Comment by fpoling
9 hours ago
In Barcelona it is impossible to get an appointment for the residence card. There is online booking system, but it never shows any available slots. But then there are few companies that for 50-100 euros can get an appointment.
But then even with appointment one only gets a temporary permit unless one already got a job offer. One gets the permanent card only after starting a business or buying a property or getting a work.
Also to open a permanent bank account one needs to have at least a temporary residence. Otherwise banks can only open a tourist account valid for few months.
"There is online booking system, but it never shows any available slots. But then there are few companies that for 50-100 euros can get an appointment." ^^^ shouldn't complain about this on Hacker News. I wrote my own bot and it took a day or so. The appointment slot came in in 30 minutes thereafter ;)
If you're an EU citizen you by definition have a permanent permit, until either your country of origin or host country leaves the EU. If you are not then woe be you, but that's a separate matter.
In theory yes, one can stay in Spain as a citizen of a EU country indefinitely. In practice for anything in Spain you need a tax number. Even to get an Internet connection at home one needs it.
That's not actually the case, strictly speaking. Residence in another EU country requires meeting certain criteria even if some countries (like the UK when it was in the EU) do not check or really enforce them. This also means that an EU citizen can be deported from another EU country back to their home country if they don't meet those criteria.
"Permanent residence" is also again different and requires residence under those criteria for at least 5 years.