EU countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK. (Citizens of Iceland, Leichenstein, Norway and Switzerland are also eligible as their countries have special agreements with the European Union.) It is now no longer necessary for those applying for a residency certificate to submit a separate application for an N.I.E. as this number is now incorporated in the residence certificate application process. DOCUMENTATION REQUIRED a) Passport or recognised official identification. APPLICATION PROCESS OFICINA
DE EXTRANJEROS DE DENIA Application is made through the National Police Documentation Office in Denia. Two visits are required to the police station in Denia. First of all, you need to arrange an appointment for your application to be considered and processed. This can be time-consuming; appointments are ONLY issued on a Friday morning for the following week only and you will need to queue to make the arrangement. The queues can be very long and it would be advantageous to get to the office as early as possible; don’t hope to arrive in Denia at 9pm (when the office opens) and expect prompt service for the queue may already be a couple of hundred strong, perhaps even longer. When we applied, we arrived shortly before 8am and there were already 50 or so people in front of us. Listen carefully for the policeman at the front of the queue because he may well call out “Extranjeros!” and call forward al foreigners to try and alleviate the line of those who simply wish to make an appointment. Inside the office, a chap sitting behind a small desk will ask for your passport and may ask you what you would be applying for (N.I.E. or Residencia). He will then allocate you with a date and a time for the appointment and hand you a small piece of paper with those details. DO NOT LOSE IT! Download and complete “Form EX-16: Solicitud de Certificado de Registro como Residente Comunitario”. It is in PDF format with the ability to fill in your details on the screen; if the required fields are not highlighted, click on the button in the top right (‘Highlight Fields’ | ‘Resaltar Campos’). When completed, click on the [IMPRIMIR] button at the bottom of the form to print it. You will find some translations below. On the day of the appointment, return to the police station in Denia; it will be a totally different to the chaos of Friday and you should be able to walk straight in. If there is a queue, show your appointment slip to the police officer and he should allow you to enter straight away. Check in with the front desk and then take a seat to wait for your turn, but don’t expect to be seen promptly according to your allocated time especially later in the day. When called forward, hand over all the relevant documentation to the police clerk. He or she will ensure that all is in order and then hand back an official receipt which you will need to take straight away to the nearest bank to pay a small fee (6,70€). (A branch of Banco Pastor is about five minutes walk; turn right when you leave the office and continue along Avenida Del Marquesado and across a small square; the bank is on the left on the far side of the square.) Return to the police station – you should be allowed straight back in, especially if you wave the form around – and the police clerk should call you forward straight away, even if dealing with another person, to take the form, check it and then, if all okay, hand back a new “Certificado de Registro”. The certificate is valid indefinitely. However, if you move to a different municipality, it should be updated. If you live in Spain continuously for more than five years, you can opt for permanent residency. |
