I need a disabled parking badge or to register as disabled
Disabled parking badges showing the name of the holder which have been issued by another EU country can be used in Spain until they expire. This does not now include badges issued in the UK. It has not been officially confirmed yet if badges issued in the UK will continue to be accepted throughout Spain now Britain has left the EU. Please see latest information and guidance from the UK government on this link. In this situation, advice also includes asking locally at the local town hall or tourist office in the area where you will be parking to find out if your UK-issued card will be accepted or not in that municipality.
Applying for a badge if you are resident in Spain
If you are resident in Spain, to apply for a Spanish-issued card, this service is handled by each of Spain’s regional devolved governments’ Equality and Social Policies departments. The same conditions apply across Spain and certifications are transferable across the regions.
Note: this can be a long process, typically many months. If you already have a parking badge, approach your local town hall’s foreign residents or social services department to find out what the current waiting time is especially if the badge will expire in two years’ time or less. Waiting until the last moment will almost certainly leave you without a valid badge.
Certifying degree of disability (needed before applying for your parking badge)
An applicant will first need to fill in a form and attend a medical and/or psychological assessment to evaluate the degree of incapacity that they have, (if they have not done so already for other benefits or services). (This is the same process as when applying for certain benefits and extra support, such as under national dependency law (Ley de Dependencia)).
An applicant must have a basic certified level of disability (normally minimum 33%) and then meet a series of criteria, such as difficulty moving which would prevent them taking public transport easily and/or a serious sight impediment, to go on to successfully apply for a parking badge. Each case is treated individually based on expert opinion.
The layout of the form for a disability assessment varies according to the region of Spain you are in, although it is broadly the same process. Below are links to extra information from each of the region’s in Spain with the highest number of UK nationals as resident.
Andalucía’s (including Costa del Sol, Costa Tropical and Almeria) is available (in Spanish) by clicking here
Balearic Islands information (in Spanish) is available by clicking here
Canary Islands information (in Spanish) is available by clicking here
Catalunya information is available by clicking here
Comunidad Valenciana, (Valencian Region; covering Alicante, Castellón and Valencia Provinces), information (in Spanish) is available by clicking here
Murcia Region information is available by clicking here
Help is available locally if needed in completing these forms. Please see “A PRACTICAL HINT” further down this page.
The form/s should be completed and submitted with a medical report, doctor’s/psychologist’s notes going back at least six months or detailed doctor’s letter (translated if it is not in Spanish), stating the nature of the disability and, in the case of needing a parking permit, the degree and nature of impaired mobility.
This can be submitted in the public registry (registro público) of your local town hall and the papers will be sent to the regional government’s offices in the capital of each province (depending on where you live) or they can be submitted in person to the office that coordinates the applications*. These are called evaluation centres or officially, “Centro de Valoración”.
(*In addition, by consulting the links above for the region in which you live, you may find that an application can be submitted directly online as an alternative. Any online option will usually require you (or in some regions a person acting on your behalf instead) to have an e-signature digital certificate, and if you do not speak Spanish, the help of another person. See also “A PRACTICAL HINT” further down this page).
Regional government’s evaluation centres (Centros de Valoración).
The addresses for these in Andalucía can be seen by clicking on this link and scrolling down a little, https://www.juntadeandalucia.es/organismos/igualdadpoliticassocialesyconciliacion/areas/discapacidad/cvo.html
For the Balearic Islands:
Mallorca: Carrer de Joan Crespí 11, 07014, Palma (appt. generally needed). T: 971 17 89 91
Menorca: Av. Vives Llull 42, 07703, Mahón (no appt. needed). T: 971 17 60 31
Ibiza: Carrer d’Abad i La Sierra 47, 07800, Ibiza (no appt. needed). T: 971 17 71 42
For the Canary Islands, the two provincial centres are as follows, although individual islands also have local, sub centres:-
Centro de Valoración de la Discapacidad en Gran Canaria, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Calle Paseo Tomás Morales, 122,35004 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
Teléfono 928 45 07 31
Centro de Valoración de la Discapacidad en Tenerife, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Calle San Sebastián, 53 Edificio Príncipe Felipe,38071 Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
Teléfono 922 47 40 70
For Catalunya: The centres’ addresses can be found by clicking on this link. They can also provide guidance on disability issues in Catalunya.
For Comunidad Valenciana:
Alicante: C/ Vicente Chávarri, 52, 03007 Alicante Tel: 965938789
Castellón: Avda. Hermanos Bou, 81 12003 Castellón de la Plana Tel: 964 376426 / 964 376441
Valencia: C/ Sant Josep de Calassanç, 30, 46008 Valencia Tel: 963.989.550
For Murcia Region: The centres’ addresses can be found by clicking on this link.
For other parts of Spain, offices can relatively easily be looked up in an online search engine by entering “Centro de valoración de la discapacidad, (& name of your province or island)”.
A PRACTICAL HINT: The forms can also be given out at and then submitted via your local town hall and basic assistance can usually be given in completing the Spanish forms; by the town hall office attending to foreign residents (if the town hall has one); or by asking for an appointment with a town-hall-based social worker (trabajador social); or at the “registro público” desk. If none of these are available at the town hall, clicking here you can see the organisations that may be able to help with completing forms in Spanish.
Once an application has been correctly submitted, the applicant will then be contacted to attend an assessment at the relevant “Centro de Valoracion” centre in their own provincial or island capital. The whole process can take six months or longer.
Applying for a disabled parking badge
Once the degree of incapacity has been certified, the application for a disabled parking badge can be submitted. This process may also take a further six months or more.
For Andalucía, full information (in Spanish) is available by clicking here. And the form to be filled in by clicking here. For more information in Andalucía, contact your provincial centre or call the 24 hour Junta de Andalucía information line for disabilities: (0034) 900555564 (Spanish).
For the Balearic Islands, applications for the badges are normally only handled via the local town hall. Speak to the foreign residents officer at the council or, if there is none, ask for an appointment with a council social worker (trabajador social).
Fo the Canary Islands, full information on the process (in Spanish) is on this link including a “solicitud” link to download and print out the form. There is also an information line (in Spanish) available (0034) 928219030 (press option 5: “políticas sociales” (social policies)). This line is open 08:00 to 20:00 Monday to Friday. Or contact the provincial centre.
For Catalunya, the same process applies as the Balearic islands (see above).
For Comunidad Valenciana, the same process applies as the Balearic islands (see above).
For Murcia Region, the same process applies as the Balearic islands (see above).
There is also an option whereby a disabled parking badge can be issued on humanitarian grounds (‘razones humanitarias’) for one year (renewable) in the event of a severe illness or reduced lifespan, without the need to wait to have the level of incapacity certified. A health centre can normally advise on this and issue a certificate to use in the application.
A reminder that in all parts of Spain the initial documentation can also be submitted at your local town hall (“registro público” see above) and basic assistance may be given in completing the Spanish forms by an office attending to foreign residents (if the town hall has one), an appointment with a town-hall-based social worker (trabajador social) or at the “registro central” desk. If none of these are available clicking here you can see the organisations that may be able to help with completing forms in Spanish.
Note: All registered residents in Spain have the right to apply for the disabled badge but must have a residency identification, passport and must have a record that they are registered on the local census at their town hall (‘empadronado’). For details on how to do this, click here.
To renew a disabled parking badge issued in Spain: Normally this requires filling in the form again in the same process (without needing to certify degree of disability again).
(As background reading, for readers in the Canary Islands, this following link has a general explanation about assessment of disability and dependency law in a simplified Spanish that may be of interest. It may also be of interest to people elsewhere in Spain, as the basis of the law for discapacity is national.
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