All immigrants expecting to stay in Spain are required to obtain an NIE which basically stands for foreigner's identification number; the equivalent of the Spanish social security number, but for foreigners. Monica and I went in to the police on a Wednesday around 1 and were told that we needed to come back another day at 9am to get a ticket and wait for our number to come up. No one could tell us what exactly we needed to bring in or any details more than to come at 9am. In the end all you need is your passport complete with visa and proof of need to stay in Spain (ie work contract). We came back Friday at about 8:40am and there was already a line of about 20 people waiting. A few were Spaniards who had not made appointments and thus came early to be sure of getting a meeting, but most were foreigners and I had to wait an hour and a half, 12 people, until I got in to speak with one of the officers.
Initially he took my papers, saw I would be working in another region and said it wouldn't be possible for me to obtain my NIE here. We asked him if he were sure because I would not be starting to work until October and until then I would be here essentially as a tourist until then. The catch is that you must have requested your NIE within 30 days of your arrival in Spain and I got here July 25, over two months before I start working. The guy then gathered up all my papers and said he would go talk to his boss to see what she said. Before leaving his office he wrote my NIE on the back of my contract as a reference.....wait, what? So you have my NIE and just refuse to tell me it???
He came back after five minutes or so and said his boss said the same thing and I would have to go to Gijon before August 25 to request my NIE. Good thing Monica was there because she got us transfered to the boss. Blanca, the head of the foreigners department in the Vigo police station, insisted that I needed to go to Gijon. She explained the same thing about three times, before accepting that I am here as a tourist and will not be working until two months after my arrival. She decided to call the Gijon police department to make it their problem. THEY said there would be nothing they could do, but that I would have to go to Oviedo, the capital of the region. We called Oviedo and there they said that coming here before the official start of my contract would be completely useless, that they couldn't do anything for me until then and as I need evidence of having requested my NIE before 30 days after arriving, to go ahead and give me my NIE number but not the card.
30 minutes after walking into Blanca's office we came out with a business card sized slip of paper with my full name written about a number and stamp of the Vigo police department. Yes!
That was my ticket to the bank where I was able to open a bank account as a legal Spanish resident. We did that this past week and while all I need to open an account is that NIE and my passport, the appointment two hours....and thinking back on it I don't really know what we did during those two hours. oof!
All in all, it's been a lot of jumping through hoops, but I wouldn't have been able to do this without Monica (who has a very persuasive way of speaking with people). Being with the family has helped me a lot linguistically (already noticing a lot of improvement and greater comfort in Spanish) and also in all of this red tape that I would have otherwise had to do on my own.
Now begins the fun of finding and apartment, signing a lease and hoping my flatmates aren't horrible.
2 comments:
Woohoo!
Nice! That was a great story (even though it wasn't particularly fun for you) and I'm glad you had someone there to help you through such things.
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