Renewing NIE

[tjtops]

Please will someone tell me how, where, when and why you have to renew your NIE certificate? (And yes I DO mean NIE....not residencia or anything connected with it!!)
How much does it cost and how long does it take? What will happen to you if you don't??
I gather you keep the same number, but the white certificates are now obsolete apparently....

[El Cid]

Asking the same question on different sections of the forum will not achieve different answers.

You cannot renew NIE numbers - they are issued for life just like UK National Insurance numbers - what is difficult to understand about that?

NIEs do not have your address on them and you do not need to advise the police that the original address has changed - which is often your lawyers at the time you applied for it.

If you want an up to date certificate of your status in Spain, sign onto the Register of Foreigners in Spain and use that certificate - it will show your current address and NIE number.

Sid

[Enrique]

Hi,
The new Green form............."Certificado de Registro de Cuidadano de La Union"

was covered in a post...............

viewtopic.php?f=25&t=22355&p=199496&hilit=three+days#p199496

Needed to get olive subsidy ,and when recently selling a car.

[tjtops]

Asking the same question on different sections of the forum will not achieve different answers.

You cannot renew NIE numbers - they are issued for life just like UK National Insurance numbers - what is difficult to understand about that?

Sid...there's no need for this kind of remark. I was merely posting here because it is now a separate issue, and I figured maybe different people might see it.

And for the umpteenth time, I KNOW PERFECTLY WELL -- AND HAVE SAID SEVERAL TIMES -- THAT THE ACTUAL NUMBER IS ISSUED FOR LIFE; The problem is the b****y piece of paper it's written on. Tell you what, you go and tell the AEG health centre they're talking out of their a*ses then......

Enrique: Thank you

[tjtops]

The new Green form............."Certificado de Registro de Cuidadano de La Union"

Just followed the link, but this appears to be for RESIDENTS...and my friend isn't...and neither am I for that matter......
So back to the question....AGAIN!!!! Please could someone explain what the 'register for foreigners is??' (and I thought no-one was supposed to be a 'foreigner' any more.....aren't we all Europeans???)

[julian]

if the health centre insist on you having it, go to the national police station and get it, take passport, old NIE document, money, fotos etc...the usual stuff, and fotocopies of everything !

go with the flow rather than trying to swim upstream.

we are europeans, but some europeans are french, some are english, some are germans , some are spanish etc etc (still)

[Enrique]

Hi tjtops,
Guess its like most things in Spain, depends on who is asking , and the way they see it.
I'm not resident but was told to get the form before I could deal with the local olive mill. It was also asked for when selling a car.
As I said ,had to go to the "Foreigners office " in Jaén to get it.

[tjtops]

Well said Julian...story of life out here isn't it!!
So if I just poll up to Malaga, say (can't stand the thought of Fuengirola, remembering the endless queues etc a few years ago!!) with all the bits of paper etc etc and say (in my best Spanish, natch!¬) 'We want to renew our NIE'......will that do the trick, do you think???
And sorry if I'm being dense, but what exactly IS the register of foreigners FOR tho....??? And is it a legal requirement???

[julian]

to know who is where I guess, for the police and for statistics etc

it´s a simple thing to do so I don´t really see any reason not to do it

[Jool]

Julian,

What is this Register of Foreigners please?

I have my old style white NIE and my certificate of fiscal residency (which does not say anything about dates and seems to be a for life one unless I declare otherwise)

AS far as I know I don´t need anything else? With a fiscal cert you don´t need the green residents cert apparently

[julian]

the fiscal cert is from hacienda and has no connection with the police certificate as far as I know

[Jool]

But what is this police certificate? I have been here many years and never heard about or needed one?

[tjtops]

it´s a simple thing to do so I don´t really see any reason not to do it

Julian, if it's so simple, then why can't someone tell me what to do, where to go?? (politely of course.....) and how much it costs??

So is the NIE certificate a 'police' certificate or a tax one??? I thought that by its very title (Extranjero) it wasn't intended for 'residents' and so (presumably) not for hacienda????
God I'm confused...and just as I thought I was beginning to see the wood for the proverbial arbores here.....
PS...I echo Jool's question too!!!

[Paula]

TJ there are no queues at Fuengirola anymore, nobody needs NIE's nowadays. The helpful English translator chap is still in there a lot of the time, maybe he can write a note for you to take back to the health centre.

[tjtops]

nobody needs NIE's nowadays.

OMG...another curved ball!!! Por que no???

