Hey There! I’ve read tons of the helpful posts on becoming and remaining Autonomo to reside and work in Spain, but I’ve got an issue, still!

*The situation:

I’m American w/ a residency/NIE from a program and I want to use this NIE/residency to start working Autonomo. I’m doing a two year part time teaching program w/ the Spanish government in Spain (technically they classify me as a student or student visa 180+ days, even though I’m not a student) and I want to know how sustainable it would be to use my NIE/residency I received from this program to file all my paperwork to become Autonomo and remain Autonomo (working freelance as an English teacher and paying all my taxes/SS) AFTER the program finishes and continue to renew residency on this new Autonomo status.

*Details:

The program is 2 years and technically it says I’m a student, but I just help teachers in the classrooms of public schools w/ English part time. So I moved to Spain in October ‘10 w/ this program and got my NIE and TIE card and have been a resident in Spain since then. When my TIE expires this November ‘11, I will renew it on behalf of doing the program for my 2nd and final year with all my paperwork from the program that allows me to have residency in Spain. After I finish my 2nd year, my TIE will expire again in December ‘11 and I will have no ability to stay in Spain legally because I cannot repeat the program again. Before all this happens, I want to file all my paperwork for becoming Autonomo and do additional work for a language academy starting this fall or winter as Autonomo AND I want to stay in Spain working like this after that other program finished and my TIE from it expires.

*So my burning question/the real issue here:

AFTER my TIE expires from the program, but I’ve successfully gotten the Autonomo status and have been working well w/ that at an academy and paying the fees to the gov….can I continue to stay in Spain as an American and renew my TIE/residency solely based on me living in Spain as a freelance/Autonomo working English teacher…year after year….?  That is to say…Can Autonomo people have their residency/NIE/TIE based solely on being Autonomo, even if I originally got into Spain and obtained my original TIE I applied for the Autonomo through ANOTHER situation (the student program situation)?

I really want to do this because I’m only working part time in the school w/ the program and I have a lot of time to teach on the side more and I want to stay in Spain longer working legally!! So if I can do this, I’m going to get on it asap! BTW: I have read many, many of the Autonomo sections here and on the main website, they are great! But I haven’t found this answer. Thank you very much!

This is from the CostaBlanca Expats page on Autonomo:

“It is no longer necessary for anyone working here on a Contract or
through Autonomos to apply for a Residencia. If you so wish, the
Comiseria Police Station in Denia will provide you with a Certificate
of exemption from holding a Residencia card. To obtain this
document, you will need your passport, one passport photo, a signed
Declaration that you are exempt from holding a Residencia, and a
completed application form showing your work details, or those of
your spouse/partner. At the present time, these application forms
have not been prepared, and the existing Residencia application form
should be used.

Important: we have received advice from the Notary Office that
they will not accept these Certificates as proof that an individual
is a Resident, and therefore subject to different rules in respect of
Capital Gains Tax payments. This will of course have a bearing if,
for example, you are selling a property. There are three courses of
action you can take if you think this may affect you; a) you can
apply for a Residencia card anyway (bearing in mind that these are
still taking about a year to be processed) as the Comiseria cannot
refuse to process a card, even if it is no longer necessary; b) you
can apply to the Comiseria in Denia for a Certificado de Residencia;
c) you can apply to the Hacienda at Denia for a Certificado de
Residencia Fiscal. Any of the above three items will be sufficient
to confirm your Resident status to the Notary.”
http://www.costablancaexpats.net/faqs/bureaucracy/being-self-employed/

So unless I’m misinterpreting this, you DO need a NIE to apply for the Autonomo, but once you are actually Autonomo, you do not even get a “Residencia” and you don’t need to even have one. Is the Residencia the same as having a NIE? Does this mean I don’t even have to worry about having a NIE/residency when Autonomo? Well, I’m a little confused because last time I checked, you need a NIE to do just about anything, including any banking!

Everything I’ve heard would suggest that being autonomo is not going to get you a work visa or residency. The NIE is superfluous and makes no difference, it’s just a taxation and foreigner ID card and is necessary to do most everything, so hold onto that.

Can you find an immigration attorney to help you with this? The abogados I normally send people to when they want to start a company and need immigration help probably won’t help with an autonomo case.

Another potential resource: http://madridteacher.com/