Author Dmitry Sheynkman Residence permit expert, tax adviser 14 September 2026 11 min read Message the author

Legal review by Irina Firsova, member of the Barcelona Bar Association no. 46.385 — check the ICAB register ↗

Moving to Alicante in 2026: residence permits, where to live, costs and taxes

You can move to Alicante on any basis for a Spanish residence permit; the most common are the digital nomad visa and the non-working residence permit. The province of Alicante is the heart of Russian-speaking Spain: 22,979 Russian citizens and 32,831 Ukrainian citizens live here, more than in any other province. Below we cover which residence permit to choose, how to move step by step, which town on the coast to live in, how much housing costs, which taxes apply in the Valencian Community, what to expect from schools and the language, and how Alicante differs from Valencia.

Moving to Alicante: answers to the key questions

Can you move there? Yes, with an ordinary Spanish residence permit. There are no special rules for Alicante; applications go to the province’s immigration office.
Which residence permit is most common? Remote workers take the digital nomad visa: income from €2,849 a month. People living on savings and passive income take the non-working residence permit: from €2,400 a month for the applicant.
Where to live? In Alicante itself if you need jobs, the university, hospitals and the airport nearby. In Torrevieja if a Russian-speaking community matters to you, and in Elche if you want a big city without the resort bustle.
How much does housing cost? In July 2026 a flat in the city of Alicante cost on average €2,705 per square metre — 6.6% more than a year earlier, but cheaper than Valencia and the Spanish average. Rents rose 7.3% over the year.
Do you need Valencian? Not for the residence permit or everyday life: people in the city speak Spanish. But in Alicante schools Valencian is a compulsory subject.
Straight to permanent residence? No. First a temporary residence permit; long-term residence comes after five years of legal residence.

Which residence permit to get for living in Alicante

The route is chosen by your source of income. After arrival, applications go to the immigration office (Extranjería) of the province of Alicante (Calle Ebanistería, 4 y 6, Babel industrial estate), and fingerprints for the residence card are taken by the National Police. A full breakdown of all routes is in the article Spanish residence permit: all the ways to get one.

Route	Who it suits	Income or funds	Can you work
Digital nomad visa	Remote employees and freelancers with clients outside Spain	From €2,849 a month, plus €1,069 for the first family member and €356 for each additional one	Yes, for foreign clients
Non-working residence permit	People living on savings, rental income, dividends or a pension	From €2,400 a month (€28,800 a year) plus €600 a month for each family member	No, including remotely
Employment	Those with a job offer from a Spanish employer	Salary under the contract	Yes, for that employer
Study	University and course students, including at the University of Alicante	Funds for the period of study	Up to 30 hours a week
Settlement (arraigo)	Those who have already lived in Spain for two years	Depends on the type of arraigo	Yes

The digital nomad visa threshold is linked to the minimum wage and in 2026 it rose retroactively; details are in our news piece on the income threshold for the digital nomad visa. After five years on any of these routes you can obtain permanent residence in Spain, and after ten you can apply for citizenship.

How to move to Alicante: step by step

Choose a route and check that you meet the income requirement for the whole family.
Decide where to apply: through the Spanish consulate in your country or, if the route allows it, from within Spain. The digital nomad visa can be obtained while already legally in Spain — in that case the residence permit is issued straight away for up to three years.
Gather documents: apostilled criminal record certificates, proof of income, health insurance, sworn translations into Spanish.
Arrive and rent a home. Short-term rental is more convenient for the first months: a long-term lease is easier to sign once you have the residence permit decision. How to look for a flat is in the article how to rent a flat in Spain.
Register with the municipality — empadronamiento (municipal registration). Without it you cannot enrol a child in school or register with a doctor.
Give fingerprints and collect your residence card (TIE) at the police station.
Sort out healthcare. Employees and autónomos (self-employed) register with the Seguridad Social (Spanish social security) and get a SIP card from the Valencian health system. The non-working residence permit requires private insurance from a Spanish company — which policy works and what it costs.
Open a bank account, enrol the children in school, sort out taxes. Once you have lived in Spain for more than 183 days in a year you become a tax resident — taxes in Spain for individuals.

Where to live: Alicante and the coastal towns

Alicante is the provincial capital and the centre of its metropolitan area, but people often move not to the city itself but to its neighbours: along the coast and the tram line, within half an hour’s travel, there are towns to suit every taste.

