[Anonymous]

I am in the processs of buying an apartment in the Costa Blanca and have been told I can obtain my NIE number is the uK, by visiting the Spanish Consulate, is this true, try to phone them in London but no answer?

If the answer is yes it would save me a trip out.

thankyou for any help

[Anonymous]

Hi

Yes there two consulates to apply for an NIE nos , London ,Manchester. they dont supply the forms , but you can download them from Ideal spain web site. with instructions on how to fill them in. in English.

Am doing mine as we speak at Manchester.

Mike

[Anonymous]

thanks for that Mike, do you have to personally visit the consulate, as i live in northern ireland, this would be a problem?

[Anonymous]

Hi Matchey,

You do have to visit the consulate in person. For the best instructions on how to obtain an NIE number plus forms to download and information on consulates have a look at this page: http://www.spanishpropertyinsight.com/spanish_property_nie.htm
If you find that the link to Spanish consulates in the UK and worldwide on this page isn’t working let me know. It wasn’t working when I tried it just now, the reason being that the website of the government department responsible seems to be temporarily down.

I hope that helps.

Mark

[Anonymous]

fantastic Mark, all the answers i needed, i had been searching the web for this info and couldnt find anything good and straightforward

The completion date for my purchase is 7th May but i cant go over till 28th May so i am giving my solicitor power of attorney, but wasnt sure if i needed to get the NIE number first and needed to be there personally. Your article covers everything.

Just to confirm with you, i can get the NIE number after the purchase?

thanks again, much appreciated
Paul (matchey)

the link to the consulates is still down will try later

[Anonymous]

In many cases you don’t need an NIE number to buy a property in Spain – you can use your passport. However you will need to get your NIE in time to pay the property taxes you will face as a consequence of the purchase and as an owner of property in Spain (both as a resident or non-resident).

Mark

[Anonymous]

Link to consulates worldwide now working:
http://www.spanishpropertyinsight.com/spanish_property_nie.htm

[Anonymous]

thanks again Mark apreciate your time and help.

Paul

[Anonymous]

Not sure what you are up to here Mark, but your posting dates and response dates don’t add up! Are you you and ‘Matchey-Paul’ the same person?

[Anonymous]

definately not the same person, dont understand what you mean about the date thing !! I think you need to check the dates and times again.

i am in the process of buying an apartment in the costs blanca for the 1st time and have got great help and advice from this web site in, in 2 weeks and long hours of searching its the best web site i have seen for people thinking of buying in spain

Matchey
17:51 (time in Northern Ireland)
15th April 2005

[Anonymous]

Jaspar,

This forum attempts to provide foreign buyers of property in Spain with useful information and the means to learn from the experiences of others. If you don’t find this forum useful, or suspect it in any way, then please don’t feel obliged to waste any more of your time here.

Mark, Barcelona.

[Anonymous]

Mark ,
I have got my mortgage through CAM bank in Spain, and they have told my lawyer that an NIE number is compulsory before they can complete the sale?

I see from the site you can goto a Spanish Consulate to process your NIE number but they are in mainland UK I am in Northern Ireland

Do you know anyway around this?

appreciate your help

Matchey

[Anonymous]

Hi Matchey,

The fact that your bank is insisting on an NIE number the day you complete and that you are not going to the signing of deeds in person (and therefore can’t request your NIE at the same time) makes it all pretty complicated.

You are not legally required to have an NIE number to complete the sale (signing the deeds before a notary) as you can do this with your passport number. However if your mortgage lender insists on it then you have no option but to get one. It seems that some lenders insist on it and some don’t, though more and more are doing so.

Your problem is that you won’t have time to get an NIE number between now and 7th May, which is only 10 working days away. Even if you were to apply in person in Spain this Monday you almost certainly wouldn’t have it by the 7th May as it usually takes at least 15 days. If you were to apply via a consulate from abroad then it takes even longer.

By the way the 7th May is a Saturday and Notaries don’t work on Saturdays. Are you sure that this is the date for completion? What is actually going to happen on 7th May?

I suggest 2 possible solutions:

1) Delay the date of completion to give yourself time to sort out an NIE number. Is this possible?

2) Ask the bank whether they will accept proof that you have requested an NIE number and are waiting for it but not actually yet received it. This gives you time between now and the 7th May to request an NIE number, either in Spain or at a consulate in the UK. If they aren’t too bloody-minded they should accept this solution as you can prove that you have request your NIE number and will receive it in time to pay the necessary taxes (and inscribe the property and mortgage in the land registry, which is what really concerns them).

