Applying for a NIE from abroad: consulate or representative
You do not need to be in Spain to hold a NIE, but someone does have to file it. The two routes that exist, what each one involves, and when each is worth it.
You can hold a NIE without ever setting foot in Spain. What does not exist is a purely online procedure: the application is always filed in person. So the question is not whether you can avoid that, but who turns up: you at a consulate, or someone in Spain on your behalf.
What you can do online and what you cannot
You cannot get a NIE entirely online. A good part of the preparation, though, can be done from home:
- Fill in the EX-15 form. It is an editable PDF you download, complete on your computer and print.
- Generate the 790 012 fee form. It is created on the National Police website; you pay at a Spanish bank or, with a Spanish account, online.
- Book the appointment. In Spain, on the government's online booking system; at a consulate, through its own system.
- Gather the documents, above all the one that proves your reason: the purchase contract, the job offer or the inheritance papers.
What you cannot do online is file it: you, or someone holding a power of attorney, have to attend in person, at the consulate or at the office in Spain. Online is where the preparation happens; filing is always in person.
Download the EX-15 form
The official EX-15 is in Spanish, as an editable PDF, on the Ministry of Inclusion forms page. Always download it from there: a new version has applied since May 2025. How to fill it in field by field is in EX-15 form and 790 012 fee.
Route 1: the Spanish consulate in your country
Consular offices process NIE applications from people resident in their district. It is the natural route if you live abroad, have nobody in Spain and have no travel date yet.
- You book a consular appointment, on its own system and its own timescales: nothing to do with the immigration system inside Spain.
- You file the EX-15, your passport or identity document and proof of the economic, professional or social reason.
- The consulate processes the application with the Directorate-General of Police and notifies you of the number once resolved.
- Fee payment and documentary requirements vary between consulates: read your own consulate's page before preparing anything.
Route 2: a representative with power of attorney
The second route is having someone file the application for you at an immigration office in Spain. It requires a power of attorney expressly authorising them to apply for the NIE on your behalf. This is the usual option in property purchases with a completion date already fixed.
The power can be granted two ways: before the Spanish consulate in your country, in which case it works in Spain directly; or before a local notary, in which case it needs a Hague apostille and a sworn translation into Spanish.
| Consulate | Representative with POA | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it is filed | In your country of residence | At an immigration office in Spain |
| Do you have to travel | No | No |
| Prior step | Consular appointment | Granting the power of attorney |
| Timeline | Whatever the consulate takes | Whatever the immigration appointment takes |
| Best for | People with no contacts in Spain | People with a lawyer or agent and a date to meet |
When you are travelling anyway
If you are coming to Spain regardless, the third option is the simplest: prepare the whole file remotely and file it yourself during the trip. That means matching the appointment to your dates, which is the hard part, because appointments are not chosen: they are taken when they are released. How that system works is covered in NIE appointment: how to get one.
What does not work
- Applying “online” with nobody attending. It does not exist: someone has to be there physically.
- Posting your papers to an immigration office.
- A generic power of attorney. It must expressly authorise filing the NIE application.
- A foreign power of attorney with no apostille or translation. It will be refused at the counter.
Frequently asked questions
This guide is general information about the procedure, accurate as of the date shown. Fees and the criteria of each immigration office change; for a question about your own case, email us at info@niexpress.es, and if you would rather we handled it, open your application.