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NIE · EX-15 · Tasa 790-012 · Three routes

How to get a NIE number in Spain.

Three ways in, one form, a fee of under ten euro — and a refusal rate driven almost entirely by things nobody tells you until you are standing at the counter. Answer three questions below and you get the route, the form and a checklist built for your case.

Apply for your NIE ↗ Or work through the guide first — it is all here
Government fee
9.84 EUR
Tasa 790-012. The only compulsory payment to the Spanish state.
The form
EX-15
Or EX-18 if you are an EU citizen settling here — a distinction that costs people an extra appointment.
Validity
Permanent
The number is yours for life. It is never reissued and never renewed.
The short answer

What is a NIE and how do you get one?

The NIE — Numero de Identidad de Extranjero — is the identification number Spain assigns to foreign nationals. Nothing financial or legal happens without it: no property purchase, no company, no employment contract, no tax return. You obtain it by filing form EX-15 with a paid Tasa 790-012 receipt and written proof of why you need it, either in person in Spain, at a Spanish consulate abroad, or through a representative acting under a power of attorney.

Start here
Which NIE route applies to you?
Three questions. You get the correct form, the fee, a document checklist built for your case, and the mistakes that apply to it.
What passport do you hold?
This decides which form you file, and it is the single most common error.
Where will you be when the application is filed?
Not where you live — where you physically are on the day the file is submitted.
Why do you need the number?
Spain grants the NIE to people with economic, professional or social interests here. You must name yours and prove it.
Every answer below reflects the general rule. Offices apply it with local variation, and a case with an unusual feature can be treated differently.

The three routes, and how to choose.

They are not three difficulty levels of the same thing. They differ in one respect that decides everything else: where your body has to be on the day the file is submitted.

RouteWhere you must beSpanish neededSuits
In person in SpainIn Spain, at the appointmentYes, in practiceAnyone already here, or able to plan a trip around an appointment date they cannot choose
Spanish consulate abroadAt the consulate for your areaVaries by postPeople abroad who want to handle it themselves and are not in a hurry
Representative under power of attorneyAnywhere. You do not travelNoProperty buyers, founders, heirs, anyone on a deal timetable

Route one: in person in Spain.

You book a cita previa, attend an immigration office or a police station with a complete file, and in a straightforward case walk out with the certificate the same day. The procedure is quick. Reaching it is not.

The part that is genuinely hard

The appointment, not the application.

In Madrid and Barcelona, released slots are taken within minutes. The booking system is the real gatekeeper, and no amount of document preparation affects it. Two things help: checking the portal at different hours rather than once a day, since slots are released in batches, and looking at other offices in the same province rather than only the central one.

One thing does not help, and actively harms: booking in a province you have no connection to because slots were available there. The officer can refuse on that basis, and an appointment obtained that way is a wasted journey.

Route two: a Spanish consulate.

Every Spanish consulate takes NIE applications from people living in its area. It forwards the file to the immigration authorities in Spain, and the certificate returns to you through the consulate.

The thing to understand is that consulates are not uniform. Each sets its own appointment system, its own document expectations and its own pace, and a guide written about one consulate can be wrong about another in the same country. Read the page of the specific post that covers where you live, not a general article — including this one.

Works well when

You are not on a deadline

No travel to Spain, no appointment scramble, and you deal with officials who are used to explaining things to foreigners. If your purchase or incorporation is months away, this is a comfortable route.

Works badly when

A transaction is waiting on it

The file goes to Spain and comes back, and you have no way to influence the pace. If a notary date or a signing is fixed, the unpredictability is the problem, not the total time.

Route three: a representative, and why most founders use it.

Spanish administrative law allows you to act through an authorised representative in proceedings like this one. You sign a power of attorney before a notary wherever you are, have it apostilled, and a lawyer or gestor in Spain does the rest. You attend nothing.

Step 01
The power of attorney is drafted in SpainIt must cover this specific act in terms a Spanish office will accept. A generic power of attorney written abroad frequently does not, and discovering that after it has been notarised and apostilled means starting again.
Step 02
You sign it before a local notaryWherever you are. The notary verifies your identity; they do not need to understand Spanish procedure.
Step 03
ApostilleUnder the 1961 Hague Convention, issued by whichever body is competent in your country. If your country is outside the Convention, consular legalisation replaces it — a longer chain through your foreign ministry and then the Spanish consulate.
Step 04
Your representative filesAppointment, fee, submission, collection. The certificate reaches you by email.

