The TIE, Foreigner Identification Card, is the document that must be processed once you have a visa or authorization for legal residence in Spain and that accredits the legal status of the foreigner in Spain. It is processed at the Police Station in the town where you live. In this article, we going to explain how to apply for the TIE.
In our case, the Non-Lucrative Visa, we had a period of 30 days from the time we entered to get it. This, from what we have read, can be flexible due to the difficulty of obtaining prior appointments. Which we will detail below.
The requirements to request the TIE are the following:
1- Application form in official model (EX-17)
2- Passport, original and valid
3- Proof of payment of the fee Model 790 Code 012
4- A recent color photograph, 32×26 millimeters/white background
Once the requirements are met, an Appointment must be obtained.
After explaining the documents that are needed, we will tell you how our process was.
Upon receiving our visa in Los Angeles, they gave us the link to obtain the appointment for the TIE, and told us that we had a period of 30 days as indicated on the Immigration page. As we wanted to speed up this process, we entered about 3 weeks before arriving in Spain and began the search for appointments, since you must have a telephone number in Spain to validate access with a text message, we used our friend’s number. They only asked for it once at the beginning of the process.
We have read a lot about the difficulty of getting appointments, in our case, we entered about two or three times and it was the third time that showed us the dates we wanted. So we proceeded to make an appointment for 5 days after our arrival.
TIP: We suggest entering several times and at random or unconventional times.
Step 1 and 2, 4 are very straightforward, step 3 which is the payment of the Model Rate 790 Code 012 was in our case a simple process, since we only went directly to a Caixa Bank branch and they told us that the payments were accepted Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 10AM to 12PM, if I remember correctly. So we came back the next day, Thursday, with the form already completed and they accepted the payment and gave us the receipt.
Step 5 is something that is not indicated in the documents to bring, however, it is mentioned in the list to make the Appointment. So by accessing this link we were able to obtain a copy of the “Resolucion Favorable”.
TIP: Our biggest question and what kept us awake at night was whether we should have the padron before applying for the TIE, according to the Immigration instructions, you should ONLY take the padron certificate “in case you have changed your address”. Just in case, I contacted the Ministry of the Interior through this link and they answered me a few days later that the padron was NOT needed. This is in Barcelona, apparently in other cities they do ask for it.
In this video we tell you how the appointment went (English subtitles available)
I hope this information has clarified some of your doubts. But if you have other questions, do not hesitate to contact us through any of our social networks or through here.
Como cuando… the paperwork is more confusing than you expected!
