Hi,
I've been in Madrid since March (5 months) and have been told the earliest appointment I can get for my NIE is November. However, a friend of mine who moved from Argentina 4 weeks ago has managed to get his already despite not being a European Union citizen. Does anyone know why? And is there any chance of getting my number sooner?

Many thanks

Maybe it depends which foreigners office you're going to??? The one near me is taking about three weeks to give out appointments. November does seem rather a long time. Have you been waiting since you moved here

Jo xxx

Hi,

There are different queues for EU citizen and others. Also, your NIE is different from those who are not european, spanish residents or those asking for a work permit. It is not fair and I agree with you, however you can work without it, the problem is to open a bank account.

I have heard you can legally pay some people that usually gets that appointment with 30 days but I don't know how to find them. I know someone who had a "gestor" and got the appointment for the following month he arrived and I friend of mine waited for 4 months!!!.

Good luck

I went with my son to Orihuela and they gave us an appointment for 3 months time. They will only see foreigners after 4.00pm and we returned 4 days later at 6.00pm without an appointment and got everything sorted.

What would happen if a tourist came out and decided to buy a property and open a bank acc.

The worse thing about the process is that it is so variable.

Where we are you can walk in any day and get it done in 10 minutes (plus the walk to the bank to pay the fee).

You can buy a property with your passport and you can even have a company without the NIE. Also, you can sort out a bank account as a non resident, a friend of mine got it, but you would probably have to go to more than 2 banks and different branches.

Not correct. Used to be so but not now, the law changed.

Santander refused without the NIE and also wanted the passport

So far as I'm aware, the queues have always been long in Madrid. It's the main destination for foreigners seeking work in Spain - I remember seeing a site showing Madrid's taken in half a million economic migrants in the last 10 years. Having said that, it was normally a week or so for a gestor to do this for you. I wonder if there haven't been cuts in the staff doing this?

Edit. according to the following site the community of Madrid (ie not just the city but the province itself) had taken in over a million registered foreigners in that period.

http://www.madrid.org/iestadis/fijas.../ianucap02.htm


1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

Total 5,091,336 5,145,325 5,205,408 5,372,433 5,527,152 5,718,942 5,804,829 5,964,143 6,008,183 6,081,689 6,271,638 6,386,932
Hombres 2,444,267 2,472,682 2,504,748 2,585,648 2,663,808 2,761,075 2,806,631 2,888,049 2,908,748 2,947,554 3,040,658 3,094,874
Mujeres 2,647,069 2,672,643 2,700,660 2,786,785 2,863,344 2,957,867 2,998,198 3,076,094 3,099,435 3,134,135 3,230,980 3,292,058

Extranjeros 147,175 135,060 282,870 365,135 446,893 594,130 703,343 773,833 793,985 937,171 1,005,381 1,063,803

Solbank's online account application asks you to input either passport number or NIE on the first screen. Haven't gone any further to verify that you don't need both later in the process.

[QUOTE=Fred James;9514090]The worse thing about the process is that it is so variable.

Where we are you can walk in any day and get it done in 10 minutes (plus the walk to the bank to pay the fee).[/Q


Was about to write this myself, but as long as you arrive early enough think they do 50 a morning. We appear to be amongst the lucky ones

Since the Spanish Consulate in Manchester has closed the nearest one to us is Edinburgh.
I emailed them to enquire about applying for an NIE before coming to Spain.

This is their reply

CONSULADO GENERAL DE ESPAÑA
EDIMBURGO


HOW TO OBTAIN AN N.I.E. NUMBER – (NÚMERO DE IDENTIDAD DE EXTRANJERO)


1.- The Spanish Consulate General cannot issue the NIE number. It only acts as a “courier” between the applicant and the competent Authorities in Spain.

2.- An application for an NIE number should be made in person at the nearest Police Station (dept. of “Extranjería”) where you intend to live in Spain or where you have or intend to have a property.

3.- If your solicitor or agent in Spain can apply for the N.I.E. number on your behalf, you will need to send a legalised notarial photocopy of your passport with the rest of the documents. This process will be the fastest way to obtain the number, other than going in person to Spain. We can do the legalisation at this Consulate, there is a fee of £10.00 for this.

4.- However if you wish to send your application through this Consulate you will need to bring the following in person:

a) Your current valid passport and a photocopy of it.
b) Two passport-size photographs.
c) A photocopy of any documentation to back up your application.
d) The application form for NIE duly completed and signed, plus a photocopy of it. The form can be obtained from the following website and it should be TYPED or written very clearly in capital letters (it might be rejected if unreadable):

http://www.mir.es/SGACAVT/modelos/ex...anje/ex_14.pdf

(Please note that we will not enter or comment into the accuracy of the information on the form)

e) An envelope addressed to:

COMISARÍA GENERAL DE EXTRANJERÍA Y DOCUMENTACIÓN
DIRECCIÓN GENERAL DE POLICÍA
C/ GENERAL PARDIÑAS Nº 90
28006 MADRID

f) If you wish the NIE to return to you in Scotland, you should include a self-addressed envelope also.

5.- Any enquiries about the process thereafter should be made directly to the address mentioned above 4 (e).

Consulate General of Spain – 63 North Castle Street – Edinburgh EH2 3LJ
Tel: 0131 220 1843 Fax: 0131 226 4568 E-mail: [email protected]


Question

4c what constitutes documents to support your application?

4. Documentación que justifique los motivos de la solicitud.(from notes of how to fill in the form)

The most that we will have before we come to Spain will be a Spanish bank account.

Well hat is interesting re Manchester as someone I know living in Stoke went there and sorted their NIE as recent as 6 weeks ago, was done within a couple of days. Maybe cos husband is Spanish lol

Yes the Manchester consulate closed quite recently, probably end of June. I originally emailed them and I got an out of office message telling me of the closure, which is why I contacted Edinburgh.