Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2018 11:01am
One of the problems is confusion between the Certificate of Residence as a foreigner, and a NIE. The latter is the equivalent of a UK national insurance number, needed to open a bank account, get a job etc, and nothing to do with whether you are resident or not. You keep the same number for life, just like a national insurance number.
The Certificado de Registration de Extranjero is often referred to as “residency” and it is compulsory to register for everyone staying over three months. After five years it automatically becomes a ‘permanent’ status, though it is safer to get it renewed showing this, especially in the uncertainty of the UK’s EU membership. It shows your address, your NIE and currently is a green credit-card sized piece of paper. This is what we renewed when we moved, as several organisations would not accept a change of address on their records without it. Typically they called it a “NIE”! It only costs a few Euros to update.