Getting a NIE before you buy

What it is, and what it is not

The NIE is the identification number assigned by Spain to a foreign national for any dealing with the Spanish administration that has economic, professional or social consequences. It is not a residence permit, it does not authorise you to live in Spain, and it says nothing about whether you are tax resident. It is strictly a number, and it belongs to you permanently: once assigned, it does not change and it does not expire.

The document that carries it does look like it expires, which causes endless confusion. Certificates issued to non-residents state a validity period, normally three months. That period refers to the paper's usefulness as proof of identity, not to the number. Notaries and banks will nonetheless sometimes refuse an old certificate, which is worth knowing before a completion date.

The steps

1. Decide which route you are taking. In Spain, at a national police station handling foreign nationals. Outside Spain, at a Spanish consulate in your country of residence. Through a representative, with a notarial power of attorney. The routes are equivalent in result and very different in waiting time.
2. Book the appointment first. Appointments are the scarce resource, not the paperwork. In coastal provinces in summer they can be weeks out, and consulates in London, Dublin or major US cities run their own queues. Book before you do anything else and work backwards from the date.
3. Complete form EX-15. The standard application. Names must match your passport exactly, and the grounds have to be stated.
4. Pay the fee using form 790 with code 012. The amount is small. What matters is that the payment is stamped by a bank, or paid through the consulate as that consulate requires, before the appointment. Turning up with an unpaid form is the most common reason for being sent away.
5. Bring evidence of why you need it. This is the part applicants underestimate. A purchase justifies a NIE, but you have to show the purchase: a land registry extract for the property, a signed reservation or deposit contract, a letter from the estate agent or the notary. A vague intention to buy something one day is not a ground.
6. Bring your passport and a photocopy of it, and photographs if the office in question asks for them. Requirements vary by office and are published locally.
7. Collect the certificate and store it properly. Scan it. Save the scan somewhere you will find it in five years, because you will be asked for the number by a bank, a notary, a town hall, the tax office and a tourism register, and re-obtaining a lost certificate is far more tedious than obtaining the first one.

Who needs one, and how many

Situation	How many NIEs
A couple buying jointly	Two. One per person appearing on the deed, without exception
Buying in the name of a company	The company needs a Spanish tax number of its own, and the person signing needs a NIE
Children on the deed	One each, including minors
Inheriting a Spanish property	One per heir, before the estate can be settled
Only lending money for the purchase	None, unless you appear in the deed

What usually goes wrong

• The name does not match. Middle names, maiden names, accents, a passport renewed in a different format. Whatever is on the passport is what goes on the form, character for character, and whatever ends up on the NIE certificate is what must later go on the deed, the bank account and every tax return. A mismatch created at this stage follows you for years.
• The grounds are too vague. "Purchase of property" with nothing attached is refused. Attach the document.
• The fee is unpaid or paid wrongly. Code 012, stamped.
• The certificate is three months old on completion day. The number is fine; the paper may be questioned. Ask the notary in advance whether they will accept it, and if not, request a fresh certificate.
• Two numbers exist. It happens, usually after an earlier application in another province was forgotten. Two numbers in the tax system mean filings split across two files, and unpicking it takes months.

What comes immediately after

The NIE is the first of a short sequence, and the order matters. With the number you can open a Spanish bank account, which you will want for the purchase and for paying tax by direct debit, as explained in paying by direct debit. With the number and the account you can complete the purchase. Once the deed is signed, two obligations begin at once: the annual non-resident return on the property, whether or not it is let, and — if you intend to let it — the tourism register entry and the tax census registration described in registering a holiday let with the tax office.

It is also the moment to request a digital certificate, because your identity has just been verified in person and the registration offices are the same ones. Doing it in the same trip saves a return journey; the sequence is set out in getting a digital certificate.

If you would rather hand the whole sequence over, tell us the completion date through the contact form and we will tell you what has to be in place before it, and what it costs.

Sophie and Mark: a deposit signed in May, completion in June

Sophie and Mark are Irish and found a house in a village inland from Málaga. They signed the deposit contract, the arras, in May, with completion at the notary fixed for the middle of June, and the estate agent mentioned in passing that each of them would need a NIE. The appointment system in Málaga showed nothing for three weeks; the consulate in Dublin had nothing either. What they were risking was the completion date they had agreed, and with it possibly the deposit. The number itself is easy to obtain. The calendar around it is the hard part.

Working back from completion	What must already be done	Where the couple stood
Deposit signed	An appointment booked, or a representative instructed the same week	Nothing booked: the agent had only mentioned it
Three weeks later	Earliest appointment available locally	Too close to completion to leave room for a refused application
Before completion	NIE certificate in hand, names checked, Spanish account open	Only reachable through a representative

In the end they gave the estate agency a power of attorney to apply for the NIE on their behalf and signed on the agreed date. They requested their digital certificates on completion day itself, since they were already in front of an official proving who they were.

Not a residence card, and not the EU registration certificate either

An EU citizen who is actually moving to Spain to live does not apply for a bare NIE: what applies to them is the registration certificate for EU citizens, which has the NIE built into it. A citizen from outside the EU who obtains permission to reside receives a foreigner's identity card, the TIE, with the NIE printed on it. The number exists without the card, though. An American or British buyer who has no plans to live here needs only the number, and if they later decide to move, it will be the same number.

Opening the account: the bank asks where the money comes from

Once the NIE is issued, the bank will ask for more than most buyers expect. Anti-money-laundering rules oblige it to identify you, understand what you do and ask about the source of the funds, which for a purchase means documenting where the money comes from: payslips, the sale of another home, savings you can evidence. Many banks also want a non-resident certificate before opening the account as a non-resident one. It is issued by the Policía Nacional with the same kind of appointment and fee as the NIE, so if you need both, ask for both at the same appointment. And warn your home bank that a large transfer to Spain is coming: more than one completion has slipped because the money was held up in the country it was leaving.