NIE, permits and visas in Spain

by Alicjain Uncategorizedon Posted on

This post will talk about formalities like NIE, permits and visas in Spain. NIE – the magic number you cannot operate in Spain without. NIE, which stands for Numero de Identidad de Extranjero (Foreign Identity Number) is “a unique, personal, and permanent tax identification number used by Spanish authorities to identify foreign nationals who have economic, professional, or social ties to Spain” (Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores). You would think that you will be asked for NIE while dealing, like in the definition, with Spanish authorities. That is a wrong perception, unless by “Spanish authorities” you understand: shopping clerk in MediaMarkt, bike repair guy or contact lenses delivery person. That’s correct, these are the people who, in the past 10 months of living here, have asked me to show my NIE number. As I have mentioned in my blog post about the Apartment search, you would need NIE for signing the contract for renting a property or buying the property, you would need to give it to your moving company, you will need it while shopping for home appliances (fridge, washing machine), for signing your Internet and mobile phone contract or even for repairing your bike. I think the only place I haven’t been asked for NIE yet is…Mercadona. But who knows.

Obtaining NIE

When we paid our deposit for the rental apartment we were asked to provide the NIE number. We didn’t have one yet and for a few stressful days we were uncertain if the rental contract would be signed. Our very resourceful friend Olivera put us in touch with the consultant called Carlos who operates as a Gestor here. It is worth knowing what gestors do in Spain. As you are probably aware Spain is infamous for its bureaucracy. Gestor acts as a bureaucracy expert, he is a link between individuals and government authorities and provides administrative support in the areas like: tax and accounting, immigration and residency, vehicle and property. It is highly recommended to find a reliable gestor if you are thinking about relocating, as they can make your life and your move much smoother. Carlos booked me an appointment with a notary on the 9th of July and I signed the Power of Attorney for him, giving him the permission to apply for NIE for me. This all made sense for us as it was really difficult to book a NIE appointment on that specific day. I believe gestors have some contacts who help them with securing the appointments as it is an impossible task. The appointments are released on Friday morning for the whole week and once they are gone, they are gone. My business partner told me that she, her husband and their son have sat on three different devices for a few consecutive Fridays trying to get an appointment and they have never succeeded. On the 24th of July Carlos sent me an email with my NIE number attached. 

If someone wants to try to apply for NIE by themselves, the process is quite straightforward (considering that you managed to book an appointment). You can apply for NIE in your home country in the Spain’s Embassy or to apply in Spain follow the steps: 

  1. To book an appointment go to: https://sede.administracionespublicas.gob.es/pagina/index/directorio/icpplus
  2. Choose the province where you want to book your appointment and then the town
  3. Then from the dropdown menu you want to choose the option for booking a NIE appointment (Asignacion de N.I.E.)
  4. You will need your passport number, your name and your birthday and your nationality
  5. Once you book the appointment you will need to bring the following documents: 
  • appointment confirmation, 
  • passport and photocopy of your passport, 
  • filled in form EX-15, the fee form Modelo 790-012 which can be paid at any bank,
  • document providing the reason for applying for NIE

Spain is a part of the European Union so all the residents from the countries that belong to the EU have a legal right to live and work here. I hold a Polish passport and my daughters have dual citizenship: British and Polish. So for us it wasn’t a problem to move to Spain from the UK. However, my husband is British and because of Brexit he has the right to stay in Spain only for up to 90 days without a visa. So we definitely needed to sort him out if we wanted to stay in Spain permanently. Our consultant Carlos had a plan. He advised that he deals with couples like us all the time and we would need to apply for a residency for myself and then once received, we will apply for the residency for Chris. The process sounded straightforward, however there were some hiccups on the way. I think I will write a separate post on that as this was something we did after we had already arrived in Spain.

For the British people who do not own a European Union passport, they need to apply for a national visa before arrival. The visa options are as follows:

  1. Non-Lucrative Visa (NLV). This visa does not allow you to work in Spain. The person applying needs to have a stable income or substantial savings and comprehensive private health insurance.
  2.   Digital Nomad Visa (DNV). You can apply for this type of visa if you have a remote job or are a freelancer and work for a company from outside of Spain. This visa allows you to live and work remotely in Spain.
  3. Work and Self-Employment visas. This is for people who get a job offer from a Spanish company or who want to start a business in Spain.
  4. Student Visa. This visa is for people who are enrolled at one of the universities in Spain or in a language school. This visa allows you to work for up to 30 hours a week while you are studying.
  5. Family Reunification. This visa is for non-EU family members of Spanish citizens or non-EU residents who are already legally living in Spain.

For people from the USA the visa options are similar to the Brits. They are also allowed to stay in Spain as tourists for up to 90 days without a visa. If they are planning a longer stay or looking to relocate, the options are as follows:

  1. Digital Nomad Visa. This visa allows you to live and work remotely for a foreign-based company.
  2. Non-Lucrative Visa. It is for people who want to live in Spain without working. 
  3. Student visa.
  4. Work visa. This is for workers who got a job offer from the Spanish company.
  5. Entrepreneur visa. For individuals who are looking into starting a business in Spain.
  6. Golden Visa. This visa is for people who make a significant investment in Spain, either in real estate, Spanish public debt or Spanish company shares.

Dealing with formalities like NIE, permits and visas in Spain can be scary and daunting. If you need help navigating the system and would like to know more details about applying for a NIE number or any visa, contact Litora.es for a chat.