Question
I have a question which seems to be a puzzle for many people who haven’t yet gone through the Spain Non Lucrative Visa process and are about to do it.
So, you apply for your visa and put your UK house on the market. You sell the house and are waiting an unknown period, sometimes three months, for the visa. You then have, if you’ve not gotten rid of it, a house full of furniture, belongings, clothing, and so on.
Since you can’t go to live in Spain until you get the visa, where do you go, and where do you store your furniture—Spain or the UK?
That’s puzzling a lot of us, so I’m sure we’d be really grateful for any advice on this, please. I don’t have any relatives with a spare room. And if you’ve left your home, presumably the visa along with your passports will still be coming to the home you’ve just left?
Answers
These are the answers of Spainguru’s Spanish Non Lucrative Visa group members:
“We’ve just been in that position, and we have been staying in an Airbnb. We leave it tomorrow as we received our visas after 14 weeks. Our stuff is in a storage unit here in the UK until we arrange to get it to Spain. Stressful doesn’t describe the wait.
Fortunately, our son bought our house, so visas still went there, but you can have your mail redirected. Good luck.”
“We sold our house in October 2024, went to Spain to buy a house, had our personal stuff removed and stored in Spain. NLV appointment last week, and now we wait. We are lucky to own a motorhome, so we are traveling around the UK, seeing friends and family while we wait.
We addressed the envelope for the return of our passports to our son’s home. Stressful waiting for both the Spanish house completion and visas, but we are sure it will be worth it in the end.”
“We sold our house in December and had all of our belongings removed and shipped. They are now being stored in Alicante while we go through the visa application process.”
“We sold the house, put the furniture in storage with the removal company, and then flew to Spain while our house sale was going through. We moved into a rental property in the UK, retired from our jobs, went for the BLS appointment, and waited for our visas to arrive.
If you register on the Padrón before your furniture gets shipped, you can avoid import duty. If you meet the criteria, it’s pretty much a given that you will get your visa. It’s a huge puzzle that caused us stress and anxiety, but we are here now, and we have no regrets.”
“We sold our house on November 24 2024 and moved into holiday accommodation—this is our third so far! We had our NLV appointment two weeks ago and are just waiting now. The interest on our house sale money, plus the fact that we are not paying household bills, just about covers the cost of the accommodation. Our furniture is in storage, waiting to go to Murcia.”
“We stored our most treasured bits that we really wanted to bring over with relatives and rented for a couple of months. The furniture over here, especially old antique, ready-to-renovate wood, is pretty cheap. You have to weigh that up with transport costs.”
“I was in a similar position. We put our furniture into a shipping container for over 9 months. When we returned, much of the furniture smelled damp. We put all of the contents in an auction.
The cost of storage was £1,200 + VAT. The furniture brought £1,150 minus £450 + VAT. Think about the true value of your belongings before you make a mistake like we did.”
“We rented a house while waiting for our visa.”
“We rented our house and lived in our motorhome. Our visas were sent to our house with an agreement from our tenants. We already owned a Spanish property. We drove over using the 90-day rule, returned, then came over using the visa. We just renewed years 2-3.”
Conclusion
According to Spainguru’s Facebook group members, selling a house and waiting for a Spain Non Lucrative Visa (NLV) can be a stressful process. Many applicants choose different approaches depending on their circumstances:
- Staying in Airbnbs or rental properties in the UK while waiting for visa approval.
- Storing belongings in the UK or Spain—some prefer UK storage for security, while others ship their items ahead to Spain.
- Using a motorhome to travel while waiting for visas, allowing flexibility without long-term rent commitments.
- Redirecting mail or using family members’ addresses for official correspondence, especially for visa-related paperwork.
- Selling or donating furniture rather than shipping it, as costs and storage issues can be significant.
For those shipping furniture, registering on the Padrón before shipping can help avoid import duty. Some removal companies advise different approaches, but many have successfully brought their furniture as part of their personal possessions.
Every case is different, and applicants should carefully plan their transition, considering costs, storage, and living arrangements before making the move.
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