Population: INE at 1 January 2025; share of foreigners: INE annual census 2025. Terracotta marks Alicante: people most often move to the city itself or to the tram line around it.

Centro and Eixample — city life, shops, government offices, everything within walking distance; the flats are older and parking is difficult.
Playa de San Juan and Cabo de las Huertas — a Blue Flag beach, modern buildings, popular with families and foreigners; crowded in summer.
Albufereta — between the centre and San Juan, by the sea and on the tram line.
Benalúa and Carolinas — residential neighbourhoods near the centre, closer to everyday local life.
Torrevieja — south along the coast: Russian shops, doctors and services, but few jobs, and the town lives by the tourist season. More in the article Torrevieja.
Elche — the second city of the province, jobs in industry and services, the airport nearby — guide to Elche.

Russian speakers in Alicante

According to the INE annual census, at 1 January 2025 the province of Alicante was home to 22,979 Russian citizens and 32,831 Ukrainian citizens — more than any other province in Spain. There are 497,387 foreigners in the province, almost one resident in four. Alicante itself has 4,068 Russians and 7,019 Ukrainians, and Torrevieja 5,343 and 8,191 — there foreigners make up almost half the population. The coast has Russian-speaking doctors, lawyers, children’s clubs and Russian-language centres for children. How the community is spread across the country is covered in the article Russians in Spain.

Cost of living in Alicante

Buying a home. According to Idealista, in July 2026 a flat in the city of Alicante cost on average €2,705/m² — an all-time high, up 6.6% year on year. For comparison: Valencia in August stood at €3,469/m² and the Spanish average at €2,924/m².
Rent. In August 2026 rents in the city of Alicante were up 7.3% year on year, against a Spanish average of 5.8%, to €15.1/m². Good flats by the sea are snapped up quickly, especially before the school year.
Tourist lets. Since January 2025 Alicante has had a moratorium on new tourist flats, and since August 2024 the Valencian Community has had strict registration rules for such accommodation (Decreto-ley 9/2024). If you are buying a flat to let by the night, check this before the purchase.
Rent control. No stressed rental market areas with price caps have been declared in the Valencian Community for 2026, so landlords set the rent for new leases themselves.
Minimum budget. The residence permit requirements give a benchmark: for living without working, from €2,400 a month for one person; for the digital nomad visa, from €2,849.

You can compare Alicante with other cities on rent and income in the ranking of Spanish cities and on the relocation map.

Taxes in Alicante and the Valencian Community

Alicante is part of the Valencian Community, so the regional part of income tax, the tax on buying a home and inheritance tax are Valencian here.

IRPF. The regional scale for 2026 runs from 8.80% to 29.35%; it was lowered by Law 5/2026 retroactively from 1 January. The Spain-wide part of the tax is added on top.
Deduction for renting your main home — 20% of the rent, up to €800 a year; for certain categories of tenants, higher rates of 25% and 30%, up to €950 and €1,100. The condition is income up to €30,000 (up to €47,000 for a joint return).
Deduction for moving for work to a municipality more than 50 km away — a further 10% of the rent, up to €224 a year.
Deductions for children — for a birth or adoption from 1 June 2025, €600 to €900; for nursery school, 15% of costs, up to €297 a year.
Tax on buying a resale home (ITP) — 9% from 1 June 2026, and 11% for homes over €1 million. New builds pay IVA instead, plus 1.4% stamp duty (AJD).
Inheritance and gifts between spouses, children and parents — a 99% reduction since 2023; the wealth tax threshold from 2026 is €2 million.

You can work for yourself by registering as an autónomo — step-by-step guide. Taxes when buying are covered in the article property taxes in Spain.

Schools and the Valencian language

Valencian at school. Under the language law, the city of Alicante belongs to the Valencian-speaking area, so a child cannot be exempted from the subject on the basis of place of residence. In Torrevieja and Orihuela, which are classed as Spanish-speaking areas, parents can choose schooling without Valencian (Law 1/2024 on freedom of education). For children arriving from abroad, the conditions are clarified with the school and the education department.
State schools are free, with teaching in Spanish and Valencian and English from primary school.
International schools — King’s College Alicante, Newton College in Elche, El Limonar in Villamartín, the French lycée in El Campello, the Norwegian school in L’Alfàs del Pi; on the northern coast, Elian’s in La Nucía and Lady Elizabeth School.
The University of Alicante — in San Vicente del Raspeig, with 25,076 students in the 2026/27 academic year.
Russian for your child — at Russian-language centres and Saturday schools on the coast; more in Russian schools in Spain.