[El Cid]

Sid...there's no need for this kind of remark. I was merely posting here because it is now a separate issue, and I figured maybe different people might see it.

Sorry for that.

It's been covered so many times before I am surprised you hadn't seen it.

You are legally obliged to sign onto the register of foreigners if you stay in Spain for more than 90 days in one go. It effectively replaces the old "Residencia Card" system.

Under EU law EU citizens have the right of free movement within the EU but are only allowed to stay in one member state for 90 days as a "tourist". After that period the state can require that you register as a foreigner and you may have to prove sufficient income and proof of healthcare. Spain chooses not to impose the income/health rules so all you have to do is sign the register.

You can read about it on the UK embassy site http://ukinspain.fco.gov.uk/en/help-for ... idence-req

You can download the application form here

http://www.map.es/servicios/servicios_o ... s/EX16.pdf

You need your passport and a photocopy of it plus the fee of €10 - that's all.

Registering in no way affects your tax residency status - that is an entirely different matter.

Sid

[tjtops]

OK Sid...I forgive you
Thing is...I DON'T spend 90 continuous days here..neither does my friend. And neither of us want to be 'resident'.....but seems she can't be registered at the health centre without this blasted 'NEW' NIE certificate, and it looks as though either or both of us will be scuppered if/when we need to change our car etc etc......( so it's beginning to look like stalemate. Spain 2 'Foreigners' 0.....AGAIN!!!!
PS...No bl***y wonder wood is so dear/scarce in Spain......they've cut down all the trees to supply the useless, pointless bureaucrats with their beloved sodding paper!!! Has Spain ever thought of going into therapy to try and cure its obsession with paperwork???

[julian]

tjtops, I think you need to talk to a gestoria, as many times as it´s explained to you here you still don´t seem to be able to understand it.

registering on it will not make you a resident, it will not make you spanish, and it will not stop you being a foreigner !!

it would take you less time to get the damn thing than fighting against getting it.
if the health centre wants to see it, and you want to use the health centre, then get it, it is cheap and easy to get and doesn´t take long.
maybe it would be quicker to go to Brussels and get the european regulations changed?

[tjtops]

If people took the trouble to use the correct terms then there wouldn't be a problem. One minute it's referred to as a 'police certificate.' Then, it's a foreigners' register....then a 'residencia' (

It effectively replaces the old "Residencia Card" system.

...another time there is 'no such thing'....so is it any wonder?
Also, being gratuitously rude doesn't get anyone anywhere. And if you believe everything your average rural gestoria tells you, then you deserve every bit of wrong information you're likely to get. (Look at some of the other ongoing subjects in the forum).
THAT is why I have been trying to get the DEFINITIVE answer which, if you can remember that far back, is what I asked for in the first place. Hey ho. You don't know either so why not just say so?

[El Cid]

If people took the trouble to use the correct terms then there wouldn't be a problem. One minute it's referred to as a 'police certificate.' Then, it's a foreigners' register....then a 'residencia

If you want the correct terms for this new procedure this is from the relevant law.

Artículo 7. Residencia superior a tres meses de ciudadanos de un Estado miembro de la Unión Europea o de otro Estado parte en el Acuerdo sobre el Espacio Económico Europeo.

1. Los ciudadanos de un Estado miembro de la Unión Europea o de otro Estado parte en el Acuerdo sobre el Espacio Económico Europeo tienen derecho a residir en territorio español por un período superior a tres meses. Los interesados estarán obligados a solicitar personalmente ante la Oficina de Extranjeros de la provincia donde pretendan permanecer o fijar su residencia o, en su defecto, ante la Comisaría de Policía correspondiente, su inscripción en el Registro Central de Extranjeros. Dicha solicitud deberá presentarse en el plazo de tres meses contados desde la fecha de entrada en España, siéndole expedido de forma inmediata un certificado de registro en el que constará el nombre, nacionalidad y domicilio de la persona registrada, su número de identidad de extranjero, y la fecha de registro.

As for the original NIE form that is not renewable as such. The confusion arises from the fact that many "offices" are now asking for the new form, probably in the mistaken idea that it is a new NIE form - it is not.

You are still able to apply for an NIE without signing onto the register - you would need to do that if you were buying property in Spain with no intention of living there for more than a few weeks each year.

The Spanish are very good at passing new laws but not so good at explaining them to the people who have to administer the new procedures!

As for getting a definitive answer on anything like this - how many would you like?

Sid