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If your visitors stay in your home rather than a hotel, Spain has a document with your name on it: the carta de invitación (invitation letter). It is the host’s side of the border, the official proof of where your guest will sleep, and it is issued not by a website but by the Policía Nacional, on paper, after an appointment, for a fee. Most residents have never heard of it until a border officer asks their mother-in-law where she is staying.
This guide covers what it is, who actually needs it, and the honest version of how often it matters. General information, current as of July 2026.
What it is
The carta de invitación is an official document in which a resident host formally vouches for a visitor’s accommodation during a short stay (up to 90 days). Its current legal basis is Real Decreto 1155/2024, the immigration regulation in force since May 2025, together with Orden PRE/1283/2007, which sets the letter’s terms. If a website cites Real Decreto 557/2011, it is quoting the previous, repealed regulation; treat the rest of its advice accordingly.
The obligation it addresses is real and general: any non-EU visitor can be asked at the border to show proof of accommodation for their stay. A hotel booking answers that question. “I’m staying with my son in Estepona” does not, on its own; the carta is the formal way to make it answer.
Who applies, and how
The host applies, not the guest. You qualify if you are a Spanish citizen, an EU national, or a foreigner with legal residence in Spain. The process runs through the Policía Nacional comisaría covering your home:
- Appointment first. Book a cita previa at your comisaría. The wait for the appointment itself ranges from a week to three months depending on the office.
- One application per guest, with the official form, your ID or NIE, and proof of your home: the deed, or a rental contract with a recent receipt.
- The fee is paid in advance via tax form modelo 790 (code 012); budget roughly €75 to €82 in total per letter.
- Processing takes 15 to 30 working days after the appointment. Add the appointment wait, and the realistic total is six to sixteen weeks.
The practical consequence sits in that last number: if your guests come every autumn, the carta is a July or August job, not a September one. Plan a full quarter ahead.
What you sign up for
The letter is not a formality in one respect: the host formally commits to covering the guest’s accommodation for the whole stay, and the application asks you to show the means to do it. You are not guaranteeing their behaviour or their exit, but you are putting your name, your address, and your solvency behind their visit. Worth knowing before you offer to “sort the paperwork” for a friend of a friend.
How often it actually matters
Honestly: most visitors are never asked. Hotel-stayers essentially never are. The document matters most for visa-required nationalities, where it forms part of the visa application itself; for visa-exempt visitors (British, American, Canadian and similar), it is one of several ways to answer an officer’s question about accommodation, and the question itself is asked at the officer’s discretion.
What has changed with the Entry/Exit System is legibility, not the law. Since April 2026 every non-EU visitor’s entries, exits, and stated purpose sit in a biometric record, and repeat private-stay visitors are easier for an officer to notice and ask about. Claims that carta checks are rising sharply under EES circulate on advisory sites without official data behind them; we could not verify a trend and will not assert one. The fair summary: the odds of being asked are low, the cost of being unable to answer is an entry refusal at the officer’s discretion, and the fix costs €80 and a quarter’s notice.
Alternatives that also answer the question
The carta is the formal instrument, not the only evidence. A guest can also carry a signed letter from you with a copy of your escritura or rental contract and your ID, evidence of funds for the stay, and a return ticket. This informal package has no legal standing, but in practice it answers the same question the officer is asking. The carta is the version that cannot be argued with.
Related guides
- EES in Spain: What the Entry/Exit System Means for Residents’ Visitors
- The Schengen 90-Day Rule, Explained with Worked Examples
- EES at Málaga Airport: Terminal Layout, Timing, and Pickups
General information, current as of July 2026. Primary source: Sede Electrónica de la Policía Nacional (procedure 994254), Real Decreto 1155/2024, Orden PRE/1283/2007. Fees and waits vary by comisaría; confirm locally before relying on dates.
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