How to get NIE and work in Spain?

Get a NIE and work in Spain ! It is quite easy if you are an european citizen. The NIE (Número de Identidad de Extranjero) means Foreign Identity Number. It is a mandatory number to work in Spain. This document is super important to live a normal life in Spain. For example, if you want to register and use a public bike, the platform will ask for your NIE number !

How to get a NIE  and work in Spain? Here are the steps following my own experience.

To get a NIE and work in Spain, you will have to:

1. Find a job in Spain ;
2. Take a NIE appointment ;
3. Gather the necessary documents ;
4. Go to the police station for the appointment ;
5. Pay the tax and get your NIE card ;).

Find a job in Spain

To obtain a NIE and legally work in Spain, you need an “empadronamiento”. It is a proof you have a job in Spain. The empadronamiento can be a job offer (sent and signed by you before having your official work contract), or your work contract itself.

Therefore, you cannot ask for a NIE if you did not find a job yet. And it is tricky because sometimes companies prefer to hire people who already get a NIE.

Good to know : once you get your NIE number, you don’t need to start the procedure again. You will keep the same number for life ! 

Take a NIE appointment at the Police Station

Here we have two cases : you either have a home address in Spain or you don’t.

Home Address outside Spain

If you want to start a NIE procedure and do not have any address in Spain, you will have to take an appointment at a Spanish consulate. For french people, you can for example take an NIE appointment at the Spanish Consulate in Paris using this link.

Home address in Spain and NIE

If you have your home address in Spain, you only have to make an appointment at a police station located in your city. 

And here comes the tricky part.

Why? There is apparently a black market of NIE appointments. 

Let me explain. 

How To Get A NIE Appointment Online?

To take an appointment for NIE in Spain you have to go to this website.

Then, follow the steps to take an online NIE appointment:

1. Select the province where you will work, and click on “Aceptar”. ; 
2. Choose the police station you want to go to. Honestly, the location of the police station does not matter. Therefore, and in case appointments are available, I suggest you select “cualquier oficina”. It is actually the default option. ;
3. Select the reason for the appointment. It should be “Policía – Certificados y Asignación NIE”. Be careful, if you are not from Europe you have to select the one with written “(NO COMUNITARIOS)”, and click on Aceptar. ;
4. Check the documentation you have to provide. You are now on a page where you can click on links and access forms. You will have to fulfill the form Tasa 790 012 . I will come back to this step later. Don’t pay attention to the taxes because at the end everyone pays 12€ :). ;
5. Open the Tasa 790 012 to fulfill it later, and click on “Entrar” ;
6. Check your identity : select “PASAPORTE” because the passport is the document you currently have to check your identity. In front of “*NIE”, enter your passport number. Fulfill your complete name (second name included) and click on “Aceptar” ;
7. Check that all information are correct and click on “Solicitar Cita” ;
8. Take the appointment. However, and this is why this part is tricky, appointments are never available. Instead of having a proposal for a date and a time, the following message will appear :

Why does this message appear? 

I was not joking when I was saying there is a black market of NIE appointments. Apparently, some agents are taking many appointments in advance in order to sell the appointment slots. 

This is why you can only get a NIE appointment through either your company, an agency, or someoneyouknowwhoknowsomeone. Guanxi, baby! 

Getting a NIE appointment for real

The someone thing 

In reality, and this is very common in Barcelona (I don’t know for other cities), a friend simply gives you the WhatsApp contact of someone who can get a NIE appointment for you.

I paid this someone 50€ and got my appointment the week after. This person takes 25€ to take a normal appointment and 50€ to get it urgently. If you want my contact, send me an email to sarah.caballero.pro@gmail.com.

Your company

You can also ask your company and ask if they can get an appointment for you. This is the case for big companies like the one I work for now, but many companies do not provide this service in Barcelona.

An agency 

The last option, and probably the most expensive one, is to contact an agency. If you search for “NIE appointment” on Google, many of them will pop up. However, I would not trust them unless you know someone who successfully got their NIE with them. 

Gather the necessary document to get a NIE number and work

Congrats, you now have an appointment to get your NIE number. Let’s now gather the following documents : 

1. Appointment copy ;
2. Passport and first page copy ;
3. “Empadronamiento” : your job offer or work contract ; 
4. EX-18 form fulfilled and printed ;
5. TASA 790-12 form fulfilled and printed.

NIE appointment copy 

Once you arrive at the police station, you will have to justify your presence by showing a proof of appointment and a proof of your identity. The agent will ask to have a look at your appointment paper and your passport. You should therefore print the appointment confirmation you received. Sometimes, showing it on your phone is not enough.

Passport and first page copy

Of course, you will need your passport to go through the process. Don’t forget to bring a copy of the first page as well. This is a mandatory document you must have to ask for your NIE number.

Empadronamiento

I said it previously : no job, no NIE. To apply for a NIE number, you first need a job and proof of it. The police station accepts either job offers (the first document a company makes you sign) or the full work contract. 

I recommend you make a copy of all the pages. I know it can be overwhelming when your work contract is 100 pages but you never know. Make sure as well to have the pages signed by both parties, with your starting date, name of company, your name and address.

Good to know : the address you provide to do your NIE the first time will be your official fiscal address in Spain. Some organism, like the Spanish bank when you first open an account, will need this address even if you moved apartment

Complete EX-18 form 

You can find the EX-18 form here. You have to print it and complete it.

