General Questions

A NIE Number is a tax identification number to be used in Spain. Prior to purchasing a property, selling a property, obtaining a mortgage, starting up a business or working in Spain, it is a requirement by law that every individual possess an NIE Number. The application process is laborious and time consuming, and without the use of a service such as ours, would require normally two trips to Spain, and over 10 hours of waiting in queues, along with the filling out of complex application forms.

The actual NIE Number, when produced from a National Police Station in Spain is printed out on a piece of paper, and this sheet of paper is often used as a form of identity. Once you have been issued an NIE number, it is yours for life.

Yes, this is certainly the case. Without question the Spanish law states very clearly that the person must apply for the documents in person. However, the Spanish law also clearly states that a legalised, Spanish power-of-attorney document enables any individual to be represented by another for all legal purposes in Spain (as long as it is declared as such within the power-of-attorney). Therefore through virtue of these combined laws, we are able to apply for a NIE number on your behalf without the need for you to be in Spain.

A translation of the Ministerio del Interior website's 3rd paragraph, 2nd point which is detailing who may apply for an NIE Number clearly states:

  • Those (applications) that are presented in Spain by the representative appointed by the applicant with evidence that the applicant is not in Spain.

You should also note that, regardless of the clearly stated laws, many local branches of the national police throughout Spain choose not to allow this, which is why some lawyers are unable to act on your behalf for this purpose.

The NIE number is in fact not a card at all. Rather it is a sheet of A4 paper bearing your details (as outlined on your passport) as well as an official stamp from the National Police of Spain. This original document is an extremely important item of identification in Spain, even though it does not include any photo. Your passport and/or eventually your residence card used in conjunction with your NIE number is generally sufficient for most functions to do with government & taxation in Spain(such as purchasing a property in Spain, paying taxes, selling a property in Spain, etc.).

In this very rare instance, we would simply re-apply for a duplicate with the same power of attorney and passport copy.

Applying in Person

Of course anyone that can enter Spain legally can apply for their own NIE number. To do this, they must present themselves at the National Police Station in whatever town they are living. Unfortunately, contrary to countries such as England and Ireland, there is very little standardization for exactly how the physical process of application works from one police station to the next, so if you chose to apply in person, please make sure you find out beforehand which are the requirements to apply for a NIE Number at your local police station. This will save from having to arrange several trips to have your application presented, with the corresponding lengthy queues.

The breakdown below is an estimate of what will cost you apply in person in Spain.

  • Airplane Tickets (flight to APPLY for the NIEs): 60 - 300 € per person
  • Airplane Tickets (flight to COLLECT the NIEs): 60 - 300 € per person
  • Transport to and from the airport - 40 - 120 €
  • Hotel Room - 50 - 200 € per double room per days (2 days required)

Applying in person can cost you anything between 300 € and 1,000 €, not to mention the time you will be wasting travelling and queueing up!

Yes, this is entirely true. The primary benefit of using our service as opposed to applying through a Spanish consulate is speed. The average time required for an individual to obtain their NIE number via applying through a Spanish consulate is 12 weeks. This varies from one country to the next, we encourage people to contact their closest Spanish consulate first and enquire about their turnaround time.

This is not possible. The NIE that you are issued initially is the same NIE for the rest of your life. Even if you lose the document and apply for a new one, the same number will be issued to you again. Therefore there is no such thing as a temporary NIE.

If you need the NIE for signing title deeds in Spain, as soon as we have submitted the application, we can send a stamped copy to the sellers, mortgage broker, lawyer or whomever is demanding the NIE as proof that the NIE is on the way. This usually pacifies the situation until the document is issued.

Our Global Service

Soon after you've signed the paperwork at one of our associated offices in the UK, the NIE number is delivered within around 2 weeks (exceptions made for public and bank holidays). A high resolution scanned copy will be made available to you as soon as it is collected from the Spanish issuing authority, in around 10 days.

Our standard fees are listed on the Pricing section. Please note that you need to provide us with a notarised and legalised Power of Attorney (we provide you with the template).

Note: A Power of Attorney is required for us to process your application. Notary and legalisation fees are not included in the quoted fees, and will vary from country to country.

Power of Attorneys

A Power of Attorney is a document that (when notarised) is legally binding and grants an individual (or group of individuals) the right to act on behalf of a person for the stipulated tasks or responsibilities that are outlined within the Power of Attorney itself.

Note that one should take great care in sigining any power of attorney to ensure that the "Powers" granted are ONLY for the purpose that is intended. For the purposes of NIE Number Direct, the power that is required is simply:

"... to REPRESENT the person granting Power of Attorney before any public office and in particular the offices of the Ministry of the Interior with the object of obtaining a Certificate of Non Residence and a Foreigners Identification Number."

POA costs vary from country to country:

In Ireland you can expect to pay:

  • Irish Notary Fees: 80 Euro
  • Apostille acquisition: 20 Euro per document
  • Sending of the documents to our office via standard registered post: 10 Euro

In Spain you can expect to to pay:

  • Notary Fees: 50 Euro
  • Apostille acquisition: Nothing (not applicable, as documents need not to be legalised).
  • Sending of the documents to our office via standard registered post: 3 €

For other countries, please contact us.

There are a large number of Notaries Public in every country, and are present in every town and city. Doing a Google search should provide you a large number of results.

Also, there is a central Notary Society in every country with a searchable directory. We are including a few below:


Country URL
United Kingdom The Notaries Society
Spain Consejo General del Notariado
Belgium Fédération Royale du Notariat Belge
France Notaires de France
Germany Die Bundesnotarkammer
Ireland The Faculty of Notaries Public in Ireland
Netherlands Koninklijke Notariële Beroepsorganisatie

The "Apostille" is needed whenever you intend to use documents from any country outside of Spain within Spain. This is because Spain is a member of the Hague Convention, which establishes a new, standardised form of Legalisation.

On October 5, 1961 several nations joined to create this simplified method of legalising documents through the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents.

More information about the Apostille can be found at wikipedia.

Regardless of where you live, many notaries will offer this service to you for an additional fee. Many also are capable of obtaining the Apostille much faster than via standard post. If you do not happen to live near the appropriate government body for your country, then it may be wise to contact us for a list of notaries in your area.

If you are living in Ireland:

  • Send the documents to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in Dublin with a stamped addressed envelope (this process takes about a month).
  • Go in personally to the DFA where they offer a same-day service. Note that there are now two locations in Ireland where you can do this:
    • Passport Office Cork - Consular Services - 1A Southmall Cork - 021 4944 765
    • Consular Section - Department of Foreign Affairs - Hainault House - 69 - 71 St. Stephen's Green - (01) 408 2174
  • Ask your notary if they can provide this as an additional service to you.

If you are living in another country:

It is important to note that the various methods of legalising your documents have different associated costs.

We can of course return these documents to you together with your NIE application. However, we would like to keep them in order to be able to apply for your NIE number again in the event it gets lost in the post, or you happen to lose it.