Hello everyone- it's been a long time since I last posted, but have got a question I was wondering if anyone could answer.

After finally getting an appointment in the 'estranjeria' in Huelva to get a copy of my residency card (I made the appoinment in September and was given a date for the end of January- the queues must be long in Huelva), I've got the card! And after all the waiting it only took about an hour to sort it out! Yay!

The only problem is that the new format, although much handier to carry around, is a bit flimsy. I forgot to ask the man at the desk, but does anyone know if you're allowed to laminate an official document?

The other day when I was asked to show the card in the phone shop, I was asked by the saleswoman if I'd made it myself?!?

Never had a problem with my old card when I laminated it, have done others for friends with no problem.

No problem if it is the original.

Some people used to get the form photo-reduced and laminated that. That's not strictly legal as it is not the original.

The most recent version I have seen is credit card sized and is already laminated.

Thanks for the replies.

The new card has plastic on the back but is still paper thin. I could get it its own wallet but wanted it to fit in my wallet. I think I'll laminate it anyway; I just don't want to have to make another appointment!!!

we got our residencia last year so it is the a4 sized sheet of paper, do we need to get one of the new ones or are we ok with the ones we have, although we carry photo copies around with car details do not carry the original.

Not every office is issuing the new ones yet. You could get a new one but it will cost you another €10.

Photocopies are "probably " OK as you are very unlikely to be asked to produce it.

What I have done is get a smaller copy authorised and stamped at the town hall and carry that. The A4 sheet also includes a copy of my driving licence and passport on the same page. That way the originals can stay at home.

got mine a couple of weeks ago, and yes it is flimsy but with the shiny surface on the reverse. from all the postings and conversations was expecting an A4 letter like the BH got 3y ago - but she is now fuming at not having the new format.
the card does say on the back in bold print that it isnt an identity card
I considered laminating but the card is exactly the same size as a credit card so a cc sized laminate will be too small (just) so it would need to be done in an A5 or A4 and cut down.
Found a slip in plastic thingy from a visitors badge from a company a couple of years ago and that seems to work fine.

as to appointment - you got a rough deal.
I walked into the Extranjeria building in Granada and was given an EX18 form which is on the internet and is what is used to give you an NIE
Also was given a formal Ministerio Del Interior form that I couldnt find on the net. These had to be filled in (best done off site).
Went back the following week, small queue to get a ticket then a 30min wait to see an English speaking chap at the desk. He issued me with an NIE "for life" hand written on to the EX18, but couldnt get the other form completed without the allocated NIE as the bank cannot take the payment of €10.20 without the NIE being allocated. That was a doddle with the bank doing it in about half a minute.
Went back the following week with the second form filled in and bank stamped and after a wait of 50mins was infront of another English speaking chap. He issued the full NIE card.
Went off to the Ministerio de Trabajo E Inmigracion where there was a large queue but the receptionist was very proud of her English, having lived for a year or so in Wimbledon. When she finished her stint she collected me and personally issued me with a Social Security number. Total wait time about 20mins.
Decided to register my S1 with the INSS, so walked in to their local Granada office just before lunch time closing, got an English speaking lady who was very happy to help me, took all my information, forms, copied them without demanding I do it, and sent me away fully registered. The transaction was completed 5 days later by a letter arriving confirming that I am now registered with them .

Now fully legally "for life" registered in Spain.
As I travel by bus to get into the big city that means I had a total of about 5-6 hours getting all this done over 3 days, was able to have lunch with the BH whilst there.

You were certainly lucky, Domino.

I too went to the estranjeria in September to queue but when I got to information desk I was told to return home and make an appointment on the website. You have to send an email saying what you want the appointment for (I just wanted a copy of my residencia form) and a couple of hours later I got an email telling me to return at the end of January.

I must admit, I felt like going back to Huelva to see if I could speak to someone face to face but memories of the awful queues and arguments that were taking place made me think twice- it would be a pain but I could get by until January.

Once I had the appointment everything went smoothly- I was told my residency had run out in 2008 (whoops) and that I was registered in the wrong place (I'm not, they just don't have a record of it) but the man said it wasn't a problem and gave me the forms to fill in (I couldn't use the ones I had downloaded) and off I went to the bank to pay the €10. I returned 5 minutes later (luck would have it that that day there were no queues in the bank), I was allowed to jump the queue and hand over the forms. Card printed off, a little chat about the cold weather, shared a joke with the staff about a colleague of theirs that was off to UK and then I left.

Apart from the long wait to get the appointment, I was surprised at how quick it all was, considering the shambles that is the Huelva estranjeria. I'm just glad I didn't have to wait in the non-EU queue- that certainly wasn't moving.

Well Arko, it did work out better for me than forecast by the BH, who was registering as a new employee of a multi-national and was accompanied by the HR Officer.
But they moved it from the back room of a police station to a building near the prison, not far from the Trafico.

The building seems to be well laid out, there are about 24 desks, each numbered, the EU section is in the first 6. The Extranjeria reception is rotated every couple of hours, partly because of the cold blowing in the doors which are continually in use, partly to reduce pressures from guiri's shouting at them or getting hot about downloading the wrong form from the net and having to start all over again.
You get a ticket in a letter series dependent on where you are from, why you are there. Some of the letter series I saw seemed to have over 50 waiting, but there were never that many there in total.
There are also the "breeze thru's" who are accompanied by a member of the college or school there are there attending.

The BH was quite worried that I wouldnt blow up one way or another, but it seemed very well organised, relatively clean, including the toilets, with 2 police officers and an xray machine and walk-thru scanner.
To be honest, I was impressed at the way all of the departments I visited were organised, the staff were polite, informative and made efforts to converse even if there wasnt a common language, which only happened once when I tried to register my S1 with the Work people. The lady in INSS copied my S1 for me without charge with their stamp on it.

I went to the local Dr's and met with a little bit of language resistance but an English speaking patient helped out. Their form was a doddle and I am now awaiting the on-line registration details. They even fotocopied the form for me with their stamp on as an interim.

Even found there was a bar just across the road from the NIE office which didnt charge as much as the one further down the road, and they did a nice mixto sarnie.

Sounds to me like your office has a self-imposed "quota", probably variable, to ensure they don't do too much work in a day, just enough to stay in a job.

Granada is obviously pretty good from your experiences but the office in Motril is even better, just walk in, give them the completed form and then off to the bank with the form they give you.

Back 10 minutes later and pick up the certificate.

Why can't they all be like that?

well after reading all the gloom and doom statements on here Fred, I was expecting far far worse. Have also had G&D from others who have been through the mill.
I probably could have cut down the time between visits, but decided to make a once a week visit to town, combining my morning activities with a lunch with BH and one of her work colleagues.
Its the filling in the forms that I felt had to be checked on translation just to make sure I had ticked the right boxes.

but its all done and now I have an NIE "for life".

Were you making your new registration to get the green card in Huelva or Granada?

Sorry for the late reply; I went to get my green card in Huelva, which is the nearest city to me.

Are you a European citizen? We went to Huelva in November to get our Certificates of residency and just got the green A4 sheet. It took an age to get the appointment but when we turned up it all went smoothly.

The new card version is being introduced on rather a random basis - it depends where you go and whether they have implemented it yet.