Your Household Goods Come In Free, If You Owned Them Six Months and Lived Away Twelve
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Nicaragua on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.
91 exceptions recorded across 34 countries · none match Nicaragua to Spain · Bringing your belongings
What a person brings when they move to Spain is governed by a Union regulation, not by Spanish law. Personal property imported by someone transferring their normal residence from a third country to the customs territory enters free of import duties, subject to four conditions that do the real work: the goods must have been owned - and, if durable, used - at the old residence for at least six months; they must be for the same use at the new one; the person must have lived outside the customs territory for a continuous twelve months; and the goods must be entered for free circulation within twelve months of the move. Alcohol, tobacco, commercial vehicles and the tools of a trade other than portable instruments get no relief at all.
At a glance
- Import duty on your household goods
- None, if the conditions are met
- How long you must have owned them
- Six months before you stopped living there
Article 4(a), except in special cases justified by the circumstances.
- How long you must have lived abroad
- A continuous 12 months
Article 5(1), with an exception in 5(2) where the intention to stay 12 months was clear.
- Deadline to bring them in
- 12 months from establishing residence here
Article 7(1), except in special cases.
- A private car
- Covered - it is named as personal property
- No relief at all
- Alcohol, tobacco, commercial means of transport, and trade equipment
Article 6, which excepts portable instruments of the applied or liberal arts.
Requirements
- Transfer of your normal place of residence from a third country to the customs territory
- Possession of the goods, and use of the durable ones, at the former residence for at least six months
- The same intended use at the new residence
- Normal residence outside the customs territory for a continuous period of at least twelve months
- Entry for free circulation within twelve months of establishing the new residence
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of Nicaragua
We have no rule recorded that treats your citizenship differently here, so the general rule above is the one that applies to you. That is an answer, not a gap.
What the law says
«Subject to Articles 4 to 11, personal property imported by natural persons transferring their normal place of residence from a third country to the customs territory of the Community shall be admitted free of import duties.»The relief itself, in one sentence, and everything that limits it is in the articles it names.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Union's legal database. Publishes each act as adopted in the Official Journal and, separately, a consolidated version carrying every amendment to a stated date, identified as 0YYYYRNNNN-YYYYMMDD. The consolidated text marks each amended passage with the instrument that changed it.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A consolidated text is explicitly not authentic - EUR-Lex says so on the document - and only the Official Journal version has legal force. It also says nothing about how any member state applies the act: a regulation is directly applicable but the border practice, the evidence an officer may ask for and the national exceptions are in national law, which is published elsewhere.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«The relief shall be limited to personal property which: (a) except in special cases justified by the circumstances, has been in the possession of and, in the case of non-consumable goods, used by the person concerned at his former normal place of residence for a minimum of six months before the date on which he ceases to have his normal place of residence in the third country of departure; (b) is intended to be used for the same purpose at his new normal place of residence. In addition, Member States may make relief conditional upon such property having borne, either in the country of origin or in the country of departure, the customs and/or fiscal charges to which it is normally liable.»The six months of ownership and the same-use condition, plus a power for member states to require that the goods bore the duties they were liable to at home.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Union's legal database. Publishes each act as adopted in the Official Journal and, separately, a consolidated version carrying every amendment to a stated date, identified as 0YYYYRNNNN-YYYYMMDD. The consolidated text marks each amended passage with the instrument that changed it.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A consolidated text is explicitly not authentic - EUR-Lex says so on the document - and only the Official Journal version has legal force. It also says nothing about how any member state applies the act: a regulation is directly applicable but the border practice, the evidence an officer may ask for and the national exceptions are in national law, which is published elsewhere.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«Relief may be granted only to persons whose normal place of residence has been outside the customs territory of the Community for a continuous period of at least 12 months.»The twelve months abroad, and the discretion to waive them where the intention was clear.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Union's legal database. Publishes each act as adopted in the Official Journal and, separately, a consolidated version carrying every amendment to a stated date, identified as 0YYYYRNNNN-YYYYMMDD. The consolidated text marks each amended passage with the instrument that changed it.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A consolidated text is explicitly not authentic - EUR-Lex says so on the document - and only the Official Journal version has legal force. It also says nothing about how any member state applies the act: a regulation is directly applicable but the border practice, the evidence an officer may ask for and the national exceptions are in national law, which is published elsewhere.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«No relief shall be granted for: (a) alcoholic products; (b) tobacco or tobacco products; (c) commercial means of transport; (d) articles for use in the exercise of a trade or profession, other than portable instruments of the applied or liberal arts.»The four exclusions. The last one is the trap for anyone moving a workshop or a professional kit.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Union's legal database. Publishes each act as adopted in the Official Journal and, separately, a consolidated version carrying every amendment to a stated date, identified as 0YYYYRNNNN-YYYYMMDD. The consolidated text marks each amended passage with the instrument that changed it.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A consolidated text is explicitly not authentic - EUR-Lex says so on the document - and only the Official Journal version has legal force. It also says nothing about how any member state applies the act: a regulation is directly applicable but the border practice, the evidence an officer may ask for and the national exceptions are in national law, which is published elsewhere.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«Except in special cases, relief shall be granted only in respect of personal property entered for free circulation within 12 months from the date of establishment, by the person concerned, of his normal place of residence in the customs territory of the Community.»The twelve-month deadline from the move, which runs forward rather than back.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Union's legal database. Publishes each act as adopted in the Official Journal and, separately, a consolidated version carrying every amendment to a stated date, identified as 0YYYYRNNNN-YYYYMMDD. The consolidated text marks each amended passage with the instrument that changed it.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A consolidated text is explicitly not authentic - EUR-Lex says so on the document - and only the Official Journal version has legal force. It also says nothing about how any member state applies the act: a regulation is directly applicable but the border practice, the evidence an officer may ask for and the national exceptions are in national law, which is published elsewhere.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
Practical notes
The regulation is directly applicable, so this is the answer for every member state and not only for Spain. What differs between them is the paperwork at the border, which is national and is not read here.
This record is about customs duty. Value added tax on a transfer of residence is a different relief in a different instrument, and nothing here reaches it.
The text read is the Regulation as adopted. Its consolidated versions were not available at the addresses tried, and the Official Journal PDF is set in two columns that cannot be quoted from.
- consolidatesCouncil Regulation (EC) No 1186/2009 setting up a Community system of reliefs from customs duty
EUR-Lex, Publications Office of the European Union
About this source
The Union's legal database. Publishes each act as adopted in the Official Journal and, separately, a consolidated version carrying every amendment to a stated date, identified as 0YYYYRNNNN-YYYYMMDD. The consolidated text marks each amended passage with the instrument that changed it.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A consolidated text is explicitly not authentic - EUR-Lex says so on the document - and only the Official Journal version has legal force. It also says nothing about how any member state applies the act: a regulation is directly applicable but the border practice, the evidence an officer may ask for and the national exceptions are in national law, which is published elsewhere.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source