not declare the move from abroad on time faces the same fine.

Paragraph 243 added two rules to article 6 of Law 470. Italian public bodies that come across signs of de facto residence abroad in the course of their work report them to the municipality and the consulate. And the municipality reports AIRE entries and removals made on its own initiative to the Agenzia delle Entrate, the Italian tax agency, for its tax checks.

The padrón in Spain

Article 15 of Spain's Ley 7/1985, reguladora de las Bases del Régimen Local is short: everyone living in Spain has to register in the padrón of the municipality where they habitually reside, and anyone living in several registers only in the one where they spend most of the year.

You do it at the ayuntamiento, the town hall, with an identity document and something that backs up the address: usually the rental contract, the purchase deed or the owner's authorisation. Each town hall sets its own exact list.

For an EU citizen the entry does not expire. The two-year renewal in article 16 applies only to non-EU nationals without long-term residence.

The padrón is also separate from the certificado de registro de ciudadano de la Unión, the green certificate with your NIE. That one comes from the immigration office (oficina de extranjería) or, failing that, a National Police station. Article 7 of Real Decreto 240/2007 requires it for anyone staying in Spain more than three months, with the application due within three months of arrival. The padrón records where you live; the registration certificate shows that you reside in Spain as an EU citizen. Day to day, the padrón is the one you are asked for most, from the regional health card to enrolling children at school.

What changes once you are on the AIRE

When you register, the municipality notifies the local health authority and your cover under Italy's national health service ends: you no longer have a GP in Italy. Your care moves to the Spanish system, and on short stays in Italy you use the European health insurance card issued by Spain.

Passports and Italian identity cards are requested from the consulate. In Italian general elections and referendums you vote by post; in European elections you can vote for Italian candidates at polling stations set up in diplomatic and consular offices in EU countries.

The AIRE and tax residence are not the same thing

Since 2024, article 2 of the TUIR, Italy's income tax code, as rewritten by Legislative Decree 209/2023, treats as resident in Italy anyone who, for most of the tax year, has in Italy their residence under the civil code, their domicile (meaning the place where their personal and family relationships mainly take place) or their physical presence. The same goes for anyone on the resident population register, unless they prove otherwise. Most of the year means 183 days, 184 in a leap year, and fractions of a day count.

Two things follow. Joining the AIRE removes the register presumption, but on its own it does not settle the question: if your family stays in Italy, the Italian tax authorities can still treat you as resident. And someone who genuinely lives in Spain without having registered can now prove it, because that presumption can be rebutted. The register fine, though, still applies.

In Spain the rule is article 9 of the Ley del IRPF, the income tax law: you are tax resident if you spend more than 183 days in the country in a calendar year or if the main centre of your business or economic interests is there. If both countries treat you as resident, the Italy-Spain double taxation treaty decides.

The order, in practice

1. Padrón registration in the Spanish municipality where you live.
2. Application for the registration certificate, if you are staying more than three months.
3. AIRE declaration on Fast It, within 90 days of the move, with the certificado de empadronamiento as proof of residence.

If you have any doubts, Riondato & Partners is here to help

For over 45 years we have worked with Italians settling in Spain and Spaniards settling in Italy, with two population registers and two tax systems to line up. If you are planning the move or have just realised you missed the AIRE deadline, write to us: we go through your situation with you before a fine arrives.

Sources

• Italian Law 213/2023, paragraphs 242 and 243, and Interior Ministry circular 35/2024
• AIRE, Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Italian Law 470/1988, Normattiva
• Ley 7/1985 on local government, articles 15 and 16, BOE
• Royal Decree 240/2007, article 7, BOE
• EU citizen registration certificate, Spanish National Police