The reason this route dominates among people buying property or forming companies is not convenience. It is that the NIE usually sits on the critical path of something else with a date attached, and this is the only route where the timing depends on a document you control rather than on an appointment queue you do not.

EX-15, EX-18, EX-17: getting this wrong costs you a trip.

Three forms with similar names do entirely different things, and the counter does not correct you gently.

FormWhat it doesWho files it
EX-15Assigns a NIE, and requests residence or non-residence certificatesAnyone needing the number for a one-off purpose
EX-18Registers an EU citizen in the Central Register of Foreigners — and assigns the NIE at the same timeEU, EEA and Swiss citizens staying more than three months
EX-17The TIE residence cardNon-EU nationals who already hold a residence authorisation
The one that wastes money

EU citizens moving to Spain should not start with EX-15.

If you are an EU, EEA or Swiss national and you are staying longer than three months, EX-18 gives you the number as part of registering. Filing EX-15 first means one appointment and one fee to obtain a number that the next appointment was going to assign you anyway. EX-15 is correct for an EU citizen with a genuinely one-off reason — buying a holiday flat, one tax filing — and wrong for one who is moving here.

The documents, and how each one fails.

The list is short. What makes it difficult is that each item has a characteristic way of going wrong, and the failure is discovered at the counter rather than in advance.

DocumentNeededHow it fails
Passport plus full photocopyAlwaysOnly the photo page copied. Copy every page, blanks included. Near-expiry passports are also treated as a problem.
EX-15, completed and signedAlwaysSignature does not match the passport. Officers compare them visually.
Tasa 790-012 receiptAlwaysGenerated under the wrong heading — the TIE option instead of NIE assignment.
Written statement of reasonAlwaysExplained verbally, or written in vague terms like "business interests".
Supporting documentAlwaysDescribes a different transaction from the one on the form.
ApostilleForeign public documentsMissing, or the country is outside the Hague Convention and needs consular legalisation instead.
Sworn translationForeign documentsTranslated abroad. Only a translator on the Spanish foreign ministry register is accepted.
PhotographsSometimesNot universally requested. Bring them anyway.
Criminal record certificateNot for the NIEFrequently confused with residence card requirements, which are a separate procedure.

The justification is the application.

Spain assigns the NIE to foreign nationals who have economic, professional or social interests in the country. That phrase is the whole test. You are not entitled to a number because you would like one; you are entitled because something specific is happening, and you have to show what.

What a statement that passes looks like
  • Names the transaction. Not "property purchase" but the address, the parties and the stage it has reached.
  • Is recent. Dated within the last few weeks. A supporting letter from eight months ago reads as a plan that did not happen.
  • Matches its evidence. If the form says a purchase in Valencia, the letter must be about that purchase, not about a bank account in Seville.
  • Comes on letterhead. From the lawyer, notary, agent, employer or institution involved. A statement you wrote about yourself is not support for itself.
  • Matches the province. The connection you describe should be to the place where you are applying.
The weakest reason people rely on

"I want to open a bank account" is thin on its own.

It is a real reason and it is sometimes accepted, but it is the justification most often pushed back on, because a bank account is a means to something rather than an end. If you have a second, more concrete purpose — a purchase in progress, an incorporation, a job offer — lead with that one and mention the account second.

Apostille and sworn translation.

Any public document issued outside Spain generally needs two things, and having one without the other is the same as having neither.

The apostille

Certifies the document is genuine

Issued by the competent authority in the country of origin under the 1961 Hague Convention — the foreign ministry in some countries, a court or regional authority in others, a state-level office in federal systems. If the country is outside the Convention, the longer consular legalisation chain applies instead.

The sworn translation

Makes it readable in Spanish

By a traductor jurado on the Spanish foreign ministry register. This is the part people get wrong: a translation certified by a notary in your own country, or produced by a translation agency, or machine-translated, is not accepted regardless of quality.

