Nie

[illeslex]

Good afternoon,

This week our Law Firm, ILLESLEX, wants to explain to you in detail the foreigner's identity number, well known by its acronym NIE in Spain.

Non residents in Spain in contact with our country for their economic, professional or social matters are obliged to apply for the mentioned number, for identification purposes for any type of transaction.

For your information, it has not only digits but also letters. The initial letter is an X for NIEs applied before 2008 and from that year the letter used is Y. As there are so many applications nowadays, the use of Z is very close.

This number must appear on all documents issued or processed, as well as the measures which are affixed in their identity card or passport.

The following applications will be accepted:

a. Presented in Spain.

b. Those presented in the Spanish Embassies or Consular Offices located in the country of residence of the applicant.

You must provide the following documents:

• A passport or identity card (original or certified notarized copy). Please, take into account that in case of a foreign notarized copy, Apostille of the Hague is essential.

• Form called EX-15, duly completed and signed.

The place where it is presented (and you are obliged to pay a fee for this service in cash at the time of the application) is the same place where it has to be collected later.

Regarding the granting period it may vary depending on the time of the year when the application takes place specifically and in any case the reason for requesting it is necessary to be explained briefly (for instance, due to a purchase´s process, company formation, inheritance acceptance and so on).

The certificate, which contains the foreign identity number, has a temporal validity of three months. The number initially awarded to the person does not change, but the certificate should be renewed with this periodicity. This is expressly stated at the bottom of the document.

Should you have any question or require further information, do not hesitate to contact us. As always, we are completely at your disposal and we would be delighted to help you in its application and management.

Best wishes,