How to fulfill it? Here some indications about what to fulfill : 

Section : 1) DATOS DEL SOLICITANTE

• Pasaporte : Passport number ;
• 1er Apellido : Family Name ;
• Sexo : Gender (H : Man ; M : Female) ;
• Fecha de Nacimiento : Birth Date (Day/Month/Year) ;
• País : Country ; 
• Nacionalidad : Nationality ;
• Estado Civil : Status (S : Single ; C : In Couple ; V : Widower ; D : Divorced ; Sp : Separated) ; 
• Nombre del padre : Father name ;
• Nombre de la madre : Mother name ;
• Domicilio en Espana : Address
• Localidad : City ;
• C.P. : Postal Code ; 
• Provincia : Province (in my case Barcelona too) ; 
• Telefono Movil : Phone Number ; 
• E-mail : E-Mail. 

Section 2) DATOS DEL REPRESENTANTE A EFECTOS DE PRESENTACIÓN DE LA SOLICITUD(5) 

I left this section empty. 

Section 3) DOMICILIO A EFECTOS DE NOTIFICACIONES

• Nombre/Razón social : Name and surname ;
• DNI/NIE/PAS : Passport number ;
• Domicilio en Espana : Address in Spain ; 
• Localidad : City ; 
• C.P. : Postal Code ;
• Provincia : City ;
• Telefono Movil : Phone Number ; 
• E-mail : E-mail
• Nombre y apellido del titular : Name and surname.

Section 4) SITUACIÓN EN ESPAÑA(7)

• PERÍODO PREVISTO DE RESIDENCIA EN ESPAÑA INDEFINIDO. FECHA DE INICIO DE LA RESIDENCIA EN ESPAÑA(2)…../…../…… complete here with the date you arrived in Spain ;
• No DE FAMILIARES QUE ACOMPAÑAN O SE REÚNEN CON EL SOLICITANTE EN ESPAÑA  0 (complete with how many family number are with you in Spain) ;
• Tick the following boxes : 

□ RESIDENCIA TEMPORAL

□ Trabajador por cuenta ajena

• Don’t forget to tick the little box : □ Las personas abajo firmantes se hacen responsables de la veracidad de los datos consignados y de la documentación que se acompaña.(8) ; 
• Fulfill the name and date and firm the document.

Fulfill Tasa 790-12 form

Contrary to the EX-18, you have to fulfill this document online first, and then print it. You will find it here : https://sede.policia.gob.es/Tasa790_012/ImpresoRellenar

Here some indications to complete the document : 

Section 1 IDENTIFICACION

• N.I.F./N.I.E. : Passport number ;
• Apellidos o nombre o razon social : Name and surname ;
• Tipo de via : Type of street address (street, avenue…)
• Nombre de la vía pública : Name of the street ; 
• Num. : Street number ; 
• Escalera : Stairs number 
• Piso : Floor ; 
• Puerta : Door ; 
• Telefono : Phone Number ; 
• Municipio : City ;
• Provincia : Province/City (I put Barcelona here too) ;
• Codigo Postal : Postal Code.

Section 2 AUTOLIQUIDACION

• Tick the box PRINCIPAL ; 
• Then, among all the boxes to tick you have to tick only one : 
  • “Certificado de registro de residente comunitario o tarjeta de residencia familiar de un ciudadano de la unión”.

Section 3 DECLARANTE

• Localidad : City ;
• Fecha : Date.

Section 4 INGRESO

• Importe euros : Fulfill with 12 (you will pay 12 euros for the tax) ;
• Forma de pago : Tick “En efectivo” (paying in cash, but in reality you pay at BBVA) ;
• Fulfill the Captcha and click on “Descargar impreso relleñado”. 

Don’t forget to print the documents ! 

Go to the police station for the appointment

You fulfilled all the documents, made the copies, and you are ready for your NIE appointment. Thiw is how the appointment goes : 

Police Station Appointment

Don’t forget to print the appointment confirmation. At the police station entrance, show it to the police officer along with your passport. I went there with all my documents and waited about 20 minutes before attending the appointment.

The police officer told me to go to pay the tax at BBVA bank, then come back with the ticket. He gave me the tax number I had to enter in the ATM to pay the tax.

Can the police officer refuse to give me a NIE?

As I know, the police station will give you a NIE as long as you receive a job offer. I don’t know anyone who did not get their NIE. Otherwise, I have some friends who were asked to bring additional documents based on their personal situation.

Pay the tax and obtain your NIE

If you process with an agency, you may not have to go through the same process as I did.

For me, the steps were the following :

1. Give my documents to the police officer ;
2. Confirm my information with him ;
3. Taking the tax number he gave me to pay the tax ;
4. Paying the tax at BBVA bank : BBVA bank is a popular bank in Spain. You can recognize it by its blue branding. They offer very convenient services, even if you are not a customer. Among them, the possibility to send money and pay taxes with cash, without having a Spanish bank account ;
5. Coming back to the police station with the proof of payment : Easiest step but longest one for me. I came back to the police station after having paid the tax and had to wait about 40 minutes just to give my ticket to the police officer. Once done, he just came back with my NIE card ! 

Good to know : You have many BBVA banks, just google it to find the closest one! You don’t need to go inside the bank, just to find the ATM outside. They are open 24/24h and many languages are available. Just select “Taxes” and follow the steps. I paid 12€ as mentioned at the end of the EX-18 form. You may have 1€ fee for the transaction as well.

 That’s it! I am happy if this article helped you to get your NIE. All the things I wrote are coming from my personal experience and can differ from your personal situation. Don’t hesitate to do more research and ask friends, mostly if you are not coming from a European country. And if you are going to travel, you should definitely come to Montserrat!

So, are you coming to work in Spain?