Both steps take real time and both are outside your control once started. In a file that is otherwise ready, this is usually the item that sets the date.

Why applications get refused.

Refusals are rarely about eligibility. They are about one document, and the same few recur.

01
The file is incompleteA missing photocopy, an unstamped fee receipt, photographs the office happened to want. Individually trivial, and each one ends the appointment.
02
The reason is unsupportedA general assertion with no letter behind it, or a letter that describes something other than what the form says.
03
A foreign document is not in orderNo apostille, the wrong legalisation route, or a translation from a translator Spain does not recognise.

A refusal at the counter is not a decision on the merits and it does not go on any record. The officer will normally tell you exactly what is missing. You fix that one thing and rebook — which is straightforward everywhere except the cities where rebooking is itself the hard part, and those are the cities where most people apply.

What the NIE is not.

Three misunderstandings cause more trouble than everything above put together.

Three things people assume
It is not a residence permit
The NIE identifies you. It gives you no right to live in Spain, no right to work here and no immigration status whatsoever. Those come from separate authorisations with their own requirements.
It does not make you a tax resident
Tax residence turns on where you actually are and where your interests are centred, not on holding a number. Plenty of NIE holders are non-resident for tax and always will be.
It does not expire
The number is permanent and is never reissued. The paper certificate carries no expiry date either. If a Spanish bank asks for a recently dated certificate, that is the bank's own policy, not a legal rule — though you will still have to satisfy it.

What happens after you have it.

The number is the first item in a sequence, and knowing the order saves weeks. Each step below generally requires the one before it.

Next
A bank accountMost Spanish banks will not open one without the NIE. Non-resident accounts have their own requirements on top.
Next
A digital certificateThe electronic identity that lets you deal with Spanish administration online. Almost everything becomes easier once you hold one, and it needs the NIE first.
Next
Tax registrationDeclaring your situation to the tax authority, and where a business activity is involved, registering it with the correct classification codes.
Then
Whatever you came forThe purchase, the incorporation, the employment contract, the estate. This is the step that had the date on it, and everything above was its dependency.
The NIE when you will stay non-resident ↗ NIE, NIF and CIF: which number is which ↗ Forming a Spanish company ↗
Let us do it

We confirm the route, build the file and deal with the office.

Most of what goes wrong here is invisible until you are at the counter: a translation Spain will not accept, a justification letter that does not match the form, a fee generated under the wrong heading. We handle the whole file, and for the representative route you never leave your own country.

