jonpolley

Ok... I am so confused about the NIE.

Everything I read seems to be different, and the people I work with all give different answers too.

So... I have my NIE number, and I used this to sort out my Social security and SIP.

I got my number on the 2nd of January (I think.. or close enough) But I still do not have my card.
Which I need to get internet etc.

When I paid the fee at the bank I was given a recipt and counterfoil.

I returned to the police station to give them the counterfoil they didn't want it.

So do I need to send it somewhere? Or do I just wait to get my card/be told to collect it. Or do I just go and collect it?


Thanks

Rosemary

You will not have a card with your NIE number on it. Foreigners have a certificate not a card. If you work with Spanish people they have a card with their identity number on it and that is perhaps why there is some confusion.

You should be able to get the internet by quoting your number, if they require proof show them your certificate.

Rosemary

jonpolley

Thank you
Perhaps then it is a residency card that comes with it?

All I have with my NIE number on at present is is the form that I completed before I went to the police station, that was then stamped and the number handwritten on.

My NIE is printed on my social security form.

Rosemary

No we do not have residency cards only a certificate. The only card that has your NIE number on it is a Spanish driving licence.

Rosemary

snikpoh

Not quite true, Rosemary.

Yes, the NIE is on a white A4 sheet which lasts just 3 months. The NIE itself lasts forever (similar to padron paper which is only valid for 3 months).


The 'certificate of registration' (sometimes known as residencia even for EU members) is on a green A4 sheet. In some (all?) areas, this is now given as a green, credit sized card.


So, even for EU members, they will get a 'residency' card but it will NOT have your photo on and can NOT be used as a form of identity. Unlike the true RESIDENCIA that Spanish nationals and non-EU members get.

Rosemary

I did not know that they were doing this now.

Shame that they do not issue proper ID cards because a lot of people would prefer them. I use my driving licence for ID all of the time so I appreciate the fact that non drivers would find an ID card useful.

Rosemary

Retired in Euskadi

What Snikpoh says above is correct.
I've had my NIE card copied and laminated to carry in my wallet with other cards; it can be useful sometimes. But as Snikpoh says, because it doesn't have a photo, it's not a form of ID. For that I also carry a laminated card-size copy of my passport.

snikpoh

... no you haven't.


What you may have laminated is your 'certificate of registration'.


By calling it an 'NIE' is wrong and very confusing.

pwwm

Oue NIE is also printed on our medical card, we have to use it to make online ppointments

VFR

So you have your number (as you say)
Can you tell us is it on a piece of paper about A4 size ?



It is ! .................. well that is it, that is what you get.

Retired in Euskadi

Nobody I've shown it to has been confused.
Sorry to cause any confusion!

jonpolley

It is... I had to go to the social security office to get it.

The problem is that a number of places I have been to have asked for the "tarjeta" even with my broken Spanish I know thats the card.

So when I opened my bank account, even with my NIE it had to be as a non resident.


Also... and this muddies the water further... trying to get my wife's and son's NIE. (We stupidly left our marriage certificate and our son's birth certificate in the removal stuff... and my wife is a stay at home mother at the moment, so not working... so could not get theirs when I got mine)

The same office that issued my NIE will not issue my wife's until I have the card... even though I have the number... but had we been able to register at the same time it would not have been an issue.


Is the bureaucracy somewhat arbitrary as to whether they issue you with your what you need?

VFR

HTH

snikpoh

I still think there is MASS confusion.

Anyone can easily get an NIE for a variety of reasons! You don't have to be working, living here or any of that sort of thing.


The problem is signing on the list of foreigners (getting a certificate of registration AKA "residencia"). What the office may be saying is that if your entire family are living here then you don't nee just an NIE but you all actually need to sign on the list of foreigners. The NIE is, after all, a temporary piece of paper.


Of course you could only open a non-resident account with just an NIE - you haven't proved that you are living here by having the green, A4 sheet/card ("residencia").


You certainly don't have to go to the INSS offices to get the NIE nor to sign on the list of foreigners. The INSS will give you your SS number.

jonpolley

Thank you so much. I think... I am starting to figure it out.

When I applied for my NIE. I filled in the form EX- 18 "Certificado - de - extranjeros" Is this the same as registering on the list of foreigners?

The box that was ticked by the office was one of the ones on the permanent residency side. (I can't remember which one...)

My NIE number was then written on this sheet and given back to me. Is this my NIE certificate or is that a separate document?

So I assume I have my residency.... But need the residents card.

Is that posted to me? Or do I need to collect it from the office I applied at? and if so will they send me something in the post to inform me when to collect it?

Sorry if these questions seem really stupid, but as I say I am really confused.. and the information out there is rather conflicting!