Spain Social Security Number for Foreigners: How to Get It

You need a Spanish Social Security number (NUSS) to register with Social Security for the first time when you start working. An employer must register a new hire who is not yet affiliated, an autónomo must request affiliation personally, and you can request the number online at any time.

If you are about to start a job in Spain, you need a Social Security number (NUSS) before your first registration, and your employer is the one who has to request your registration when you are not yet affiliated. With no number yet, you can request one online at any time or on paper with the TA.1 form. This page is not about your health card, which is covered in our SIP card guide, or about your ID number, which is explained in NIE vs TIE.

Do you need a Spanish Social Security number? Short answer: once you plan to work

You need the number to register with Social Security for the first time when you start work, and to claim pensions, subsidies and benefits. For contributory benefits, foreigners who reside or are legally in Spain are covered when they carry out their activity in Spain. The same number is also called the affiliation number (NAF).

Before you apply, check whether you already have one. You may have a number if you have ever worked or were covered by the school insurance (Seguro Escolar), and you can look it up in your personal area on the Social Security site. If you need proof, the same site offers a PDF report that certifies the number.

The number also matters for health care, because the regional health system uses it to register your health card. If you are a pensioner with an approved S1, the certificate you receive carries your Spanish number; the S1 guide walks through that route.

Who requests it: your employer, you or Social Security?

The rule differs between an employee and an autónomo, so pick your case below.

If you will be an employee

Your employer must request your affiliation when you are not yet affiliated, and the request has to be made before you start work. That request must state your Social Security number, so if you have none, request it first and pass it on.

Los empresarios están obligados a solicitar la afiliación al sistema de la Seguridad Social de quienes, no estando afiliados, ingresen a su servicio, en los términos y condiciones regulados en este capítulo.

Employers are obliged to request affiliation to the Social Security system of those who join their service without being affiliated, under the terms and conditions regulated in this chapter.

BOE · Real Decreto 84/1996, art. 24.1

If your employer does not do it, you can ask the provincial office of the Social Security treasury directly, at any time after the employer’s failure has been established. If your job needs a work permit, the work permit guide covers the employer’s steps.

If you will be an autónomo

Nobody registers you here: a self-employed worker who is not yet affiliated has to request affiliation personally, and again before the activity starts. Our autónomo registration guide takes you through the rest. Because affiliation is single across all regimes, you keep the same registration if you later move from one regime to another.

If you have no job yet

Request the number whenever it suits you, since you can request it online at any time. We recommend doing it before you sign a contract, because your employer’s request has to state the number.

If you are an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen, or a child

On the TA.1 form a passport is accepted only for EU/EEA/Swiss citizens, who must provide a NIE within 3 months of entering Spain. Other applicants hand in a DNI or a foreigner’s card. For a child, a parent or legal guardian submits the request.

How to request it online

For most newcomers the online request is the quickest route, and you can do it at any time. Here is how it runs.

1. Gather your DNI or NIE details, a mobile phone number, an email and your usual address.
2. Open the Social Security page for requesting the number and start the request; it is meant for anyone who has no number assigned yet.
3. Identify yourself. Without a NUSS you cannot identify yourself by SMS, and without Cl@ve or a digital certificate you send a copy of both sides of your DNI/NIE and a selfie. If you want the faster route, our digital certificate and Cl@ve guide covers how to get one.
4. Finish the request. The number becomes your affiliation number the moment an employment relationship begins.

Checked November 2026.

How to request it on paper with the TA.1 form

Paper is the alternative to the online route, and it runs on the TA.1, the official request for affiliation, assignment of a Social Security number and changes of data.

Fill it in and hand it in with your ID document, which is a DNI, a foreigner’s card or a passport. A person without a number requests it from the provincial office of the Social Security treasury before applying for affiliation and registration, showing the identification document that applies to a foreigner.

For a job, the affiliation request goes to the provincial office where your employer is based or, for a self-employed worker, where the establishment is located or, failing that, where the worker lives. For a child, complete the TA.1 with the child’s details.

The form states a legal maximum of forty-five days from the date the request enters the register of the provincial office. Start well before your first day of work, because the request has to be made before you begin.

NUSS, NIE and SIP card: what is what

These three are easy to mix up, but they do different jobs.

The number does not expire. It is a single number assigned to each worker, for life and valid across the national territory.

a cada trabajador se asignará su mismo número de la Seguridad Social, que tendrá carácter vitalicio y válido para todo el territorio del Estado

Each worker will be assigned the same Social Security number, which will be for life and valid throughout the national territory.

BOE · Real Decreto 84/1996, art. 34.2

Once you have the number, add it to your paperwork list in the moving checklist. For the next steps with health care, see the SIP card guide, the guide to registering with a GP and the convenio especial guide.

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Not confirmed: Where to hand in a paper request in Valencia and whether you need an appointment: the pages read name no Valencia office, so check the Social Security site before you go. Whether a remote worker employed by a company abroad needs a number: the sources tie the number to starting work in Spain.

General information checked against the sources listed above, not legal advice for your situation. Rules and office practice change; confirm with the immigration office or a licensed adviser before you act. See how guides are checked.

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