Spain is famous for its bureaucracy (which I just accidentally typed as bureaucrazy, but I almost left it as it seemed like a happy accident!). Expats LOVE to complain about it as if their own countries are models of ease and efficiency. Whenever someone brings up the bureaucracy to me, I can’t help but mention that where I’m from, in North Carolina, there are TWO separate branches of offices for the Department of Motor Vehicles, depending on whether you need a driver’s license or to register a license plate, and they are NOT near each other and they do not communicate, so let’s not throw stones from our own glass house!
This video does sum up many people’s experiences, and it’s hilarious, so I recommend giving it a watch (or three!).
So what does the bureaucracy look like for a family just arriving to Spain?
First, we needed to make an appointment at our local town hall for our “Certificate of Empadronamiento”. Basically, you are adding yourself to the census list of the town or city you are living in to help ensure the local government gets the funds it needs to keep the city running – trash will be picked up, health services will be fully staffed, etc. We needed proof of our address and birth certificates for the children, passports with our visas, and a housing contract. It was a one-time thing, and a week or so later, we just went and picked them up.
Next we needed to get our NIE cards – residency cards that say we arre allowed to be here for more than six months. We needed an appointment with the National Police for fingerprints, and we needed to bring our passports with visas, small, passport-type pictures (but a different size – fortunately the photo store we went to had a list of the different sizes required for the different types of documents), proof of payment (that I had to make in advance, in cash, at a local bank where I got a stamp on the papers once I paid – Spaniards do love their stamps!), and birth certificates. We needed a second appointment to pick them up, and we did have a hiccup there when we were told we needed hard copies of our boys’ TRANSLATED birth certificates, not the originals, so we had some scrambling to do there, but all was well in the end.
I think the thing for me with the bureaucracy is the frustrating lack of consistency – maybe you need this form at one office, but another might not require it. Or untranslated documents are ok for one agent, but not for another.
By far my favorite experience was at the Education Department when we took at number and were called to one window where we showed them all our papers, they were checked and noted, and then there were given back to us, we were told to take ANOTHER number and to go to a DIFFERENT window where we actually handed the papers to someone who then took them. That was a little surreal.
Best and easiest way we have found is to smile a lot, joke if you can, and show lots and lots of gratitude.
We can help you navigate the bureaucracy and start your life in Spain! Email us to find out how!
