N I E NUMBER

As of now, that might be a little difficult.  Almería stopped all appointments until the Brexit issue was resolved.  Now UK has accepted an extension to 31/1 I’m not sure if they’ve restarted appointments or are waiting to see result of what looks set to be another General Election.

With December fast approaching, even if the doors do re-open, you have maximum 5 or 6 weeks until they close for Christmas.

They will not open again until after Three Kings on Jan 6th .... and if we have yet another Brexit deadline looming, they may again put a freeze on and wait and see.

The short version is - speak to a Gestor / Asesor in your area and get them to keep you informed.  If it’s just an NIE, you should expect to pay anywhere from 60€ to 100€ for assistance, plus price of NIE.

Please remember if you intend staying here more than three months, you need Residencia, not just a NIE.  Residencia will give you the all important NIE

Thank you Dario, good information.

Hi Andy,

An NIE is issued free with residencia.

If you are not resident and need one to conduct a financial transaction such as buying a property you can use the form available online to book an appointment ( see Citizens Advice Spain) which costs around 10 euros, or use a gestor. If you are not buying a property or similar you don't need an NIE so avoid those companies that advertise online and charge hefty fees.

The issue OP will face is that there are no appointments available at present - Extranjeria shut their doors to UK NIE / Residencia applications until some decision was made on Brexit, and it is unclear / uncertain when they will begin processing again.

Yes, I know  about that as we were trying to get appointments when they started restricting them. However, they are still issuing NIEs if required for a financial transaction , but you need to prove what it is for, eg by providing an 'agreenent to purchase' from an estate agent.

They’ve needed that at Almería since around early 2017 .... you can no longer just get an NIE because you want one - you have to prove you need one.  Good to know they are still issuing NIEs though - I thought they had stopped that as well

Hi we both have NIE when we bought our house 3years ago but we would like to retire in Almeria would this help us secure residencia 

Having NIE already won’t make the slightest bit of difference to getting Residencia; the main thing will be to prove legal residence and start the process before Brexit occurs (unless UK actually leaves with a deal, at which point you’ll have until the end of the transition period - whatever that may be)

Thank you