lurchio

I am really looking forward to the reply. I have never seen such dubious guidelines.

TeamSpirit

Snikpoh, I think your response makes it all the more evident for the OP, and any other poor people trying to understand what to do, just how difficult it is to know exactly which procedure to follow as they differ so much from one area to another.

I have in your opinion evidently wasted my time trying to recount my experience, which is all I can offer as I'm not a professional in any of the fields involved, something I believe forum members generally are not - otherwise we'd not be here!!

The discrepancies from one area to another are also an important reason leading me to strongly recommended the OP to get proper professional help locally.

I asked the OP to check himself what the Govt website says as I haven't time to read it and although I haven't the time to counter all your comments either, I can say that mine is a true account of my experience, and the fact that it is done differently where you live doesn't make my experience (Seville) untrue. I'm still a spring chicken and far from losing my faculties.

There most certainly is such a thing as a tourist version of NIE, exactly as I explained it, and which was my valid status for several years. The number stays the same, but not the status. I did have to show my EHIC card to get it, etc, etc.

You are however correct that I referred to a NIE card when the ID-card is actually called a "tarjeta de residencia", whilst you only receive a stamped paper from the Extranjería police if you apply for a NIE as a tourist first. Most Spanish people ask me in Spanish for my "tarjeta de NIE" because they call their own ID "tarjeta DNI", so I've been used to thinking of it in this way, hence the wrong description.

1sexsmith

The problem is that people are talking about things that were never originally written or conceived in English. What is a tourist NIE for instance?The official forms and papers for all these things are in spanish. The people in these offices work in Spanish and refer to Spanish documents and procedures. Every time someone tries to translate something a little bit is lost hence all the perceived misunderstandings and differences. If you don't speak Spanish just go to an assessor or lawyer who does and let them arrange everything for you.

TeamSpirit

This is so true, I couldn't figure out what people were writing about or how to apply things when I first arrived because of the "implicit but unspoken" within these forums, as I now realise, meaning all the bits and pieces of knowledge and experience already gathered whilst living here, and which are no longer perceived as needing explicit explanation. But a complete newcomer isn't able to automatically piece those jigsaw pieces together. I'm afraid the Spanish philosopher Ortega y Gasset seems to have a point after all with his idea that verbal exchanges cause more confusion!
Okay, have to get hubby's tea now or Ortega y Gasset is going to be right again.

EsuriJohn

TeamSpirit

Hello EsuriJohn, I see you have a symbol like the NO-DO of Seville - is that a coincidence? I think you have a very valid point about the rapidly changing laws too, and actually probably valid for most areas of life where you might have to do with your local town hall or other such places. Talk about a personal twist: I remember our astonishment when we went to ask the local "arquitecto técnico" of a certain village to explain to us how to understand building permission in practise in the surrounding countryside. He then proceeded to tell us, as cool as a cucumber, exactly how to buy a local plot and build illegally in such a way that he would then certify it as legal after 5 years. We could see he really meant well, but we just couldn't conceive taking that route!

EsuriJohn

Fred James

TeamSpirit

EsuriJohn, that's very interesting, I'll read up on it, thank you.

TeamSpirit

I stand corrected then, Fred. I based my comment upon information I have read which stated that a lot of reforms, especially regarding tax/financial issues, make it very difficult to keep up as a lay person, but it seems that I have naively followed the advice of a dodgy website.
I'm sure it can't be easy trying to monitor forum content regarding a place where laws are so freely interpreted as is the case here in Spain.

Fred James

The tax rules do change frequently, as they do in most countries. The same applies to other financial rules such as IVA, fuel taxes etc. That is because these are not generally covered by EU laws and are decided (within limits) by individual member states. Things like residency rules are governed by EU directives. The current residency law was issued in 2007 and there has been one minor update since.

spainrico

Lots of good useful information here ¡Residencia! All your questions answered | Healthcare in Spain