Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK
For members

RESIDENCY PERMITS

What to do if you lose your TIE or other Spanish residency document

What steps should you follow in the unfortunate event that your Spanish residency document is lost or stolen? Here's what you should do to get a duplicate.

Published: 4 April 2022 16:13 CEST
Updated: 3 July 2022 09:31 CEST
What to do if you lose your TIE or other Spanish residency document
Apart from applying for a duplicate of your residency card, you should also remember to cancel any debit or credit cards if your wallet has gone missing and not just your residency document.  

So you’re a foreign resident in Spain with either a green residency certificate if you’re from the EU (Certificado de Ciudadano la Unión), or a TIE card (Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero) if you’re a non-EU national. 

Perhaps you’ve had your wallet stolen or you’ve tried endlessly to find your Spanish residency document to no avail. 

What should you do in order to get a new residency document?

The first step to take is to go to your local police station. 

Police officers may ask you to report the loss through a denuncia (complaint) depending on the circumstances.   

They will give you a document with details about the denuncia. 

If your wallet was stolen or you left it somewhere, there is a high chance that it will be returned, even if the money you had in your wallet may not. 

Remember to cancel any debit or credit cards if it’s your wallet that’s gone missing and not just your residency document.  

If after three to five days you have been unable to retrieve your residency document, the next step to take is to request a duplicate.

You will need to provide passport photos again if you’re applying for a duplicate TIE residency card for non-EU residents in Spain.

How to request a duplicate of your Spanish residency document

If you need to get a new green residency certificate (Certificado de Ciudadano la Unión), or a TIE card (Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero), the process doesn’t involve having to submit additional documentation as is the case for first-time non-EU residency applicants. 

Applying for a duplicate is similar to a residency document exchange or renewal, it is more straightforward and involves fewer background checks. 

That’s because losing your Spanish residency document or having it stolen does not mean you’ve lost your residency status. 

In order to start the duplicate process, you will have to request a cita previa (prior appointment) at a police station or extranjería (migration) office near you. 

You should technically do this within 30 days of having lost your Spanish residency document.

This is done online via the following website and choosing your province in Spain.

If you’re an EU citizen you’ll need to choose the “Certificado de Registro de la Unión” option and if you’re non-EU you’ll have to choose the “Expedición de tarjeta y renovación de tarjeta” option. 

It costs less to apply for a duplicate of the green cardboard residency document for EU residents in Spain than for a copy of the hard plastic TIE card for non-EU nationals in Spain.

There may also be an option available to British applicants exclusively, given their new status post-Brexit. Britons who lost an old green certificate issued to them when they were still EU nationals are likely to be given a TIE card to replace it. 

Once you’ve got an appointment, you need to get several documents ready to get the processes completed. These are:

  • Fill in and take with you form EX-17, which you can download here. When filling in the form, make sure you tick the box at the bottom which reads “DUPLICADO POR ROBO, EXTRAVÍO, DESTRUCCIÓN O INUTILIZACIÓN”.
  • Pay fee 790/012 at any bank branch and get proof of payment to take with you to your appointment. You can fill in the form here. Depending on your residency document, this will cost anywhere from €12 to €21.44. 
  • Get a photocopy or colour copy of your passport and take it with you, along with your actual passport.
  • Get three photos (passport type) of yourself against a white background. Most photography studios in Spain offer this service.
  • Take the denuncia document with details of the theft or loss with you. 

Take the above documents with you to your appointment at the police station or extranjería office. 

In theory, you should be issued a new TIE or green certificate within 40 to 45 days. 

Depending on where you are in Spain, you may need to get another appointment in order to pick your new card up. 

Your new residency document will include the same NIE foreigner ID number, as this never changes and it should include the same issuance and expiration details (if applicable) as your previous residency document. 

If you’re a third-country national and you need to travel urgently before then, you should bring it up with the police officer dealing with your case. 

They are likely to suggest that you use the proof they give you that your card is being processed as a means of applying for the autorización de regreso (authorization to return to Spain), which you will also need to get a cita previa for and present other documents. 

This document will mean border officials in Spain will allow you to return to the country despite not having a valid residency permit.

READ ALSO:

How Brits in Spain can exchange a green residency document for a TIE

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

RESIDENCY PERMITS

Why is it so hard to get an appointment at some of Spain’s foreigner offices?

