How to get your N.I.E. in Spain

What is it?

The N.I.E. (número de identidad extranjero) is a magical piece of paper which holds the key to getting every other document you need for your life in Spain. It is the equivalent of your National Insurance number and the Spanish D.N.I. (identity card) number rolled into one.  This number is the absolute basic that you need, whether EU or not, in order to live here.

It comes as a little card-sized piece of paper like this:

Why do I need it?

It is needed to:

• Open a bank account
• Pay taxes
• Be paid for employment
• Apply for a social security number and/or being self-employed
• Register with local services: empadronamiento from the town hall and get assigned to a doctor
• Even simple things like picking up a letter/parcel from the post office…

Where do I get one?
You need to go to your local national police station (comisaría), which tend to be in the capital cities of the province and some in other main towns or cities in the region. Click here to search for your nearest one. If you can avoid the capital of the province, do so as they tend to have lots of people waiting and not be very quick. Remember that they are only open 9am-2pm, so factor-in getting there at around 8.30am or before as people tend to start queueing at the big ones at 7am.

What do I need to get one?

• You need to fill in the EX15 form in Spanish – some offices ask for a carbon copy (Costa Blanca) so you will need the form (impreso) beforehand
• You need to pay for the application (tasa) which looks like this – you normally cannot fill it in beforehand as it comes as a carbon copy with three pages (one for you, one for them and one for the bank) and has to be stamped by the bank. For help to fill it out (in Spanish and English) click here
• Original passport and a copy (take two to be on the safe side)
• Two passport photographs (I didn’t need them, but to be on the safe side it is better to take them)

For help in English look here (San Francisco website but it’s the same form for everyone).

How long will it take?
Some places will issue it on the spot (Madrid, for example), but most will issue you with an appointment to come back to pick it up at a later date. The maximum is within three weeks, though most turn it around in under a week.

Do you have any tips?
If you can take more than one person along, do so. At the big comisarías you might need to queue more than once, so have some wait in the queue whilst you go inside to be seen if you want to try and get the application through in the same day.

Make sure you pay the exact tasa… This electronic form says 9,36€ for Barcelona but I paid 10,50€ in Málaga, so check before you go as if they give you the wrong amount, you will have to go back to the bank again to pay the money that’s owed before the application can be taken any further. It has been known to happen on more than one occasion. I was given my residence certificate straight away (which has my N.I.E. on it), so that might be why it was slightly more expensive.

If they can issue you your residence certificate (certificado de registro de ciudadano de la Unión) at the same time, all the better. They usually ask for evidence of your employment, so if you haven’t got this yet, just get your N.I.E. and go back another day for the residence certificate. More information can be found here. And this is what it looks like:

Have you had any bad experiences?
Personally speaking, getting my N.I.E. from Málaga’s extranjería is something that has been ingrained on my mind. I arrived at 8.20am (it opens at 9am) and I was already number 30 in the queue. People are very protective of where they are in the queue and there was more than one argument about who was in front of who. After 2 hours of queueing I was seen. There are no seats, no water machines and no toilets in the Málaga one, so be prepared to stand for ages and take water with you, especially in summer as it isn’t air conditioned. When I was seen I thankfully had all of the required documents, but be prepared for them to say something is missing… they are not very friendly there, but they are used to having people trying to fob them off or lying about their application, and they’ve just taken a pay-cut, so don’t expect too much courtesy from them either.
Once I showed them my documents, the lady filled out a form to say how much I have to pay (tasa) and I left the building, left the even bigger queue that had now formed to pay the tasa at the bank around the back (they don’t deal with cash). This is where it’s a two man job. If you can leave a friend in the queue outside, you can come back and not have to wait as long when you leave to pay at the bank. Málaga doesn’t let you hold a place for someone else once you are inside the building. Make sure that the amount you pay is exactly the right amount else you will have to go back again. Usually if you are in the queue at 2pm and haven’t been seen, they give you an appointment for 9am the next day, but their mindset is “y mañana más” (and more tomorrow).