Residence in Spain

 You dont need to own a house to get Residence known as NIE you canget this from any Spanish embassy before you come or at the local Guardia Civil police station where it will be quicker and cheaper. If you do it in Spain will need an address which can be rented just take rental contract and usual proof of ID

Smythie

Just to play devils advocate, you are assuming that Alia is a citizen of the EU

 your right  but then the question was do i need to own a house

and if she went to the GC and wasn't eu they would send in the right direction i.e. the treadmill

suppose it would help if people put the details when asking a question 

 Residence and NIE are not the same thing.  The NIE number is your national insurance number or ID number and your residence is a certicate to shown you are residedant in Spain.  ou will need a NIE for most things including setting up a business in Spain.  please look at the web site below for more info

 To stay within the law you should register if you intend to live in Spain for 90 days or more. In practice many people don't and there do not appear to be any dire sanctions applied for failing to register.

New arrivals intending to stay for 90 days or more will not have a choice because when they apply for their NIE (see separate NIE guide) they will be put on the residency registry at the same time.

NOT MY WORDS

 Sorry have just looked at the NIE guide and can not see anything about being put  the residency registry at the same time. As far as I know you will have to apply for residency separately.  We certainly did in Murcia unless it is different in other regions.

 WHEN DID YOU DO THAT

 about 5 minutes ago

quote...you dont need to own a house to get Residence known as NIE you canget this from any Spanish embassy before you come or at the local Guardia Civil police station where it will be quicker and cheaper. If you do it in Spain will need an address which can be rented just take rental contract and usual proof of ID.

Some Duff gen contained in the above quote...

NIE and residencia are two entirely different things. Used to be that one applied for an NIE in order to purchase a house or to enter into any contract with utility companies such as elctricity, phone etc. Some (though not all) banks may require an NIE number in order to open an account.

One applied for Residencia after landing so to speak and to be legal had to be obtained within 6 months.

Nowadays the two actions are combined.

Applications for residencia cannot be completed at your local Guardia Civil office. These matters are attended to by the Cuerpo de Policia Nacional and specifically by the Officina de Extranjeros resident within these offices. Yes you can apply in advance through your countries Spanish Embassy.

Assuming you are resident in the EU at the moment, The form you are required  to complete (in duplicate), EX-16, for Residencia and NIE is downloadable from this site.

Again it used to be that when ones application for Residencia was approved one was given a handy photo id card which could be used in place of ones passport for ID purposes in Spain. This is no longer the case; all you get now is an A4 paper certificate which does not bear your picture and is effectively no use at all without ones national Passport..

edited typos...

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 mobailey

SORRY I MEANT GET YOUR RESIDENCY IS IT A CARD OR CERTIFICATE AS IT SEEMS THE REQUIREMENT WAS BAND BY THE EU IN 2007

 iT OCCURRED TO ME TO ACTUALLY LOOK AT MY NIE CERTIFICATE AND IT  IS NOT IN FACT CALLED THAT BUT

CERTIFICADO DE REGISTRO DE CIUDADANO DE LA UNION

AND BELOW THE TEXT

HA SOLICITADO Y OBTENIDO SU INSCRIPCION EN EL REGISTRO  CENTRAL DE LA POLICIA Y DE LA GUARDIA CIVIL COMO RESIDENT COMMUNITARIO EN ESPANA

SO WHAT WE HAVE BEEN CALLING NIE CERTIFICATE IS IN FACT A RESIDENT CERTIFICATE WHICH CARRIES YOUR NIE NUMBER

Smythie;

It depends on when it was issued.

Yours is one of those cases I referred to when I said 'Nowadays these two actions are combined'

My NIE Certificate issued in 2005 is just that... its an NIE only... if, as, and when I get around to applying for residencia, my NIE number will be transferred onto the new certificate...

The residencia cert does have one distinct advantage and only one that I can see... if you get pulled over by the GC the residencia cert in conjunction with your passport should allow you to defer payment of traffic fines for up to 15 days that would otherwise be payable on the spot.

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BUT YOU SAID 'TO GET RESIDENCE KNOWN AS NIE' WHICH I JUST EXPLAINED IS NOT WHAT IT IS CALLED

ANYWAY

 NOW IS NOW THE REST IS HISTORY AND FOLK WERE ASKING HOW TO GET ONE NOW WHICH I ASSUME MEANS THE UP TO DATE ONE

Smythie...

Not splitting hairs... but it was YOU that said  'to get Residence known as NIE'  which is why so many people have responded that they are not the same thing. For most people on this forum, those that have been over here for some years, the two certificates are quite different.

People applying for an NIE now use the same form EX-16 which is now the combined NIE / Residencia Cert.

Hope this clears things up, finally.

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 you should read more carefully did you not notice the inverted commas?

or do you not understand what they mean?

and why continue to talk about that which no longer exists?

i certainly don't need you to clear up anything

 Sorry to say this but as non-eu residents it is more difficult you should contact your nearest Spanish embassy for details as it is a bit complicated

Ok we go full circle.

Alia

If you are not a EU citizen you have to apply for a visa to enter Spain from the Spainish embassy in your country of origin, be careful there are about seven categories that you can apply for, choose the correct one

People from United States, Canada and most South American countries, are allowed to visit Spain, as tourists, without any permit or visa, for a maximum of 90 days. Most other countries will require a tourist visa.

If you are not a EU citizen you have to apply for a visa to enter Spain from the Spainish embassy in your country of origin, be careful there are about seven categories that you can apply for, choose the correct one

That may also be, the country in which you reside. 

So if you are resident say in UK,  the application can be made in the Spanish Consulate in UK.