One of the reasons Brits in Spain say they haven't got a TIE residency card yet is the apparent impossibility of getting an appointment at their local extranjería office or police station. So is there any truth to this?

Published: 17 May 2024 10:34 CEST
Why is it so hard to get an appointment at some of Spain's foreigner offices?

Anyone who has tried to do anything official in Spain will be well aware of the dreaded cita previa system, whereby they must first make an appointment.

For foreign residents, this is not a simple task. It’s not just a question of simply making an appointment as more often than not, there aren’t any available.

And it’s not like you can just log-on a day later and find more. Many people spend weeks or even months trying to make these appointments, so they can carry out mandatory bureaucratic procedures.

These appointments are needed for everything from applying for or renewing your TIE if you’re non-EU to getting your EU green residency card. They’re needed again when going in for fingerprinting or even just trying to pick up your card once it’s ready.

Earlier this week, the British Embassy in Madrid stressed that it’s “really important” that the 200,000+ UK nationals in Spain with a green residency certificate exchange it for a TIE card “as soon as possible” to avoid issues with the EU’s new Entry-Exit System. 

READ ALSO – ‘Get the TIE now’: Brits in Spain urged to exchange residency document

The problem is that the exchange has never been made compulsory, only strongly encouraged and around half of British residents in Spain still haven’t gotten their TIE after Brexit.

In reaction to the announcement by the British Embassy, numerous British residents in Spain commented how hard it is get an appointment at their local police station or extranjería (foreign affairs) office.

Could the difficulty in getting an appointment be one of the reasons to blame for this?

So why are these cita previas so coveted and why are they so difficult to get?

Unfortunately, it’s not just a question of simple Spanish bureaucracy. There’s something slightly more sinister going on here. The fact of the matter is that if you go to certain relocation companies, firms and agencies they can get you an appointment straightaway – if you pay for it.

A year ago in May 2023, Spain arrested 69 people for blocking appointments at immigration offices. They were accused of booking up all the available appointments via a computer bot to later sell to foreigners to make a profit, despite the fact that this process should be free.

Arrests were carried out in Madrid, Albacete, Alicante, Almería, Badajoz, Barcelona, ​​Vizcaya, Burgos, Cádiz, Córdoba, the Balearic Islands, Marbella, Murcia, Tarragona, Tenerife, Toledo and Valencia, which gives us an idea of how widespread the illegal practice is.

Although Spanish police managed to dismantle this particular ring of criminals, it did not solve the problem.

Just seven months later in December 2023, ONG Movimiento Por la Paz (MPDL) confirmed to Levante news in Valencia that the ministry’s network had been hacked for two years and that it was unfair to foreigners who were being discriminated against because of it. 

They also claimed that the police and foreign ministry knew about the problem and still let it happen. 

Vincente Marín, CEO and lawyer for Parainmigrantes website aimed at foreign residents and those wanting Spanish nationality, confirmed this in a video he posted on the site.

He explained that bots hack into the system and that whenever appointments become available, they can book them up in seconds and then sell them on the black market for between €100 and €200, admitting it was a big problem for his firm too.

The initial screen of the appointment page (cita previa) on Spain’s extranjería website, and where many foreigners find it impossible to book residency official processes.

Fast forward to February 2024 and a group of lawyers and gestores from Castellón and Valencia denounced the system, saying that it was “controlled by criminal mafias”. They also cited the problem of bots hacking the system and complained that some of their clients still hadn’t been able to get appointments in five or six months.

In May of this year, the issue is still ongoing. Balearic news site Ultima Hora reported several readers who had been trying to get appointments for months in Mallorca and had been unsuccessful.

One has to get an appointment before her residency card runs out in June and was even considering paying an agency who were asking for €200 to help her get one.

Wherever there’s a sizable population of foreigners, from Barcelona to Valencia, the extranjería website has generally been ‘hacked by bots’.

In order to improve the situation more national police have been called in to work at the Immigration Office in Orihuela (Alicante) because of the number of foreigners living in the area. The police there have confirmed that they have allocated more resources for the issuance of documents too, to try and speed up processes. 

If you’re trying for an appointment the best option is to aim to not pay for one if you can help it, as you’re only fuelling the problem.

Reputable law firms may still be able to help you get one by dedicating more resources to applying for them manually, but you shouldn’t have to pay over the odds for what should be a free service. 

Here are our tips on how to get a cita previa when it seems impossible. 

SHOW COMMENTS