DocuEspana (Spanish Immigration Procedures)
Guidance translation. If in doubt, the Spanish version and the official sources prevail. Applications and forms must be submitted in Spanish.

Procedures Why this exists

From the counter

The same procedure seen from the counter

A queue that never goes down, files that arrive half done and the same explanation repeated all morning, often without a language in common. It is the exact other half of the same problem.

In Spain there is not one counter but two: the National Police issue the NIE and the TIE and take fingerprints, while the Immigration Offices decide residence authorisations. This page is about both windows, which see the same files arrive.

See the same thing from the queue

An ordinary day

  1. 08:00The office opens. Today's diary closed weeks ago and there are more people at the door than appointments.
  2. 08:10First file of the day: the proof of payment of the fee is not there. Five minutes explaining which one it is, where it is generated and why nothing can be registered without it.
  3. 10:30The same explanation again. For the person hearing it, it is the first time in their life; for you it is the sixth this morning.
  4. 12:00Someone with no language in common. A nephew translates over a video call, the phone propped on the counter and the queue behind.
  5. 14:00Public opening hours end. Part of what came through the counter today will come back another day, with another appointment and another trip, over one piece of paper.

Both days are a composite example, not data: they are there to place the problems described below. Every province and every office works differently.

Where the time goes

The same 12 problems are visible from both sides of the counter. Here they are told from this one.

Before booking the appointment4

The list of documents is not in one place

What happens
Many people arrive with a list taken from a messaging group or a video, mixed up with requirements from another procedure or from before the new regulation.
What it costs
The appointment starts by taking apart what they brought so you can explain what was actually needed.
What this site does
Each page brings together the documents, the form, the fee, where to file it and the deadlines, with the official source linked next to each item.

The form downloaded from just anywhere

What happens
Repealed forms, photocopies of photocopies, printouts of an earlier version that no longer has the fields now required.
What it costs
A form that is not valid cannot be registered: it is handed back and the whole application starts again.
What this site does
The page links the form on the Ministry's website and says so plainly: always download it from there, because the forms are updated.

Which of the fees is yours

What happens
Receipts for the wrong form, or the right form left unpaid, or paid by someone other than the applicant.
What it costs
An entire file held up by the wrong printout.
What this site does
Each page says which 790 form applies to that procedure, who pays it and links the official generator that gives the current amount.

Information that is no longer valid

What happens
Applications built in good faith on the old rules, and questions about procedures that no longer exist.
What it costs
Explaining a change of regulation at the counter, one person at a time.
What this site does
The content is written to match the regulation in force, and every page carries the date it was last reviewed, so you know which moment it corresponds to.

Getting an appointment2

The appointment that never comes

What happens
The diary fills up the moment it opens, and demand does not drop for the rest of the month.
What it costs
Every slot spent on an incomplete file is a slot somebody else was looking for.
What this site does
The page is meant to be used before booking the appointment, not the night before: the full list is there from day one, while there is still time to get whatever is missing.

Deadlines, which forgive nothing

What happens
Applications that arrive once the window has closed, and applications that arrive before it opens.
What it costs
Work that has to be done again from scratch, and a person who leaves worse off than they came.
What this site does
Every page has its deadlines section: when the window opens, how long it lasts and what happens if you miss it.

The trip and the queue3

The queue outside the door

What happens
Part of the queue are people who have come to file nothing at all: they have come to ask which documents are needed.
What it costs
Enquiries that take the place of filings and make everyone's wait longer.
What this site does
The question "what do I have to bring?" is answered at home, in each person's own language, on a page that can be printed.

The queue to have it checked and the queue to file it

What happens
Every preliminary check is time taken away from registering, and it is done standing up and out of turn.
What it costs
The same file passes by twice before it exists at all.
What this site does
The check happens at home, with the list ticked off, and the folder reaches the counter already closed.

What gets forgotten along the way

What happens
Folders emptied out across the counter looking for a paper that may or may not be there.
What it costs
Minutes per person, multiplied across the whole morning.
What this site does
The list is ticked off as you get each document and stays saved in your browser; the printed page fits on three sheets and can be checked at the door.

At the counter2

Without a language in common

What happens
You have to explain a legal requirement to someone you share no language with, often with a relative acting as an improvised interpreter.
What it costs
An explanation that drags on and that nobody comes away sure has landed in full.
What this site does
The same page exists in eleven languages, and what has to be shown at the counter — the form code, the fee number — is written the same way in all of them: it can be pointed at without speaking.

The same explanation, all morning long

What happens
The same instruction repeated dozens of times a day, always to someone for whom it is the first time.
What it costs
Wear and tear, and less time for the cases that really are complicated.
What this site does
The explanation is written down, sorted by procedure and in eleven languages: it can be pointed at instead of repeated, and whoever hears it takes it home.

When a document is missing1

One paper missing and it all falls down

What happens
Checking, noting what is missing, drafting the request to complete it and knowing that person will take up another appointment.
What it costs
The same file dealt with two and three times over, using up slots nobody else can have now.
What this site does
This is exactly the point where a complete list pays off: what saves the second appointment is not done at the counter, it is done at home the week before.

The cost of one missing paper

The same errand, with and without the list done before leaving home. The crossed-out steps are the ones that fall away.

How it usually goes

  1. Call the next person
  2. Check the documents
  3. Work out what is missing
  4. Explain it, sometimes with no language in common
  5. Note down the request to complete the file
  6. Close without registering
  7. See the same person again weeks later
  8. Register

With the list done beforehand

  1. Call the next person
  2. Check a folder that already arrives in order
  3. Register
  4. Call the next person

A complete list takes out 5 of the 8 steps.

What changes with the page in front of you

  • Something written down to point people to, instead of repeating the same explanation all morning.
  • The list of documents sorted by procedure, with the form to fill in and the fee that applies, so the question is settled before the door.
  • The same page in eleven languages, with identical codes in all of them: what is needed can be pointed at without sharing a language.
  • Official sources linked in every section: nothing here sets out to contradict the province's information sheet, which is what counts.
  • A way to report errors on every page: if a page misleads someone at the counter, we are told and we fix it.

What this site does not do

  • We are not an official source and we do not want to look like one: every page links its own and says so in the footer.
  • We do not give legal advice and we do not interpret individual cases.
  • Where there is any discrepancy, the BOE, the legislation and each office's information sheet prevail.
  • We collect nobody's data: there are no application forms and no case files on this website.

Two halves of the same counter

The counter and the queue are the same problem seen from two different chairs. A complete folder saves a whole appointment, and somebody was waiting for that appointment.

See the same thing from the queueSee the 26 procedures

Have you spotted something wrong?

We keep this guide by hand and immigration rules change often. If something does not match what the official source says, tell us and we will fix it.

  • The review date shown in the footer: if it is old, we probably know already.
  • The official source linked on this entry: if it changed recently, tell us what it says now.

The email already includes the page, the language and the review date. You only have to tell us what you saw and, if you can, link the official source that contradicts it.

Write the email

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