THE NIE Number

What is a NIE?

An NIE Number is a tax identification (Número de Identificación de Extranjero) number to be used in Spain. Prior to purchasing a property, selling a property, obtaining a mortgage, starting up a business or working in Spain, it is a requirement by law that every individual possess an NIE Number.

Once issued an NIE number, it will never change, irrelevant of marital status, name changes or residence status. The NIE Number is a national number, and therefore the location of application is irrelevant as the number can be used throughout the whole of Spain and the Canary and Balearic Islands and Melilla.

Both European Union and those from outside the EU need an NIE.

Why get one?

Unfortunately there is frequently talk of people asking if there is any need of getting the NIE. It is perfectly true that there is a lot of illegal workers, especially in the Balearic islands and the majority work pretty much without problems. Balearic Jobs continues to recommend to all of our readers that they get their NIE and there is a couple of good reasons why.

Firstly, its your right, especially if you are an EU citizen! It gives you easier access to the health care system, the European Health Card is meant for tourists, indeed one of the clauses are "I understand that should any person on this application decide to remain abroad to live or work, then the relevant authorities must be informed and the EHIC returned." It also gives you uncomplicated access to employee rights (which are very good in Spain) and finally it means you will be legal. You are illegal if you work in Spain for a Spanish registered company without an NIE number regardless of the duration. And that's not mentioning that they are required to open a bank account (please please don't fall into the stupid trap of putting it under the mattress/jar/book, so many workers have had a rude awakening), buying and indeed sometimes renting a property and much more besides. Our advice is too always keep on the right side of the police in Spain.

The second reason is your a guest in Spain. Please respect the Spanish people and pay the tax you owe for staying in their fantastic country and enjoying the culture and life style. How do you feel about immigrants in the UK that work illegally and "sponge" off hard working people such as yourself?

Applying for it.

The application process can be laborious and time consuming and it seems like it is subject to change with little notice. For example many Balearic Jobs members were reporting last year (2007) that they were unable to get an NIE without a pre-contract from there employers but the same was not true on mainland Spain.

The are 4 ways we know of;

1. You can normally go the main police station, in Ibiza this is in Ibiza (Evissa) Town and queue to get the form and then queue again to actually apply for it. However a little insiders tip is that you can pick up the form in places like the Ship Workers Pub in San An, Ibiza (who many workers have reported that they have copies) - remember to buy a beer to say "cheers" please!
2. You can download the form here, fill it in and take it to the police station- however we would like to stress that because of the frequent changes this may not be the latest version. However it may be a good idea to download this to get an idea how to fill out the latest form.
3. Contact the Spanish consulate, in the UK this is 020 7589 8989 and ask them about their procedure. Although it is likely to involve you traveling to the consulate and may require more than one visit and documents. Do not turn up on their door step as you are very unlikely to be seen. Please also be aware this method (we are advised) can take approximately 16 weeks, therefore method 4 which takes under 2 weeks maybe a better option.
4. You can do it online. Use a service such as NIE Number Direct. Obviously there is a fee involved however imagine the convenience of doing this all from the UK, avoiding all the queues and the headaches that are involved in this ever changing system. Click here to go to the site.

As we say, the NIE system is an ever changing system - we would really appreciate you reporting your experience on our message board, please click here to do that. That way we can see any inaccuracies in this article and others will also benefit. Thank you. If you are not comfortable using the message board system, you can contact us directly here.