# Passport not accepted at Policia



## ceebee13 (May 1, 2014)

Hi, this is a tricky one. I have my NIE, had it since 2009. I got married again in 2013 in LA and changed my surname. My American husband now needs his visa renewing so I took my new passport from 2017 and the old one and my marriage certificate. The woman would not accept my name change for the NIE. All the usual waffle about how Spanish women don't change their name at marriage. Yes, OK. But I did. She said I needed a current marriage certificate. Although I have ordered these from the US jumping through hoops of fire (nobody understands why I need new certificates when the one I have is perfectly valid), I have now been told by another jobsworth I also need an embassy letter proving my identity. So I rang them next. They said the British embassy has not issued these letters since 2016 on policy as the law in the UK states I can change my name with my marriage and passport, and provided me with a photocopied letter stamped from 2016 stating that. Imagine that going down at a Spanish administration... So I rang the UK passport office, who supplied me with a data protection act document listing the passport change. But this doesn't solve my issue because firstly anyone can apply to get a copy of my marriage certificate and have it stamped, so that's not proof I exclusively changed my name and have currently got that name either. Second, the passport letter proves nothing but I have the passport in hand, what they knew already. So now what? I have my vida laboral in my old name but showing my NIE and SSN of course, my bank account is changed to my new name, but they keep insisting I could have split up with my husband and be using another name by now. WHY? I have my padron, my tax docs, all with him on, he clearly lives with me and we pay taxes together! I feel like my marriage has nothing to do with my legal name. What if I had just changed my name? Some divorced people keep their old name. So I don't see the logic. Usually, after thinking about it I can work out the Spanish admin logic of something, but this time, I really can't. What can I do? My husband's visa is expired and I need to change my name on the NIE or else they will say "why doesn't your NIE match your passport?" GRRR! Any ideas? I should say I've been autonomo since 2010. And yes, before anyone says it, I wish I never changed my name. But let's not do a rabbit hole dive with that.


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

Do you have your green card (residency card)? What name is on that?


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## ceebee13 (May 1, 2014)

Yes, it's about changing my NIE to my new married name. As I said above, I've had it since 2010 in my previous name.


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## Juan C (Sep 4, 2017)

You say you have your NIE, a fiscal ID number. That does not provide any right to live in spain 

To live in Spain, an EU national requires EU Citizen Registration. The Certificate is a piece of green paper. The number on it is one’ s NIE.

To love in spain a non EU national requires a Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero (TIE). It is a plasticised card bearing a photo and a finger print.

The Padron is the list of people who are resident, living permanently, in a town. Those who do not, those with say a holiday home in a town, should not be on the padron. 

If you clarify which you have, you should receive some good advice from subscribers on your predicament.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

> To love in spain a non EU national requires a Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero (TIE). It is a plasticised card bearing a photo and a finger print.


Or not. Mine is still the A4 piece of paper


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## Juan C (Sep 4, 2017)

Pesky. 

Sorry but to avoid confusion. 

Prior to April 2007 a TIE (Residencia) had to be renewed every 10 years. After that date a green certificate, originally an A4 size piece of paper, was issued. That was later, in most new applications, replaced by the credit card size piece of green paper. That certificate in either form had no expiry date shown on it

The requirement for non EU nationals, did not change in 2007. That registraron needs to be renewed after the first five years and then every ten years. That certificate is a plasticised card with a photo and a fingerprint. (It is also a legal ID in the EU).

After the brexit translational period probably U.K. nationals will be required to conform to the present system for non EU nationals.

The NIE certificate, from
memory, was first issued in about 1988. It has always been an A4 piece of white paper. Except for a few months some years ago, when the certificate was valid for only three months, it has never had an expiry date. 

The three month rule for validity was brought it to weed out people who were resident but who had not applied for residence status. As I say it was rapidly abandoned.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Juan C said:


> Pesky.
> 
> Sorry but to avoid confusion.
> 
> ...


JC, mine is A4, *green,* issued in goodness knows when in Madrid, accrediting residence since 1991 although I arrived in '86. It's right in front of me. In Madrid I have been told I don't have to change it for a plastic one, and I haven't.
There is no expiry date. It can't be used as ID and states that clearly in capital letters.

This has nothing to do with newcomers or the OP, but you can't generalise.


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## Juan C (Sep 4, 2017)

Pesky. With respect. You have not read what I posted. 

The NON EU NATIONAL Card is legal ID. It is printed with ‘Extranjeros España, regimen comunitario’ It bears a photo on the front and the signature of the holder and a fingerprint on the back. It is the same as EU nationals had prior to April 2007. 

As an EU national you have the green paper. It is that which, as you have said, is not legal ID

PS I was not generalizing but being specific.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Juan C said:


> Pesky. With respect. You have not read what I posted.
> 
> The NON EU NATIONAL Card is legal ID. It is printed with ‘Extranjeros España, regimen comunitario’ It bears a photo on the front and the signature of the holder and a fingerprint on the back. It is the same as EU nationals had prior to April 2007.
> 
> ...


 OK.
You might have wanted to avoid confusion, but you confused me.!


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## Overandout (Nov 10, 2012)

We had a similar situation arise a few years back which might help the OP out, but I'm not sure as it wasn't the same problem.

Our kids were born in Spain and are British. At the registry when we went to register the births we were confronted by a rather officious civil servant who was adamant that the UK law obliged us to ouse only the father's surname as the surname of the child.

We explained that she was not the authority on that, and that the UK system allowed us to use a double barreled surname (fathers - mother's) if we wanted. But she was having none of it, so in the end we went along with her just to get away from there.

We explained all this to the UK authorities and they just said that for them it was no problem, we could either register the birth in the UK registry or get him a passport with the surname we wanted. So we did.

So, when we applied for the green residency certificate, he was given that with his correct double surname.

This process was repeated with our second child also.

The problem then arose when we needed visas for the whole family and the embassy where we applied rejected our children's visas because the passports did not have the same surname as the birth certificates.

In the eyes of Spanish law, the registry entry was wrong, as the passport could not be. But to get them to change it required taking the issue to the the "justice of the peace" or to give its Spanish name "Juzgado de Paz". Once we had the resolution from the "Juez de Paz", the registry had to accept our argument and change the birth certificates.

I am not sure, but I wonder if the same process would work for you, i.e. getting the resolution from the justice of the peace, and taking that with you when you try to change your residence cert.


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