From green paper to TIE in Torrevieja
An A4 green certificate from before Brexit, kept in a plastic sleeve. How a British resident of Torrevieja swaps it for the Withdrawal Agreement card.
Margaret came to Torrevieja years before Brexit, registered as a European at the time, and still keeps her green certificate, a sheet of A4, in a plastic sleeve. She is imaginary; her folder is not. Many British residents of the town hold that same paper and wonder whether to do anything about it.
Her rights did not lapse. Spain was already her home when 2020 ended, so the Withdrawal Agreement protects her residence, and the green paper remains a record of it. Spain now documents Agreement residents with a TIE, though: the Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero, a card with her photograph that states her status under the Agreement.
Why change a paper that still counts? Margaret simply wanted a document that speaks for itself at an airline desk, a bank in another town or a clinic away from home, without a conversation about what the green sheet means.
The exchange starts with a booking. On the cita previa system she chose Alicante as the province, then the fingerprint procedure for a card, and read the confirmation slowly: the town, the address, the time. policia.es lists residence for EU and non-EU citizens at the comisaría on Calle Arquitecto Larramendi, and the confirmation named the office for her.
Her folder for the day held her passport, the green certificate itself, a recent passport-style photograph on a white background, the paid Modelo 790 código 012 and a padrón certificate from the Ayuntamiento de Torrevieja. She added older proof of her life here, an early lease and a Spanish tax return, just in case. The officer took her fingerprints and handed her a resguardo, a receipt to keep with her passport until the card was ready.
Collecting the card was the last step, in person, with the resguardo and the passport. The NIE on it is the one she was given when she first arrived. Nothing about her number changed, only the document that carries it.
Not every British reader is in Margaret’s position. Owners who live in the UK need no card at all, only a NIE. Newcomers arriving now need a visa from a Spanish consulate before any TIE. If you are not sure which describes you, tell us your dates, and we will tell you which page to read.