December 22, 2022
Before we start booking the residence appointment, it is well worth checking the required documents and fee for non-EU citizens. As usual, I recommend checking the official pages to get this info, but often times even the official pages are hard to find or navigate. So first, let me tell you that this data is available during the booking process, after you point out what service you need. To see it, you start by going to the same site of the Spanish Public Administration we used for the NIE. Then choose your province and press aceptar (accept).
On the next page, leave cualquier oficina, after all, you are here for now just to get to the documents list, not really to book something. Ignore the next blue line and chose the service “Police-Toma de huella (expedición de tarjeta), renovación de tarjeta de larga duración y duplicado”. Funny enough, to have your residence permit you have to book an appointment to have your digitals collected – that’s what toma de huella means. You have to do it to have your tarjeta (card) made.
After you enter, the next page will have a lot of information about the documentation that will be required. As of today, September 2022, this is the page with the documents list:
Don’t worry, the list is actually small, it is just that they add lots of other information, such as how to get a second one (if you lose your original) and other specific info.
This is how you get the official list of requirements to have the residence. Good. Notice the links, in red, for the form EX-17 and the Modelo 790 (the fee form). These are the two forms that will be needed from here. Notice also the list of requirements, that include passport, picture, padrón and the resolución de concessión del permiso (permit resolution – more about this one later on this page).
We’ll start from the two forms linked in the documents page of the booking process. The form EX-17 is the simpler one, where you fill your data. This is how the form looks on September 2022:
If you never had the residence card for Spain before, mark the option Tarjeta inicial (first card) in the item 4. Print and keep it for the appointment day.
The other form linked in the documents page is the Modelo 790 código 12, the same digital form used for NIE and for the EU citizens. If you are a non-EU citizen married to an EU citizen, choose the option “Certificado de registro de residente comunitario o Tarjeta de residencia de familiar de un ciudadano de la Unión” (the same as for EU citizens). Mark also the option for en efectivo under forma de pago. There will be a captcha and when you are ready, press “descargar impreso rellenado”. A pdf will be generated with the form already filled. Save and print.
You should them take this printed form to the bank and pay it, all before your appointment day. Be aware, if you didn’t read the NIE documents post, that some banks are tricky and only accept payments from their own clients; others accept non-clients payments only on specific days of the week, so don’t let this payment for the last day. Pay (or start trying to pay) as soon as you get the printed form.
On top of those, you will need to bring the proof of appointment (printed or on a screenshot in your phone), your passport, one document picture size 32x26mm, the Padrón and the cheery on the cake: the positive concession permission resolution from the Oficina de la Delegación del Gobierno (it is the local government, on the level of the autonomous communities; like a state government in the USA or Brazil) if you need it. I needed it. This paper acknowledges the fact that I was married to an EU citizen resident in Spain and therefore, was entitled to request the residence in Spain. I don’t know how to get it on my own; I had the help of a gestor to get it. I was told this document could take up to 3 months to be provided, which would greatly exceed the 90 days I could stay in Spain without a residence permit, but as long as I had the proof that this document was requested, it would be ok; my stay would be allowed. Nevertheless, it got ready in a week or less, so it was very straight forward. It consists of an A4 paper with my data and a lot of legal references.
Once you have all the documents, you are ready to book your appointment. On the appointment, they will collect your digitals and ask for you to present all the required documentation that you prepared. Despite having booked an appointment only for digitals collection, you will not need to book another appointment for the card – that’s it, two-in-one. You will not receive your card immediately, though; you will have to wait a while until it is ready. In my case, they asked me to call a certain phone number of the Police in Benalmádena two weeks after my appointment. I called and it was ready; I collected and was pleased with the result:
It is a beautiful hard card, resembling a bank card. Different from the greencards that Kiddo and Hubby got, it is a normal ID card with picture (black and white, eventhough the picture I gave was in color) that is valid on it’s own – no need to carry a passport around with it; it can go anywhere in my wallet, even to the beach. Soo different from their greencards!!! This Tarjeta de residencia (residence card) is the famous TIE – Tarjeta de Identificación de Extranjero (Foreign ID card) and it also contains the NIE – Numero de Identificación de Extranjero. Beautiful and valid for 5 years. I love it.
Next: Booking a residence appointment for non-EU citizens
