The NIE in Pamplona: the first stamp on the credential

Making a life here, or settling one piece of business?

People who move to Pamplona seldom walk this stage on its own. A European receives the number printed on the green certificate when registering as a resident. A newcomer from beyond the EU usually gets it with the visa or the authorisation that brings them here, and later finds it again, printed on the TIE.

The bare EX-15 is for those whose household stays abroad: a couple from Bordeaux buying a flat in the Ensanches, a grandson inheriting part of a house in a Navarrese village, a technician on a few weeks’ assignment to commission a production line in the Cuenca de Pamplona. What they take away is a certificate showing the number. It grants no right to live in Spain, nor to work here.

Form EX-15, box by box

The form wants your details exactly as your passport prints them, a postal address for official notifications, and the reason you need the number. Spanish rules give a NIE to foreigners with economic, professional or social dealings in Spain, so name yours plainly and bring the paper behind it: the arras (deposit contract) for a flat, a signed offer from a firm, a will or a declaration of heirs, a letter of acceptance from a university.

Print the form, sign it in ink, pay the 790-012 for the assignment of a NIE, and keep a photocopy beside the original passport. A form completed at home and read over twice makes for a short appointment.

Which section assigns it in Navarra

In Pamplona, the Delegación del Gobierno en Navarra places asignación de NIE (assignment of the number) with the police section it calls Personal comunitarios y regresos, at Avenida de Guipúzcoa 40, in Buztintxuri. The same section issues certificates about a number you already hold, among them the certificado de concordancia, which confirms that two documents or numbers belong to the same person. The contact that page gives for it is pamplona.comunitarios-aregreso@policia.es. policia.es lists 948 979 200 for the building’s police unit and publishes no opening hours, so the hour printed on your cita previa is the one to keep.

In the Ribera, the Comisaría de Tudela, Plaza Padre Lasa 7, lists NIE assignment as well (948 402 514, tudela.docuextra@policia.es). The Oficina Única de Extranjería shares the Pamplona building but not this task: the NIE is absent from its list, which is made of authorisations.

Asking from another country

If you live outside Spain, the Spanish consulate that covers your area can take the EX-15 instead, by its own appointment system and with its own list of papers. Whether it is obtained there or here, the number is the same single reference, and it travels with you if Navarra later becomes home. A buyer who cannot come at all may also act through a power of attorney.

The counters that will ask for it

On its own the number permits nothing, yet very few Spanish counters will deal with a foreigner without it:

• The notaría, on the day you sign a deed
• Your bank, for an account or a mortgage
• An employer, and the Seguridad Social behind your contract
• The tax office: Navarra has its own, the Hacienda Foral de Navarra
• Electricity, gas, water and broadband suppliers
• A car’s registration, a share in a company, an inheritance