[mh]

I and my wife have just signed the contract to buy a holiday home in the middle of Spain. We successfully applied for our NIE numbers (in a mere 12 minutes!!), valid for 3 months, after which, the notary and the bank tell us, we will need a Non-Residency Certificate.

What is a Non-Residency Certificate, and where and how does one apply for a Non-Residency Certificate?

Any hints and tips to repeating our 12 minute exercise would be appreciated. Thanks.

[pizzacheaze]

Do you have a Spanish bank account yet? They usually apply for this on your behalf and bill you something like 20 euros every 2 years for renewing.

That’s how mine is done anyway.

[mh]

No, I do not have an account yet. It is Santander who is asking and they are not offering to apply on my behalf. Such a move would be useful. I am also left somewhat puzzled as to how I prove a negative?

[GLF]

Just been advised of the NIE process. How did you manage a 12 minute registration? How long before you received the certificate?

[mh]

GLF, How did I manage 12 minutes? I joined the queue but in Segovia there are not many foreigners. How long before I received the certificate? The next morning. When the same policeman from the day before saw me in the queue, he called me straight to his desk – everything was ready, one minute and done! All services in Segovia seem to be very smooth and very quick (but there is no beach!).

[Barbara Ingenbleek, Euro Economics]

You are the owner of a Spanish fiscal number; the so called NIE-nummer. The number is printed on a piece of paper with a deadline. The number is yours and will never be changed.

Sometimes you need to apply for a new piece of that paper with a new deadline, if you would like to carry out legal transactions. It is just again a visit to the police station.

 

[mh]

Barbara, this is correct but the bank wants more than a NIE. (To be frank, given the ease with which I acquired the NIE, I would not accept it as proof of anything!) The number is valid for three months, after which the number is reassigned to another applicant – so the Police tell me.

The bank is very clear that there is in Spain a ‘certificate of residency’ and a ‘certificate of non-residency’ – it is the latter that I now seek (though no one outside the bank seems to have heard of such a non-residency certificate??). All very odd.

[Author]

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