TIE appointment
It is important to clarify that the TIE is necessary for all non-Eus living in Spain whereas Eus not from Spain must apply for a NIE instead. We will not discuss the NIE in this article.
For Non- EUs who have applied for the student visa back in their home country, you will already have a NIE issued along with your temporary student visa that has been approved by the Spanish embassy or consulate. However, you must register a TIE which lengthens the duration of your visa.
To get a TIE you must book an appointment online and it is very challenging, but possible to get this appointment yourself. The government releases a handful of appointments each day, but they almost always get booked up. Unfortunately there is a group that is colluding in stealing these appointments and selling them in the market for exorbitant prices. Some can range to 100 euros or more to have an agency give you the TIE appointment. The Spanish government has not done anything to stop this activity. If you have the patience and want to save money, it is possible that you can find an appointment yourself. The website to access is here: https://sede.administracionespublicas.gob.es/icpplu…/index
It will just take some time for you to be able to book the appointment. A trick is to try every Monday morning as I have been told that this is the day the system releases the TIE appointments.
If on the other hand you don’t mind paying an agency to assist you and you want to save time and peace of mind with securing a TIE appointment, finding an agency may be a better choice.
Getting your documents ready
Once you get the TIE appointment booked, the rest of the other things are easy. You must have the following this prepared for the appointment
1. Paid tax form 790 Codigo 012 Policia (15,92€ for the initial card). You print out the tax form and go to any bank to pay it (it is also possible to pay by some ATM machines).
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1. Original passport
1xCopy of the entry stamp to the Schengen zone within the validity of the visa.
2. 2x recent ID photos with white background – SPANISH ID FORMAT ”tamaño carnet”
3. Empadronamiento (not older than 3 months) its the registration of your address with the city hall. Here is an article in how to get it.
The day of your appointment
On the day of your appointment please bring all of the 3 things mentioned above. If you do not speak Spanish you can hire someone to assist you with the translation or bring a friend to help. You will need to do your fingerprints and afterwards you will be asked to come back to pickup your TIE card.
The time to process can take anywhere from 30-45 days. However they will issue you a temporary TIE for you to have in the meantime while you wait for the original one to be issued. Although they require you to go on the website to book a day for TIE pickup, you can just show up at the office to pick up your TIE within the time period without really needing to book an appointment. Several of my classmates have gone and picked up the card without any appointments booked.
Disclaimer: The purpose of this article is to guide and assist. It should not be used to replace legal information found on official websites or documents
