# NIE - a story of praise



## peedee (Aug 30, 2015)

So having enquired of the spanish embassy in the UK some months ago regarding getting an NIE and being told not here you can't when we found a property to buy a few weeks ago we explained this to our spanish lawyer. So she said to give her a limited PoA to get the NIE for us.
Back in the UK I emailed the form to the Spanish Consulate and within an hour had a phone call saying just come to the consulate in London and they'll sort it - no appointment necessary and anyway it will be a lot cheaper.

OK, so I've read the posts about Spanish bureaucracy so we set off on Tuesday of last week with two copies of the completed form and the Modulo form downloaded from the consulate website plus a flask of coffee and sandwiches quite prepares to be told no, that's wrong, come back in a couple of weeks.

Arrived 10.30 am, one person ahead of us told to wait for 5 minutes.
4 minutes later called in...
10 minutes later finished and told the number will be emailed to us within 2-3 weeks. Just pay the lady next door £7.50 for each number.
Coffee undrunk, sandwiches uneaten - what to do for the rest of the day?

Today, Friday, 10 days after our consulate visit the NIE's arrive

Tell me again about how slow Spanish bureaucracy is.


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## 90199 (Mar 21, 2010)

Incredible!!!!!!!!!!!!

Almost two years I have waited for Spanish Nationality…………………………Ah well…...


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## Rabbitcat (Aug 31, 2014)

Can I have the sandwiches?


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## Elyles (Aug 30, 2012)

The speed depends on where you are, what you are seeking, your nationality, and, the management of the specific office you are working with. I am a US citizen and my wife dual EU/US. It took her three days and me three months. Every time we returned to the main office in Huesca we dealt with another person who would always ask for something additional that the previous person did not ask for. What may be considered professional incompetence in one place can be status quo in another. Also, when in the US a number of years ago we were informed that we needed special paperwork to bring in personal effects and not pay VAT on them. We called every Spanish consulate in the US and none had access to the required paperwork. Yet, after arrival here, we were able to obtain the required customs waiver through the US consulate in Barcelona. Sometimes one hand really doesn't know what the other is doing. This is not specific to just Spain however.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Elyles said:


> The speed depends on where you are, what you are seeking, your nationality, and, the management of the specific office you are working with.. This is not specific to just Spain however.


Very true. It took us about an hour, in Estepona. Nice waiting room, friendly officials.
Cost ten euros.
Had to pay an agency a lot of money to get residency in Prague, something that is free but in practice requires a 'sweetener' to the clerk if you want it before you're in line for a Death Certificate.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

mrypg9 said:


> Very true. It took us about an hour, in Estepona. Nice waiting room, friendly officials.
> Cost ten euros.


Same for us in Jaén eight years ago except that the waiting area wasn't brilliant (just chairs in a corridor).


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

baldilocks said:


> Same for us in Jaén eight years ago except that the waiting area wasn't brilliant (just chairs in a corridor).


There were comfortable chairs, potted plants, newspapers...and a large framed photo of the King, standard issue, I suppose.


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## GeoffP2 (Jun 3, 2015)

Very much the same for us in Pretoria, South Africa.

Phoned, told what to bring, 15 minutes, paid and all done!

Best experience of any of the embassies of all those I've been to in Africa.

Regards
Geoff Pethick
Johannesburg


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## Lorraine Barton (Nov 2, 2015)

I found the process very easy with in Estepona, although I did have a spanish friend with me to assist where my spanish failed me. 

However, we arrived half hour early for our appointment and just settled down to wait to be called. After having waited the half hour my friend spoke to a lady waiting in the queue who appeared to be representing a large family and this is when we found out that the payment for the NIE number should have already been made at the bank!! What followed was a frantic race around town to find a bank who would take the payment...not all will...depended on the time of day...i.e. one only took payments between 10 - 2.00 on Thurs mornings but his was a Friday haha We got to the third bank and my friend asked an employee in the bank if they would take this payment to which they confirmed they would. However, it appeared to be pension day and there were several clients before us. We eventually paid and rushed back to the police station and fortunately, our names hadn't been called as the lady with the large family were just finishing their appointment so all was well. The only other thing to know, is that when they ask for a photocopy of your passport it was the first page that they wanted and not the photo page??? I have never provided that page before so we didn't have it with us but the guy processing our application couldn't have been more helpful and he used their very old and a bit knackered photocopier for the copies.

Lesson learned, ALWAYS ask when payment is expected or how...i.e. there have been a few occasions that we have had to pay at the bank first for applications. we were very lucky that day as had I missed our appointment there was no others available in Estepona until January, or so I was told ;-)

I hope this saves others from falling into the same situation.

Lorraine


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## bigdrunk (Aug 12, 2014)

Impossible in La Linea, my wife went to the office in Chiclana yesterday and had it all done in about an hour.


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## chrisnation (Mar 2, 2009)

peedee said:


> So having enquired of the spanish embassy in the UK some months ago regarding getting an NIE and being told not here you can't when we found a property to buy a few weeks ago we explained this to our spanish lawyer. So she said to give her a limited PoA to get the NIE for us.
> Back in the UK I emailed the form to the Spanish Consulate and within an hour had a phone call saying just come to the consulate in London and they'll sort it - no appointment necessary and anyway it will be a lot cheaper.
> 
> OK, so I've read the posts about Spanish bureaucracy so we set off on Tuesday of last week with two copies of the completed form and the Modulo form downloaded from the consulate website plus a flask of coffee and sandwiches quite prepares to be told no, that's wrong, come back in a couple of weeks.
> ...


Excellent result. 1] Did you do ltd P.o.A. when in her office or by email/letters from UK?

2] _"Back in the UK I emailed the form" _Was that a form she filled in and emailed to you to send in or what?

3] _"to the Spanish Consulate and within an hour had a phone call saying just come to the consulate in London..." _ Do you mean Embassy? My understanding was that depending where you live in UK you must only use one of two offices for NIEs, one being the London Embassy.


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## peedee (Aug 30, 2015)

chrisnation said:


> Excellent result. 1] Did you do ltd P.o.A. when in her office or by email/letters from UK?
> 
> 2] _"Back in the UK I emailed the form" _Was that a form she filled in and emailed to you to send in or what?
> 
> 3] _"to the Spanish Consulate and within an hour had a phone call saying just come to the consulate in London..." _ Do you mean Embassy? My understanding was that depending where you live in UK you must only use one of two offices for NIEs, one being the London Embassy.


We did the PoA in her office then bought it back to the UK, scanned it then emailed to the consulate. We were running out of time and only contacted the lawyer on the Monday - the day before we flew back. But she was very good and agreed to meet around 5.30 that day to sort everything out. We only did the PoA in passing as we explained we hadn't had any success trying to organise a NIE before we went on our viewing trip.

The Spanish government websites said to send the PoA to the consulate and it was from there we got the phone call to say don't waste your money, come up to the consulate and get the NIE yourself. Yes it is the Consulate in Draycott Place in London and the office you want is in the basement. We went to London as we're on the South Coast and London is the nearest but this page relates to Edinburgh (Applying for N.I.E and Certificate of non residence) - maybe others in the UK but I haven't looked. This page says 'appointment necessary' but that wasn't the case in London. Links to the forms needed are also on that page.


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