Healthcare, transport and work

Hospitals. The main public one is the Dr Balmis University General Hospital in central Alicante; the second large one is Sant Joan d’Alacant University Hospital. The coast has many private clinics, including some with Russian-speaking doctors.
Alicante-Elche Airport handled 19.95 million passengers in 2025, 8.5% more than a year earlier. Direct flights within Spain and to dozens of European cities.
The TRAM d’Alacant — 6 lines and 71 stops: to El Campello, Benidorm and on to Dénia. High-speed trains run from Alicante to Madrid, and regular trains to Valencia.
Work. Besides tourism and services, Alicante is home to the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), a major international employer, and the university. But salaries on the coast are lower than in Madrid and Barcelona, so remote workers have it easier than those looking for a job locally.

Downsides of living in Alicante

Hot, humid summers. The average August temperature is 26 °C, the nights are muggy and it is hard going without air conditioning.
Housing is getting expensive fast — both purchase prices and rents are rising 6–7% a year, and in season flats by the sea go to tourists.
Valencian at school — an extra load for a child who is only just learning Spanish.
Work — mainly tourism, services and construction, with salaries below those in the capital.
Appointments with government offices — in a province with half a million foreigners, free slots for fingerprints and at the immigration office are taken quickly.

Alicante or Valencia

Both cities are in the Valencian Community, so taxes and residence permits are the same. Valencia is Spain’s third city: more jobs, a bigger market and more cultural life, but housing is more expensive — €3,469/m² against €2,705/m² in Alicante. Alicante is smaller, drier and sunnier, with beaches right in the city, and the Russian-speaking community around it is the largest in the country. For a remote worker or a family that values the sea and the community, Alicante is usually the better fit; for someone looking for a job locally, Valencia. The second option is covered in detail in the article moving to Valencia. The city itself, its beaches, climate and sights are described in the guide Alicante.

Frequently asked questions about moving to Alicante

Can I move to live in Alicante?

Yes. People move here on the usual Spanish residence permit routes: the digital nomad visa, the non-working residence permit, work, study or family. Applications go to the immigration office of the province of Alicante.

Which residence permit is best for living in Alicante?

For remote workers, the digital nomad visa with income from €2,849 a month. For those living on savings or passive income, the non-working residence permit: from €2,400 a month for the applicant and €600 for each family member.

How many Russians live in Alicante?

At 1 January 2025 the province of Alicante was home to 22,979 Russian citizens and 32,831 Ukrainian citizens — more than any other province. The city itself has 4,068 Russians, and Torrevieja 5,343.

How much does a flat in Alicante cost?

In July 2026 the average housing price in the city of Alicante was €2,705 per square metre, 6.6% more than a year earlier. That is cheaper than Valencia (€3,469/m²) and the Spanish average (€2,924/m²).

Where is it best for Russians to live in the province of Alicante?

In Alicante itself if you need jobs, the university and hospitals; in Torrevieja if a Russian-speaking community matters, though there are fewer jobs there; in Elche if you want a big city that is not a resort; in El Campello and San Juan if you want somewhere quieter by the sea.

Does a child have to learn Valencian at school in Alicante?

Yes. The city of Alicante belongs to the Valencian-speaking area, and exemption from the subject on the basis of place of residence is not possible. In Torrevieja and Orihuela parents can choose schooling without Valencian.

What taxes apply in Alicante?

The taxes of the Valencian Community apply: a regional IRPF scale for 2026 from 8.80% to 29.35%, deductions for renting a home and for children, and a 9% tax on buying a resale home from 1 June 2026.

Which is better to live in: Alicante or Valencia?

Alicante is smaller, sunnier and cheaper — housing at about €2,705/m² against €3,469/m² in Valencia — and its Russian-speaking community is the largest in the country. Valencia offers more jobs and more city life. Taxes and residence permits are the same in both cities.

How we can help you move to Alicante

We choose the residence permit route to fit your income and family, prepare and submit the documents, and support you through to the residence card and autónomo registration. The most common options for the coast are the turnkey digital nomad residence permit and the non-working residence permit.

We can also help you find a home in Alicante and on the Costa Blanca, to rent or to buy: we work with vetted estate agencies and mortgage brokers and check the contract and documents before you sign. See property search in Spain.