NIE, residency & empadronamiento — step by step

What NIE and padrón actually are

Two of the first things almost every new arrival needs — and they're easy to confuse:

• NIE (Número de Identidad de Extranjero) is your personal foreigner's ID and tax number in Spain. It's just a number, not a residence permit, but you need it for almost anything official.
• Empadronamiento (the padrón) is registering your home address at the town hall. The certificate it produces (the certificado or volante de empadronamiento) proves where you live.

You will usually end up needing both.

What you need a NIE for

• Buying or renting property, and signing utility contracts
• Opening a Spanish bank account
• Working, or registering as self-employed (autónomo)
• Buying or taxing a car
• Paying Spanish taxes and most dealings with the tax office
• Collecting parcels and registered post — Correos and couriers routinely ask for it, and customs needs it to clear packages from outside the EU
• Applying for residency

How to get your NIE

There are two routes.

From inside Spain

1. Book an appointment (cita previa) online for the Oficina de Extranjería or a Policía Nacional station with an immigration desk.
2. Fill in form EX-15 (the NIE application).
3. Pay the fee — form Modelo 790, código 012, around €10 — at a bank beforehand, and keep the stamped receipt.
4. Bring your passport plus a photocopy, the forms, the fee receipt, and evidence of why you need it (a property purchase, a job offer, and so on).

From your home country

You can also apply at the Spanish consulate that covers where you live, before you move.

EU vs non-EU — an important difference

• EU/EEA citizens staying more than three months must register on the Registro Central de Extranjeros and receive a green residency certificate (Certificado de Registro), which contains your NIE. That is form EX-18.
• Non-EU citizens — which, since Brexit, includes British nationals — get the NIE via EX-15, while residency is a separate visa or permit process, typically ending in a TIE card.

The padrón (empadronamiento)

Registering on your town's padrón municipal is how the ayuntamiento records that you live there. You'll need the padrón certificate for things like:

• Registering for public healthcare and a local doctor
• Enrolling children in school
• Applying for or renewing residency
• Some NIE and administrative procedures
• Local resident discounts and voting in municipal elections (EU citizens)

How to register

• Go to your ayuntamiento (Almuñécar, La Herradura, Salobreña, Motril…). Some take walk-ins; others need a cita previa.
• Bring your passport or ID and proof of address — the property deed (escritura) or rental contract, and often a recent utility bill in your name.
• It is free, and you can usually collect the certificate the same day.

Registering also helps the town: municipal budgets depend on the official headcount, so your ayuntamiento wants you on the padrón.

Which comes first?

There's no single order that suits everyone, but a common path is:

1. Get your NIE (or apply at your consulate before arriving).
2. Open a bank account and settle where you're living.
3. Empadronar at the town hall once you have an address.
4. Apply for residency, for which you'll generally need both your NIE and your padrón certificate.

On the Costa Tropical

• Padrón is handled by each town hall separately — Almuñécar (which also covers La Herradura), Salobreña and Motril each have their own desk. Check that town's website for whether you need an appointment.
• NIE and residency go through the Policía Nacional / Oficina de Extranjería. The main provincial office is in Granada city, and Motril has a national police station too. Appointments for the whole province are booked through the same national cita previa portal, so book early — coastal slots fill up in summer.

A few tips

• Book the cita previa as early as you can — the appointment, not the paperwork, is the real bottleneck, especially in summer.
• Bring photocopies of everything, alongside the originals.
• Keep the stamped 790 fee receipt — no receipt, no appointment.
• If it feels overwhelming, a local gestor (administrative agent) will handle the whole thing for a modest fee. It's common and completely normal here.