Apply for your NIE ↗
Terms you will meet
NIE
Numero de Identidad de Extranjero. The identification number Spain assigns to foreign nationals.
NIF
The tax identification number. For a foreign individual the NIE serves as the NIF; for a company it is a separate number.
EX-15
The form used to apply for a NIE and for residence or non-residence certificates.
EX-18
The form an EU citizen uses to register as a resident, which assigns the NIE in the same act.
Tasa 790-012
The government fee. Generated on the national police portal and paid at a Spanish bank.
Cita previa
The compulsory prior appointment for in-person procedures.
Oficina de Extranjeria
The immigration office. Police stations also handle NIE assignment in many provinces.
Poder notarial
The notarised power of attorney that lets a representative act for you.
Traductor jurado
A sworn translator on the Spanish foreign ministry register. The only translations Spain accepts.
Apostilla
The certification under the 1961 Hague Convention that makes a foreign public document usable in Spain.
Frequently asked
How do I get a NIE number in Spain?
File form EX-15 with a paid Tasa 790-012 receipt, your passport and full photocopy, and a written statement of your reason supported by a document. It can be submitted in person in Spain after booking a cita previa, at the Spanish consulate covering where you live, or by a representative in Spain acting under a notarised and apostilled power of attorney. The form, fee and documents are the same on all three routes.
How much does a NIE cost?
The government fee is 9.84 euro in 2026, paid on Tasa 790-012. That is the only compulsory payment to the Spanish state. Everything else depends on your situation: apostille fees in your own country, sworn translation if any document is foreign, notary fees if you use a power of attorney, and professional fees if someone handles it for you. The fee is set in the annual budget, so generate and pay it close to the appointment.
Can I get a NIE online without travelling to Spain?
The final submission is physical, but it does not have to be you doing it. A representative in Spain can file the application under a specific notarised power of attorney, which you sign where you live and have apostilled. From your side the process is remote: you sign one document and send it. This is the route most property buyers and company founders use.
How long does a NIE take?
Commonly one to four weeks once an appointment is secured, and in a straightforward in-person case the certificate is often issued the same day you attend. The variable is not the processing but getting to it: appointment availability in Madrid and Barcelona, consulate workload abroad, or how quickly your apostilled power of attorney comes back. Anyone promising a guaranteed date is describing their intention, not the system.
Do EU citizens need a NIE?
Yes, for anything financial or legal in Spain. But the route differs: if you are staying more than three months, file EX-18 to register in the Central Register of Foreigners and the NIE is assigned as part of that. EX-15 is the right form for an EU citizen with a genuinely one-off reason. Starting with EX-15 when you intend to move here costs an extra appointment and an extra fee for nothing.
Does the NIE expire?
No. The number is permanent and is never reassigned or renewed. The certificate itself carries no expiry date. Some Spanish banks ask for a recently issued certificate for their own identity checks, which is a bank requirement rather than a legal one — but you will still need to produce one to satisfy them.
Is the NIE a residence permit?
No, and this is the most consequential misunderstanding on the subject. The NIE identifies you to Spanish systems. It grants no right to live in Spain, no right to work, and no immigration status. Residence and work rights come from separate authorisations with their own requirements, and holding a NIE has no bearing on obtaining them.
Does having a NIE make me a Spanish tax resident?
No. Tax residence is decided by where you actually spend your time and where your economic and family interests sit — broadly, more than 183 days in a calendar year, or your centre of economic interests being in Spain. Many people hold a NIE for years while remaining non-resident for tax, which is exactly what the non-residence certificate on the same form exists to evidence.
What is the difference between NIE and NIF?
The NIF is the tax identification number. For a foreign individual, the NIE functions as your NIF — they are the same number used in two contexts. For a company the NIF is a separate number issued to the entity, initially in provisional form and later definitively. If someone asks a foreign individual for a NIF, they are asking for the NIE.
Can I apply in any province?
You should apply where your connection to Spain actually is. Booking in a province chosen only because appointments were available there is a recognised reason for refusal, and it is a wasted trip. If your purchase is in Malaga, your application belongs in Malaga, however tempting an open slot elsewhere looks.
Is the EX-15 form available in English?
No. The official form exists only in Spanish and must be submitted in Spanish. Unofficial English translations circulate online and are useful for understanding the fields, but the document you hand over must be the Spanish original, completed in Spanish.
What if I make a mistake on the form?
Small slips can sometimes be corrected at the counter. Errors in the identifying data — nationality, passport number, name spelling — mean the file goes back. Given how hard appointments are to obtain in the larger cities, the cost of an error is measured in weeks rather than minutes, so it is worth submitting a clean form rather than relying on being able to fix it there.
Position as at September 2026. The fee is set annually in the state budget and the figure given is the current one; procedures follow Organic Law 4/2000 and its implementing regulation, Royal Decree 1155/2024. Immigration offices, police stations and consulates apply the same rules with meaningful local variation in documents requested, appointment systems and timing. General information, not legal advice — check the requirements of the specific office or consulate before you file.
Continue reading

The paperwork after the number.

Guide 01
The NIE for non-residentsWhen you need the number but will not be living here.
Read guide ↗
Guide 02
Provisional and definitive NIFThe company equivalent, and why it arrives in two stages.
Read guide ↗
Guide 03
Incorporating remotelyWhere the NIE sits in the sequence, and what it blocks.
Read guide ↗

One number, and everything waits on it. Let us get it.

Apply for your NIE ↗
Remote option available · No travel required · Fixed price
About the author
AB

Alexander Baranov

Founder, Voixa Consultors · International corporate structuring since 2008

Seventeen years designing and delivering cross-border corporate structures — incorporation, tax, holding, banking and market entry — for founders and companies expanding into Spain and the EU. Author of professional books on entering the Spanish market.

More about Voixa and the team ↗
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Market Entry to Spain Strategy, corporate structure, tax and growth — the long-form treatment of the decisions covered here.
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