Town-hall registration in Spain (Padrón Online): what really changed after 31 August 2026

In short

• Who it affects: anyone registered in a Spanish municipal register. If you are from outside the EU and have no long-term residence, look above all at the renewal.
• What happened: the deadline to create the real-time system ended on 31 August 2026, but the system is not running. Town halls still send the data to the INE once a month.
• What does not change: there is no new procedure, you do not need to register again and you do not need to bring any new document.
• The date that does count: your renewal date, two years after you registered or last renewed. If you do not renew, the town hall can remove you from the register and does not have to warn you first.
• What to do now: check with your town hall the date you registered or last renewed, and that the ID document in your record is your current one.
• What it does not give you: Padrón Online is not a new permit or certificate, and being registered does not give you legal residence.

What the real-time register exchange (Padrón Online) is

Every town hall keeps its own municipal register, the list of people who live in the municipality. The INE coordinates all the registers and receives the changes from town halls: new registrations, removals, changes of address or of personal details.

Royal Decree 141/2024, in force since 8 February 2024, amended the Population Regulation (Reglamento de Población) and ordered that these changes be sent to the INE through a real-time data-exchange system. The INE calls that project Padrón Online.

• Today the data go once a month: each town hall sends the INE a file with the month’s changes.
• With Padrón Online, each change would reach the INE the moment the town hall records it.
• For you, the procedure does not change: you register, renew or change your address at your town hall, as before.

What happened on 31 August 2026 — and what did not

The decree gave a transition period “until 31 August 2026” to create the real-time system. It also said what happens while the system is not ready: the monthly exchanges of information continue.

• The deadline has passed, but no extension or change of that rule has been published in the Official State Gazette (BOE): the decree stands as approved.
• The system will not switch on for the whole country at once. When the INE has it ready, town halls will join gradually, as they are able to, and meanwhile the new system and the monthly one will run side by side.
• The INE will publish, by a resolution of its President, the date on which each municipality joins the new system. As of 10 September 2026 we have found no such resolution in the BOE.
• What did not happen: there is no new procedure for residents, your registration remains valid, and the registration certificate (certificado de empadronamiento) and the simple proof of registration (volante) are requested exactly as before.

When to expect it: an approximate timetable, not a law

The only date the law sets is 31 August 2026, and it has passed. The other dates come from the Registration Council (Consejo de Empadronamiento), the body in which the State administration and town halls work together on municipal registers. At its meeting on 1 July 2026 the INE presented this timetable, making clear that the forecasts were approximate:

• Third quarter of 2026 to fourth quarter of 2028: design of the transition period and start of the roll-out.
• Fourth quarter of 2026 to fourth quarter of 2028: pilot tests of the population services with volunteer municipalities.
• Not before early 2029: going live.
• Status on 24 June 2026, according to the INE: overall architecture 98%, territorial services 98%, population services 90% and management tools 72%. A new contract is needed to continue; it had not yet been awarded.
• These dates are not a law or a resolution published in the BOE: they are the working forecast of a collegiate body and may move.

The cadastral reference: what it is and whether you must bring it

The cadastral reference (referencia catastral) is the code with which the Spanish property register for tax purposes (Catastro) identifies each property. Since 2024 the Regulation says that the address in the register is recorded with that reference “provided the address has” one; the Basque Country and Navarre use an equivalent code.

• It is being added gradually, as town halls adapt their software, and becomes compulsory once the real-time system starts.
• It is not a requirement to register. It is not on the list of documents the town hall may ask you for to check your details: the reference reaches the register from the Catastro, through the INE.
• If you are asked for it anyway, it usually appears on the IBI bill (the municipal property tax) and can be looked up on the Catastro’s online office (Sede Electrónica del Catastro). You can ask the owner or your landlord for it. If you do not have it, remember that the rules do not require you to provide it.

What already applies since 2024 and affects foreigners

While the new system is awaited, the same Royal Decree 141/2024 changed other rules that have applied since 8 February 2024. These are the ones that cause foreigners the most trouble.

• Renewal every two years. If you are not a citizen of the EU, the European Economic Area or Switzerland and do not hold a long-term residence permit (residencia de larga duración), your registration expires unless you renew it every two years. The two years run from your registration or your last express renewal, and the town hall can declare the expiry (caducidad) without a prior hearing (audiencia previa) — that is, without asking for your side first.
• Family members of EU citizens who hold an EU-family residence card (tarjeta de residencia de régimen comunitario) do not have to renew every two years.
• How not to miss the date: write down the day you registered or last renewed and set a reminder a few months before. The INE tells your town hall three months in advance that your renewal is due, but the town hall does not have to warn you. Renewing means confirming your details and declaring that you still live at that address; ask your town hall whether you can do it online.
• Which document number is recorded. If you are from outside the EU: your foreigner identity number (NIE) from a valid document issued in Spain or, if you have none, your valid passport number. If you are an EU citizen: the NIE on your registration certificate or, failing that, your valid passport or identity card number.
• What the town hall may ask for. To check your details: Spanish ID card (DNI), EU citizen registration certificate, foreigner identity card (TIE), passport, family book (libro de familia) or birth certificate, the document that entitles you to occupy the home (for example the deed or the rental contract) or other similar documents. Your phone number and email address are voluntary.
• Change of address by the town hall. If you move within the same municipality and do not report it, the town hall can change your address on its own initiative (de oficio), after opening a file in which it hears you. It is better to report the move yourself.
• Your data in the citizen folder. You can see the register data held by the INE in the State’s online citizen folder (Carpeta Ciudadana). No volante or certificate is issued from that data: those documents come from your town hall.

January 2027: new checks on foreigners’ ID documents

On 1 July 2026 the Registration Council agreed that from January 2027 the INE will apply new checks to the document data that town halls send it. These are the INE’s technical rules for town halls, not a law. But if your record fails them, the INE does not take in the change and sends it back to the town hall for correction.

• The type of document has to fit your nationality and your age.
• If you are a foreigner over 16, only a passport, an identity card from an EU country or a residence card (TIE) is valid in the register.
• The first letter of the NIE can only be X, Y or Z, and the check letter has to be correct.
• What to do: if you registered with a document that has since expired, with a mistyped number or, being over 16, with a document other than those, update your registration before 2027. When you renew your TIE or passport, it is a good idea to take the new document to your town hall.

What to do now

1. Ask your town hall for a proof of registration (volante de empadronamiento), in person or through its online office, or look up your data in the Carpeta Ciudadana. Check the address, your name and the document number.
2. If you are from outside the EU and have no long-term residence, find the date you registered or last renewed and note when the two years are up.
3. Renew before that date. If you missed it and were removed, apply to register again as soon as possible: time without registration can count against you in procedures that look at years of residence, such as residence through social ties (arraigo).
4. If your document changed or expired, take the new one to the town hall so that they update your record.
5. If the town hall will not register you, ask for the answer in writing. A refusal must be a reasoned decision by the mayor (alcalde) or whoever holds that delegated power, and the notice must say which appeal is available, before whom and within what time limit. If no answer to your application is notified within three months, it counts as granted and you are registered from the date you applied.

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