NIE Number
#1
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Joined: Dec 2005
Location: Surrey
Posts: 5
NIE Number
Another (stupid) question can I get my NIE number before getting a property, or do I need to purchase a property first, and get I get this number from the Spanish Consulate in London???
#2
Re: NIE Number
Originally Posted by Chalkie
Another (stupid) question can I get my NIE number before getting a property, or do I need to purchase a property first, and get I get this number from the Spanish Consulate in London???
You will need an NIE number to buy your house please take a look at my web page and all will be explained to you Visa's and Permits
I do hope this helps you with your questions it is a long artical but worth the read.
Good Luck
David SR
#4
Forum Regular
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 99
Re: NIE Number
Originally Posted by jdr
You need an address in the locality you are applying in
I know countryboy has provided useful information and you might find useful further details on:
http://www.spanishpropertyinsight.co...operty_nie.htm
and also the forms are on the Spanish consulate website.
It took about 6 weeks for ours to come through, we gave our UK address for it to be sent to and it arrived in the post to our UK address. We did have to give the location of where we were buying property and details of why we wanted an NIE. You can get it sent to your lawyer in spain or other spanish rep address. So if you have got a bit of lead time or it isn't convenient to go to spain and do it, it can be organised in the UK. It does cost more because you have to pay various fees but for us it gave us peace of mind of knowing it was done and dusted before our house purchase took place. We had very little leave availalbe and just could not keep going back and forth to spain, and I knew that obtaining the NIE meant attending the notary office, queuing up, etc and had heard stories of promises of it being easy to obtain in one day and then people being told it would take a week once they were there. We felt we could not afford to waste leave in running about for NIE numbers and potentially finding it would take longer than we had available. In the end, we also gave our lawyer power of attorney to handle the whole purchase(again organised via the spanish consultate in the UK), signing at the Notary, etc etc. We didn't go to spain til after the purchase had completed and it enabled us to eke out our very limited end of year leave to sort out furnishing the place. We don't live in spain yet so this worked for us - if you are making a permanent move and don't have to worry about ekeing out leave it may not be so important for you to organise everything in the UK first. But it worked well for us and was a relief to have it all sorted on our behalf.
But a word of warning, make sure you fill in the forms exactly as required and provide photos etc as required otherwise you will be told to come back again with it all done properly.
Good luck
Last edited by cindyp; Jan 2nd 2006 at 1:06 pm. Reason: I've said sale where meant purchase!
#5
Re: NIE Number
Originally Posted by Chalkie
Another (stupid) question can I get my NIE number before getting a property, or do I need to purchase a property first, and get I get this number from the Spanish Consulate in London???
From the Spanish Consulate pages
N.I.E.
INFORMATION FOR AN N.I.E. NUMBER (NUMERO IDENTIFICACION DE EXTRANJEROS)
1.- An application for an N.I.E. number should be made in person at the nearest Police Station in Spain where you intend to live or where to have or intend to have property.
2.- The Spanish Consulate General cannot issue N.I.E. numbers.
It only acts as a "postal box" between the applicant and the competent Authorities in Spain.
3.- If you wish to send your application through this Consulate you will need to do the following:
You must come in person (no appointment needed) between 09:30 - 13:30 Monday to Friday with:
(a) Your valid passport.
(b) Two passport size photographs.
(c) The application form for N.I.E. DULY COMPLETED BUT NOT SIGNED as you will need to sign in our presence.
This form cannot be obtained at this Consulate. It must be obtained from the Comisar�*a de Polic�*a in Spain or via their Web site http://www.mir.es, click on "Extranjeros", "Modelos de Solicitud" and download form "NIE para residentes en el extranjero - EX-14 bis". This form is in Spanish.
Please note that the address in both paragraphs of the form should be an address in Spain.
(d) An envelope per applicant (no stamps needed) addressed to:
Comisar�*a General de Extranjer�*a y Documentación
Dirección General de Policia
C/ General Pardiñas, 90
28006 Madrid
Tel: 00 34 91 322 6824/26
(e) A 1st class stamped envelope with your address in the UK.
4.- Your signature and the photocopy of your passport needs to be legalised by us and there will be a fee payable to "The Spanish Consulate General" of £22 per applicant (cash only).
5.- We would emphasize that this Consulate General cannot issue N.I.E. numbers.
6.- It is not possible to give any further information on the matter once the application has been placed with us and sent to the relevant authorities in Spain.
7.- Thereafter any enquiries should be made direct to the address at 3(d) above and NOT to this Consulate.
LEGALISATIONS This is the relevent page that you need to look at.
If you apply for an NIE number yourself here in Spain at the foreigners office in your major town (like Alicante) Or any National Police Station you can get it the same day so long as you have all the correct paperwork filled in correctly. It costs 16:50 euros. I got my daughters their NIE numbers from the foreigners office in Alicante within the hour, but I did get there early and had all the paperwork checked before I went.
I do hope this helps you with your question, Good Luck.
David SR
#6
Re: NIE Number
David, how long have you needed photos, the boxes at the top of the form are for official stamps not photos, and I certainly did not need them when I got mine and it was free ?
#7
Forum Regular
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 99
Re: NIE Number
Originally Posted by jdr
David, how long have you needed photos, the boxes at the top of the form are for official stamps not photos, and I certainly did not need them when I got mine and it was free ?
If the info on the consulate website says they need photos, personally I would make sure I supplied them... there was one very awkward staff member at the UK consulate, if any one minor bit of paperwork was not completely as stated on the website she wouldn't deal with it and just sent you packing...everyone in the very long queue had heard of her and we were all petrified of coming face to face with her....
