In this article I will talk about how did I get my Spanish NIE in Barcelona.
Getting the Nie in Barcelona isn’t an easy procedure, especially during a Covid Pandemic.
In order to live in Spain, you need the right visa, the Empadronamiento ( registration to the city council), the Seguridad Social the social security number in case you need to see a doctor and the NIE (similar to the NiNo in the Uk or Codice Fiscale in Italy or the TFN in Australia).
Meanwhile the Empadronamiento ( I love this word, it sounds so Spanish: em-pa-DRON amiento olè!) is easy to get because you just need to make an appointment and show your house contract and passport, but getting the NIE can be hard.
Then, why do I need a NIE
NIE is required for most of your activities in Spain: from buying a Tv to open a bank account to work of course.
In my case, I don’t have a job offer and I am holding a European passport.
It took me 17 days to get my NIE, on top of 3 months of lockdown.
Here’s my story on how did I get my NIE in Barcelona.
When you research online “What docs I need to live in Spain” Google will show you something like 500M results. It is overwhelming for a non-Spanish speaker and the official website is unclear. Nevertheless getting the appointment for the NIE seems harder than climbing the Himalayas. Some people I read said they waited up to 3 months.
Multilingual agencies can help, preparing all the paperwork, and the appointments for you in exchange for a fee. We are talking between 100 and 300 Euro.
Eva’s HR pointed us to an old colleague, now a law student, that can help both of us with a lower fee. Sounds good? Let’s call her Maria.
NIE and COVID Pandemic, a deadly duo.
March 2020, after one week from the arrival in Barcelona the COVID pandemic shouted EVERYTHING down, governament offices included. Hard lockdown where you can only go out for food shopping, pharmacy and hospital.
Hell on earth, especially if don’t have the right paper work in a new country where you just moved in…
In other words, for the first 3 months in Barcelona we couldn’t do anything, then towards June the situation changed and we went full on with the process to optain the NIE.
Can I get the NIE outside from Barcelona?
Maria after receiving and reviewing all our documentation put us on the list for an appointment in Barcelona but she mention that it’s gonna take ages. After two weeks of unnerving waiting, still no appointment.
We knew that the NIE is a Spanish doc that can be issued everywhere in Spain so we suggested we take an appointment somewhere else, maybe outside the city.
Without any further questions asked from Maria, she got us an appointment in Lleida, a city 200km north from Barcelona.
Game on, prepare all the paperwork that Maria pointed out and start to organize the journey to Lleida.
We printed off our Barclays bank statement in Pounds, and private health insurance stipulated a few days early.
Notes on the Health Insurance in order to get the NIE
I used isalud.com because it was the only one with customer service in English. I used the DVK for 26euro a month and it had to be from a Spanish Bank. Suggestion: avoid Axa for a consultation, they will bombard you with phone calls for a week. It wasn’t a smooth process.
Back to Lleida story…
Nothing magic about Lleida, besides the news 3 days before my appointment, that the city is back to lockdown due to the high number of Covid cases. Wwwhhhaaattt.
Come onnn! The only city in Spain back to lockdown is the one that I have to go to?!?!
Italian Drama in my mind.
Eventually we asked the police and they confirmed if I got an appointment and I held a self-declaration I am ok to go through.
I’m lucky also because my friend Giulio was able to give me a ride otherwise it would have cost me 70Euro each way.
On the day of the appointment, we easily passed the checkpoints and we entered Lleida where we waited in a parking lot for 4hours in 39C heat.
Feeling fresh as a daisy, we got to the police station and in 40min we were out, without NIE.
Thirty five waiting, and FIVE to be bounced back.
Reason?
The account must be in Euro, I need the local Empadronamineto and I also have to bring the entire health insurance policy.
Ok, mamma mia, stay calm Fabrizio.
Our journey to Lleida was a fiasco or as we say in Italy; un buco nell’acqua/ a hole in the water.
The health insurance policy could have been my mistake ( even though we forwarded all the documentation to let her check the day before), but we didn’t know about the bank statement or the local empadronamiento.
I don’t understand.
This mistake would have been ok if I was doing it by myself, but not when you pay for a service.
It is very frustrating.
To make it more interesting, I was trying to talk to Maria, but she wasn’t answering. The day after, she emailed to say that her phone went lost/robbed. ( Are you 15yo?)
The day after I felt like I had been run over by a train.
We pushed her and eventually we got another appointment the following week. And this time, not getting the NIE wasn’t an option.
We had to open a Spanish Bank account with an Insurance to get the NIE
After some extra research online we figured that it was possible to open a bank account with Caixa bank with just the Passport, but we had to stipulate health insurance with them.
And not a small one, a 120euro monthly health insurance that they told us is necessary to open a bank account with them.
Now, I don’t know if they played us, or if it’s true, but remember that neither I nor Eva speak Spanish. Talking to the police, bank and insurance officers half English and half Italian doesn’t make it easier.
So eventually we signed up for this insurance and in less then a day we boosted our new Spanish account in Euro. Thanks, Revolut.
We gathered all the information, and in less than 5 min I got the Nie. No questions were asked, everything was good.
Here is the list of my documentation:
- File EX18 filled correctly with a signature on the second page
- Tax paid with received attached ( through a BBVV bank atm, scan the code and pay)
- Printed appointment (cita previa)
- Passport copy
- Empadronamiento ( expire every 3 months, watch out!)
- Bank account in Euro (at least 5500, if not Spanish show 6/12 months statement)
- Private Health insurance ( Must show your name, need the complete policy, better in Spanish)
You have to print all these documents and sign them with a blue pen.
Final and personal thoughts.
After Australia, Ireland and the UK without doubts this one was the hardest piece of paper to get. Nothing compared to the UK where you can submit all your paperwork via postage and in 10days you get what you need.
Back to Mediterranen mentaly, I feel it’s very old school.
What I do suggest to do to get the NIE in Barcelona ASAP
To sum up my experience I will suggest finding a job before you arrive in Spain, because it’s gonna be waaaaaay easier, in fact instead of the Insurance and Bank statement you just show you the job offer. Easy.
If you don’t have a job offer yet, probably I will suggest one of those agencies, I mentioned in the beginning. Make sure they have a good rating and especially excellent customer service because when you apply for this paperwork you are gonna have a million questions.
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And if you are also looking for JOB: here a usefull link