The NIE number, and why a Torrevieja address can mean Orihuela

If you are moving to Torrevieja to live, you seldom request the NIE separately. For a European, it is part of the green certificate. For someone from outside the EU, it comes with the visa or the authorisation, and is printed later on the TIE, the residence card made after the toma de huellas (fingerprinting).

If your real home is still in another country, you ask for the bare number, on form EX-15. That is the usual case for a buyer from Oslo or Antwerp who has found a flat in La Mata, for an heir, and for anyone with a short-term reason to deal with Spanish offices.

• The escritura (deed of sale), which a notario, a notary, signs when a home changes hands
• A Spanish bank account, and a mortgage if you take one
• Contracts for electricity, water, gas and the internet
• Your tax affairs: for a foreigner, the NIE doubles as the Spanish tax number
• A job contract, and your registration with the Seguridad Social
• Buying a car, or receiving an inheritance

The EX-15 is a short official request. It asks for your details exactly as your passport gives them, an address where letters can reach you, and what you want: the number itself, or a certificate that shows it.

It also asks why. Give a real reason and bring the paper that proves it: a reservation or deposit contract for a home, a letter from a notary or a lawyer, a job offer, a document about an inheritance. Officers expect to see that paper.

On the Policía Nacional’s directory, the Comisaría de Torrevieja, the national police station on Calle Arquitecto Larramendi 3, lists one heading for foreigners: residence for EU and non-EU citizens, in Spanish régimen comunitario y no comunitario. Assigning a NIE by itself is not on its list.

Two offices nearby do list it: the Comisaría de Orihuela, Calle El Sol 34 (966 737 278), and, in Alicante, the Brigada Provincial de Extranjería y Fronteras (the national police’s foreigners and borders squad) at Calle Ebanistería 6 (965 019 393). No official page says whether Torrevieja turns a stand-alone request away, so we do not say so either. Book the NIE procedure for the province of Alicante and go to the office your cita previa slip names.

If you live outside Spain and would rather not fly out for one appointment, the Spanish consulate covering your area can take form EX-15. Each consulate runs its own booking and publishes its own list of documents. The number it obtains for you is the same one that will appear on any residence paper later.