NIE Number (Spain)

The NIE, short for Número de Identidad de Extranjero, is the number Spain gives a foreigner so its offices can tell you apart from everyone else. Spain describes it as personal, unique and exclusive: one number, yours, for every dealing you have with the Spanish administration. It has nine characters. First comes a letter (X, then Y and Z once the earlier series ran out), then seven digits, then a check letter at the end.

You need one as soon as you do something official in Spain with an economic, professional or social reason behind it. Think of buying or renting property, signing a job contract, registering as self-employed, opening certain bank accounts, or paying Spanish taxes. Each of them asks for your NIE. For tax purposes, the Agencia Tributaria (Spain’s tax agency) treats a foreigner’s NIE as their NIF. So for most people the NIE simply is their Spanish tax identification number.

How you get it

You apply with form EX-15, plus proof that you paid the fee on form 790 (code 012).

Inside Spain, you apply to the Policía Nacional, either at an Oficina de Extranjería (immigration office) or at a police station, and you have to explain why you need the number. The police set a maximum of five days to resolve the request once it is filed.

From abroad, you go through a Spanish consulate instead, and each consulate sets its own appointment rules. The London consulate, for example, accepts the application in person or through an authorised representative, and says the number normally arrives by email within about three weeks.

The fee in Spain is €9.84 for an NIE assigned at your request, set by Orden PJC/617/2025. Consulates charge it in local currency (London lists £8.65).

NIE, TIE and DNI are three different things

• NIE: a number, not a card. It identifies you but proves nothing about your right to stay.
• TIE (Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero): the physical card for non-EU nationals authorised to stay longer than six months. It proves your legal status. If you arrive on a long-stay visa, you generally apply for it within one month of entering Spain.
• DNI: the national identity card for Spanish citizens. Foreigners don’t get one.

The catch people miss

An NIE is not permission to live in Spain. The London consulate says it plainly: the number identifies you to every level of the Spanish administration, but it does not entitle you to reside in Spain or prove residence there.

Plenty of people get an NIE to buy a flat and assume their status is sorted. It isn’t. Living there legally still runs through a residence permit or a long-stay visa, and paying tax there depends on tax residency rules, not on the number. If you’re weighing the Spanish route, our visa checker and the Spain digital nomad visa guide cover the residence side.

This is general information, not advice. Rules vary and change often, so confirm the details with the Policía Nacional, your Spanish consulate or a qualified professional before you act.

Where you’ll meet this

• At a notary or estate agent, when you buy or rent property and the contract needs your NIE.
• At a Spanish bank, where the branch asks for the number before opening a resident account.
• Starting a job or registering as autónomo (self-employed), when payroll, Social Security or the tax office need it on file.
• On your Spanish tax filings, where the NIE works as your NIF.