So I'd do exactly what it says on the tin if applying in the UK and if you don't need the photos when you get there, no big deal...
#8
Forum Regular
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 99
Re: NIE Number
Originally Posted by cindyp
Photos were needed in November 2004 when we got ours. Did you obtain yours via a UK consulate or in spain? We did ours via the UK consulate. I don't think they were required for sticking on the forms, more as an ID thing. I think the point of it was for the consulate to certify them as being a true likeness of us as we were sat in front of them. They also took copies of our passports but these were only black and white copies. The passport copies and the new photos all got sent off with the application.
If the info on the consulate website says they need photos, personally I would make sure I supplied them... there was one very awkward staff member at the UK consulate, if any one minor bit of paperwork was not completely as stated on the website she wouldn't deal with it and just sent you packing...everyone in the very long queue had heard of her and we were all petrified of coming face to face with her....
So I'd do exactly what it says on the tin if applying in the UK and if you don't need the photos when you get there, no big deal...
If the info on the consulate website says they need photos, personally I would make sure I supplied them... there was one very awkward staff member at the UK consulate, if any one minor bit of paperwork was not completely as stated on the website she wouldn't deal with it and just sent you packing...everyone in the very long queue had heard of her and we were all petrified of coming face to face with her....
So I'd do exactly what it says on the tin if applying in the UK and if you don't need the photos when you get there, no big deal...
#9
Re: NIE Number
Originally Posted by jdr
David, how long have you needed photos, the boxes at the top of the form are for official stamps not photos, and I certainly did not need them when I got mine and it was free ?
as Cindyp says you need two photos with your application these are not attached to the forms but keept as referance. this as you may know is a new rule (October 2004) the quote in my post is stright from the Spanish embassy in London so it has to be correct.
During 2005 the Spanish Governement accepted a number of directives from the EU which should have been accepted years ago, this has ment a change in the Spanish Consitition and is very confusing for the Man on the Street, I write for a local newspaper in the Velencia/Alicante reagion and I have to keep checking on these new rules and regulations, just to keep up to date. It is very time consuming, as I cannot ask my local law enforcing agency as they are not well informed about their own laws.
I do hope that I have not confused anyone in this matter, but it does confuse me at times.
David SR.
Last edited by countryboy; Jan 3rd 2006 at 9:04 am. Reason: Year wrong on first post 2005 instead of 2004
#10
Re: NIE Number
cindyp and countryboy.
Oh I see, that was for applying at an embassy.
I got mine at the local police station, no photos and no charge, ten mins handing in forms, two mins picking up nie 4 weeks later
They do scrutinize your face to match the passport though
Oh I see, that was for applying at an embassy.
I got mine at the local police station, no photos and no charge, ten mins handing in forms, two mins picking up nie 4 weeks later
They do scrutinize your face to match the passport though
Last edited by jdr; Jan 3rd 2006 at 2:19 pm.
#11
Forum Regular
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 99
Re: NIE Number
Hi Jdr
yep, that's exactly the point. I think a lot of people are told you can get your NIE in spain on the same day that you apply, but in practice there is often a gap in between... as you say, you picked yours up 4 weeks later. This is fine if you are already in spain and it's easy to nip back a few weeks later, but difficult if you don't and you have to keep flying back and forward at the same time as trying to hold down a full time job without endless leave allocation!!! And absolutely devastating if you have come out specifically to sort it all out on the same day as your house purchase and then it can't happen because you actually can't get your NIE on the spot....
We were told not to worry about our NIE, it could all be done on the same day as our house purchase in spain but I just wasn't prepared to leave it to chance, I wanted to KNOW there was nothing that was going to make the whole thing collapse or take longer... so that's why we did ours in the UK beforehand.
And as it turned out I'm glad we did because our lawyer (who had POA and did the deal without us being present) had quite a few problems between the vendor, notary and banks and if the NIE had also gone wrong he probably would have just not gone ahead.
A lot of people purchase from long distance so it makes sense to get as much sorted as you can beforehand, in my humble opinion....
yep, that's exactly the point. I think a lot of people are told you can get your NIE in spain on the same day that you apply, but in practice there is often a gap in between... as you say, you picked yours up 4 weeks later. This is fine if you are already in spain and it's easy to nip back a few weeks later, but difficult if you don't and you have to keep flying back and forward at the same time as trying to hold down a full time job without endless leave allocation!!! And absolutely devastating if you have come out specifically to sort it all out on the same day as your house purchase and then it can't happen because you actually can't get your NIE on the spot....
We were told not to worry about our NIE, it could all be done on the same day as our house purchase in spain but I just wasn't prepared to leave it to chance, I wanted to KNOW there was nothing that was going to make the whole thing collapse or take longer... so that's why we did ours in the UK beforehand.
And as it turned out I'm glad we did because our lawyer (who had POA and did the deal without us being present) had quite a few problems between the vendor, notary and banks and if the NIE had also gone wrong he probably would have just not gone ahead.
A lot of people purchase from long distance so it makes sense to get as much sorted as you can beforehand, in my humble opinion....
#12
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2005
Location: UK/Costa Luz
Posts: 399
Re: NIE Number
We applied for ours in person at Cadiz Police Station and our Agent returned a week later to pick it up. She then passed it on to the Lawyer and Bank etc. making it all very straightforward for us.
#13
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Nov 2003
Location: Cartama, Malaga
Posts: 1,168
Re: NIE Number
i got mine from fuengerola police station, and i recall it took around 4 hours. they wanted passport pics and i had 2 pay 6€ at the bank down the road.