Which application form fits your route and filing channel?

Key rules

• Consulate: A consulate uses the national visa form, never an EX form.
• In Spain: You file the EX form for your route plus the Modelo 790 fee form.
• TIE: Request your TIE with form EX-17 and the fee form within one month of the authorisation being granted or of entering Spain with a visa.
• Current version: Download each form fresh from the official ministry or police page, because the version in use is updated.

Which form for which route

The international-mobility routes (digital nomad, highly qualified professional, entrepreneur, intra-company transfer) do not use an EX form when filed in Spain: they are filed online with the large-companies and strategic-groups unit (UGE).

At a consulate abroad

Use the national visa application form ("Solicitud de visado nacional"). Do not use an EX form at a consulate. Download it from the website of the consulate that covers where you live. Some consulates add their own checklists or online forms, so follow that consulate's instructions. Short-stay Schengen visas use a different form, so this one is not for them. The consular fee for the national visa is 80 euros, paid when you lodge the application.

Inside Spain

A UK citizen who already lives in Spain with Withdrawal Agreement rights keeps those rights, applies for the TIE under the Withdrawal Agreement procedure and does not need this route. A UK citizen without those rights is a non-EU national and applies from outside Spain with the national visa form.

Fill in the Modelo 790 fee form for the application you are making. You can file online or in person at the Oficina de Extranjería. Online filing uses the Mercurio platform or the electronic office, and it needs a digital certificate.

Some routes are filed by someone else. Ask your employer or adviser who submits it.

EU citizens and their family

EU citizens register with their own certificate procedure on EX-18 and do not use the non-EU residence forms. A family member of an EU citizen files EX-19, and the rule depends on the relationship:

• Married spouse: applies together with the citizen as a family member with an automatic right, proved by a marriage certificate.
• Registered partner (pareja de hecho inscrita or equivalent): proves the partnership with the register certificate and applies together with the EU citizen when the partnership is registered.
• Unmarried, unregistered partner: has no automatic right; entry is facilitated and decided case by case, and you must prove 12 months living together or a child together.
• Child: a child under 18 applies together with the citizen; a child of 18 or over joins if under 21 or financially dependent, proved by a birth certificate.
• Dependent parent: joins if they depend on the citizen, shown with documents.
• Other relative who depends on the citizen: joins if dependence is shown with documents; the right is facilitated and decided case by case.

Your residence card (TIE)

Form EX-17 and Modelo 790 código 012 for the fee are filed at the police station after booking an appointment (cita previa). Biometrics are taken at the appointment.

Where to get the current version

• Visa form: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs site or your consulate's site.
• EX forms: the Ministry of Inclusion's immigration forms page.
• EX-17 and Modelo 790: the Policía Nacional site.

Documents you need

• National visa application form ("Solicitud de visado nacional"), issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and published on consulate websites. Complete and sign it, then submit it with your supporting documents at the consulate.
• The EX form for your route, needed when you apply inside Spain.
• Form EX-17 for the TIE card, from the Policía Nacional site, with Modelo 790 código 012 for its fee. You take both to the police station appointment.