How to get your NIE-Número de Identidad de Extranjero in Spain
What is NIE?
NIE, which is short for Numero de Identidad de Extranjero in Spanish which translates to foreign identity number. This is your personal tax number for Spain. This allows you to do a variety of legal processes in Spain, but since our focus is on getting you or your company a VAT number we won’t discuss outside this scope. There are several steps in getting a VAT number for Spain, getting an NIE number is one step in the process. This is your guide on how to get your NIE inside Spain.
Why do I need an NIE number?
The Spanish process to get a VAT number to sell on Amazon was by far the most arduous out of any of the Pan-European countries. Why do you need the NIE number? I can’t really say it makes any logical sense, but it is required in order to register for VAT in Spain and we jumped through the hoops to get ours. Fortunately there are a few options to get it.
Getting you NIE in Spain
This might not make a lot of sense for the majority of people, but if you fancy a trip to Spain or you happen to be going there already, you can get your NIE number in Spain.
The first obstacle, a lot of service providers book up the appointments to get the NIE number and it can be difficult to get in the big cities of Barcelona or Madrid. Fortunately, you can travel to another city if there is an appointment available and you can reserve your appointment there.
Make your appointment
To make your appointment go to the Official Spanish Government Site. Once you are on the page, you will see “Cita previa de extranjería” or in English “appointments for foreigners”. You can scroll down to the red button that says “Acceder al Procedimiento”.
Choose the province you want to make the appointment in and then click “Aceptar”. There will be two drop down windows, the first one you can leave at the default. The second one scroll down to “POLICIA-CERTIFCADOS Y ASIGNACION NIE” and then click “Aceptar”. I noticed in different provinces the exact selection for the NIE was worded differently. If the province of choice doesn’t have the exact wording above, just look for NIE and maybe use google translate for the correct selection.
On the next page you will accept some terms, e.g. you aren’t in the country illegally. You can translate and read through these. Click “Entrar”.
On the next page. You will choose how you will reserve your appointment. Select “pasaporte” and enter your passport number.
Below you will enter your first and last name. And again click “Aceptar”. On the next page you will verify your name and passport number and then click “Soliticar Cita”.
There is a strong possibility there are no appointments available and you will have to try again later or you can try a different city. When there is an appointment available, you will be brought to another page where you need to enter a phone number, this will need to be a Spanish number so pick up a sim card before you complete this. Enter your email and the reason for the NIE appointment. I simply put “para hacer negocios” - “to do business”. Which is the point you are getting the NIE and VAT number, to do business in Spain.
On the next page, choose your appointment location and then the time. Some cities have more than one office, choose which office is most convenient or has availability. Once you continue you will get to confirm your details and the appointment details and you are all ready to get your NIE. Click “Confirmar”.
Arriving for your appointment
Once you have your appointment , you will go to the office of Immigration or CNP at the address in your confirmation like the one in the image above. The finer details might vary from office to office and city to city, but you just need to choose the one related to getting your NIE. You will show the security guard your appointment confirmation, walk through the metal detector and your personal items will go through the X-ray machine. You will have a ticket number and proceed to the desk once your number is called. Once you are at the desk with the government clerk, they will verify a few details about your application. To note, it is unlikely the clerk will speak English, but it shouldn’t get too complicated to do it without much knowledge of Spanish. They will ask you for a local address, you can use your hotel or where you are staying.
Once the clerk does his/her required due diligence they will give you a paper with your code and you will go to a nearby bank/atm to make the payment.
Paying for your NIE
At the time of writing this the fee is 9.84. When you make the payment at the ATM, you should keep the receipt and return back to the office. Once I showed my proof of payment I got the NIE number on the spot. They give you a printed version with your NIE on it. Congratulations, you are one step closer to obtaining your Spanish VAT number. You can watch a step by step video as well here .