Hi Lionda

Sorry to be a pain but when you say 'verified' I'm assuming I just get the doc to stamp and sign it? Ot are there any particular words he needs to add?

Regards

Hi sorry me again, I was wondering the same thing, also you think a teacher can verify the passport???? May seem a silly question but can't get to a lawyers.

Sall

When I phoned the Spanish Consulate I was informed a doctor or solicitor was needed to verify the passport. I was quoted £20 at my doctors and only £5 by a solicitor, but as the solicitor knew me through previous conveyancing work he waived the fee. The solicitor photocopied the passport and put his office stamp and signature on the photocopy. No words need to be added, just an office stamp and signature. Maybe a teacher could do it but I wouldn't like to say.

Thanks for this, I guess the signature/stamp says that it's a valid copy. Thanks again.

You are welcome, ask away if there is anything else you aren't sure about. Good Luck

OK so an update re our situation, which may prove useful to others.

We are applying from our UK address but are in Spain at the mo. We got the passport copy stamped and signed by the GP we use in Spain and filled in the forms (although not sure if they've changed or not but there were some extra bits, like an email address box and a fiscal year to be entered). Many thanks Lionda

So off we trot to the BBVA bank to ingresar the payment which is 3.58 now. I have paid into people's accounts here many times, normally you give the account details, copy of your passport to record who's paid it and a 'concepto' which is how the payment is identified. However, the guy at the bank tells us that the payment is in fact a tax, so he needs to do it differently. He asked for my daughter's NIF but we said no NIF, it has to be done with the passport number, so he tried it and was able to use that. Then he ran all three pages through his printer, and they got printed with the payment details. He then stamped all three forms, and kept one for himself - it was the one with the big blank bit in the middle. He says we have to keep one copy and sent the other to Madrid. I also think he thinks he has confirmed the passport. Obviously I am not convinced he knows what he is doing (lovely and helpful as he was anyone who has suffered the departmental attitude and the bureaucracy in Spain will know what I'm on about). I'm desperately hoping he's right but am taking no chances and sending both of the remaining copies and the copy passport to Madrid Certificado after scanning them in. If the worst comes to the worst I'll make a further payment next week and get another set of forms and send them off. We have very tight timescales to sort this out so I'm a bit stressed. Will update with any news as and when.

If he sent a copy off to Madrid then hopefully that is all that is needed and you should hear back soon It took only a week for us and we are in England. We sent all three copies to Madrid but maybe it is done differently when done in Spain rather than out of the country.

OK, I have no idea why our experience is different, maybe things have changed recently? Anyway thank goodness for email and what appears to be an efficient Spanish office

My daughter had put her email address on the form and on Saturday we got an email saying the passport copy was not valid as it was not correctly authorised (in Spanish but very clear). She responded saying why not, as it was authorised by a doctor. They replied (I was amazed - I don't want to be rude, but I was very impressed at a Spanish official agency, working on a Saturday, in August and replying to emails!) and said that if we looked at their website, they did not say they accepted a doctor's authorisation. Sure enough we checked (should have done before, I know!) and no mention of a doctor. Fortunately we are still in Spain, so we decided to go for the safest option and she has just been to the notary (only 6 euros for this and 3.58 for the paper but what a hassle!). The good news is the email said she just needs to send this copy and they don't need another set of paperwork, so it's just another trip to the PO to send it certificado.

I'll update this thread with what happens as it may help someone in the future.

Looks like you wil have the certificate soon We used a solicitor to validate my husbands passport. Yes, please do update with your experience as this thread has drawn a lot of interest so your experience will also be of benefit to others

Well, we emailed the office to check that they received the newly notarised copy passport, which they had, they told us we could expect the paper through shortly and sure enough it arrived in a few days.

I suppose the best advice I could give would be to check the website re what is currently acceptable, as it seems to change, and ensure you put an email address on the application as they are very good at using this for communication.

Sue

Thanks for the update Sue, glad it all worked out well in the end

Hi Lionda,,

I live in the UK now but previously lived in Spain. I really need help with my crb..
If I have an NIE then why do I leave the NIF section blank on the 790 form. From my understanding they are the same.
Please reply ASAP .
Regards

As I understand it the NIF is for Spanish nationals and the NIE is for us foreigners.

What Lionda says re NIE/NIF foreigner/national is I think true, but my daughter had neither and we just used her passport number which worked fine. Also I don't know how current your NIE is, they have changed over the years. But certainly Madrid were able to issue a CRB just based on passport number. Hope this helps.

I have found on various Spanish forms that they use the NIE/NIF on an interchangeable basis as the difference is identified by the first letter in the sequence. I have used mine on several occasions without any problems.