But if they accept this solution take care with requesting the NIE number from the UK as I don’t know how long it takes and it might not arrive in time, even if you were to request it straight away.

Regards your question as to whether there is a way you can apply from Northern Ireland the answer is ‘not really’. You will either have to go to London, Manchester or Edinburgh, or better still travel to Spain and do it yourself (much quicker result).

I say ‘not really’ because it is still possible in some parts of Spain to apply for an NIE number through a 3rd party, even without power of attorney. The law says you have to apply in person or have someone with power of attorney certified by a Notary do it for you. However these regulations are still ‘overlooked’ in some places. Get back to me on this if all other options fail you. But bear in mind that even if this were possible you would almost certainly not have your NIE number by 7th May, so it’s not really a solution if your bank insists on an NIE number for the 7th May.

You need to talk to you bank about your options. They want you to take their mortgage – it’s a competitive market after all – so I would imagine they would come to some sort of accommodation if you can convince them that you will have your NIE number in good time to pay the taxes (deadline 30 days after the signing of deeds).

Mark

[Anonymous]

Mark,
just giving u an update i am heading over to Spain to complete on Monday 2nd May, and on Tuesday morning 5:30am my fiscal rep is bringing me to Alicante to get my nie number, aparantly they give 15 out in the morning in a first come first serve basis.
will keep you informed on how it goes

Matchey

[Anonymous]

This information is from the Agencia Tributaria, the equivalent of HMR&C in the UK:

http://www.agenciatributaria.es/

Every person in Spain is assigned a Fiscal Identification Number which is used for all tax returns and correspondence with the Tax Administration. In the case of Spanish nationals, this number is the same as the National Identity Number, “DNI”, while in the case of foreign individuals, the number is the Foreign Individual Identity Number, “NIE”, which is obtained at the General Directorate of Police. However, nationals belonging to member states of the European Union and other states subscribing to the Agreement for European Economic Space, are not obliged to request an identity number as a foreigner and may ask to be assigned a Fiscal Identification Number from the Spanish Tax Authorities.

Diego
Spanish Independent Agent
Based in the UK
diegomgar@btinternet.com

[Anonymous]

nationals belonging to member states of the European Union and other states subscribing to the Agreement for European Economic Space, are not obliged to request an identity number as a foreigner and may ask to be assigned a Fiscal Identification Number from the Spanish Tax

This has been modified, the aeat website is not updated… since Madrid and London Bombings only Spanish consulates in foreign countries and foreigners offices of the Police in Spain are entitled to issue the NIEs (there, although legal term is 2 days to five weeks to issue it, usually you get it the same day, London Consulate takes an average of five weeks)

Cesar

[Anonymous]

Cesar,

That maybe the case in the rest of Spain but if you live within the Siero or Oviedo areas here in Asturias, you have to follow a completly different procedure!!! It took 5 months for us to get our NIE!

1st spend about a month trying to get through to the office in Oviedo for an appointment, then get an appointment in May (it was Jan)! Now we are waiting 3 months for our cards….

If we had lived in the Gijon area, we could have walked into the police station with a foriegners desk and got it straight away….

We did buy our house JUST using our passport numbers BUT our estate agent got us a NIF (fiscal number) so we could pay the taxes…obviously far easier to get than a NIE for the obvious reasons 🙂

Heather

[Anonymous]

Heather,

It took 5 months for us to get our NIE!

I always go to Oviedo’s foreigners office with my clients (Gijón’s Police Station does not issue NIEs anymore) and I always get the NIE right away, it takes about ten minutes… not more. Only once we had to wait to the next day as they had some computer problem.

If you are waiting for a card it is just because you didn’t ask for the NIE only but the full Spanish resident card (the one that looks just like our national DNI) and that is completely different. Because as being UE citizens you do not have to ask for an appointment if you only need the number -not the card- and you have all your papers with you (passport & form) you are not given the card, just a plain certificate with the number… and that’s all you need!!!!

Cesar

[Anonymous]

No, asked just for NIE, had been told that you couldn’t just walk in. We have some friends who had exactly the same experience. One of them is working in a language school and the school refused to issue a contract until he had his NIE…caused loads of problems and it really annoyed us both that it felt like we probably could have got away with just walking in as it wasn’t exactly busy!!

Will see what arrives in the post in 3 months time….

Heather

[Author]

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