So we went online to figure out how this could be done. There were quite some posts of people asking how this was done and a lot of replies of how difficult it could be. There is a form which needs to be filled. Which sounds easy but many where send away because of one mistake. And some things seem clear like an address but are not. Did we need to fill in our dutch address or an address in Spain? There were different stories about that.
As it is possible to get a NIE in the Spanish consulate we first tried that. When there would be a problem we could return any day until all was fine. Also it could take some day's or weeks before it is ready and than too we could easily return. But we could not book online. After making a call they told us the only way was to book online and we needed to check every day and wait until there would be a free spot. After a week or two we gave up.
After some more searching online we found that it was possible to get help from notaries or special agencies to do it. But that would take 2 to 4 months and cost about 250 euros per NIE. In February we would be in Spain for a week so we could at least try to get the NIE ourselves.
Maaike prepared the forms, for every question we would not understand, we made different versions. So in the end we ended up with a pile of forms and some empty ones, just in case. After some more searching I found a website where we could book an appointment. It was a site with about 6 step wizard with in the first step an option to select a location and in the last step an agenda for making the appointment. To get to know which locations were possible I had to go through the full wizard every time. Besides that the English version did not work, only after some url editing on my side I could get most in English. After an evening going back and forth through the wizard we had found 2 locations which we could book and were on our route.
Just to be sure Maaike called both places and asked how the process would be. They told us it would take about 15 days to a month. Although we only read it would be 5 days or sometimes immediately. We hoped we could still start the process and collect the NIE during our next vacation.
We were quite nervous about the whole process as we also had pressure getting the NIE for our appointment with the notary the next day. So with our pile of forms we went to Miranda de Ebro where our appointment with the police was. But first we needed to pay for it at a bank. We waited for our turn and when it was our turn we needed to go to a special payment desk and there it was only possible to pay on the next day and before 11 o'clock. Luckily the bank employee was ok with helping us on Monday. He even was ok with making a photocopy of our double sided printed form, as he needed to keep one side of it and we the other. We paid 9,85 euros and got in return a nice stamp on our form. Step 1 successfully done.
Then we went to the police station, after some waiting it was our turn. We where not allowed to go together, luckily Maaike was first so she went in and I waited for about 15 minutes. And then Maaike came out with a big smile telling me she asked the lady how long it would take to get the NIE. The lady pointed at the form in her hand with the NIE number already on it. As Maaike told the lady for me all was the same I only needed to go in and sit and watch. The stiff lady did not say a word or even smiled. She just did a lot of typing on two different computers and than pointed on a paper where I needed to sign. And yes I to got a form with a nice number (or actually a string as it starts with a Z).
Long story short: getting a NIE is so easy.
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