Which office in Spain handles your application (oficina de extranjería)?

Terms used

• Oficina de Extranjería — The Oficina de Extranjería is the immigration office that handles foreigners' registrations, permits and changes to your NIE record.
• Cl@ve — Cl@ve is the Spanish government's shared online login system for public services, with several methods.
• TIE — The TIE is the foreigner identity card issued to non-EU residents, and it includes the NIE.

Key rules

• Default office: The provincial foreigners' office is the default; the national unit only takes the mobility routes.
• Province: You file where you live; an employer-filed work permit goes to the province of the job.
• Fingerprints and TIE: Always done at the police in your province of residence.

Which office do you file with?

The national unit (UGE-CE) takes the mobility routes online: digital nomad, entrepreneur, highly qualified, researcher and intra-company transfer. Every other filing in Spain goes to the provincial foreigners' office. Where each route is filed is mapped in where to file.

You file in the province where you live. The one exception is an employer-filed work permit: your employer files in the province where the job is (employer-sponsored work permits).

How you file

In Spain you can file in person with an appointment (cita previa) or online with a digital certificate or Cl@ve; both are valid. Companies and professional representatives must file online, and so must everything filed with the national unit. A lawyer, gestor or hiring company needs your signed authorisation (who can file for you). Each family member files their own application with the same office (filing as a family).

If you have no digital certificate

You have three options. Get one: a digital certificate from the national mint (FNMT) is requested online and confirmed in person at a registration office, and Cl@ve is registered online or in person (digital certificate and Cl@ve). File in person at your provincial office with a cita previa. Or authorise a lawyer or gestor, who files online for you.

If you cannot get an appointment

Slots for the provincial office are often fully booked. Check the booking portal on different days and at different times, because slots are released in batches, and try the other offices of your province: you cannot file in another province. Online filing needs no appointment, so a digital certificate, Cl@ve or a lawyer or gestor solves it. If nothing works, write to the office or the Government Delegation (Delegación or Subdelegación del Gobierno) asking for an appointment, and keep dated screenshots of your failed attempts (cita previa). The TIE fingerprint appointment has its own steps: when no TIE appointments are available.

After you file

Notices arrive electronically, through the electronic notification system (DEHú) and by email, not by post (how electronic notifications work). Check your electronic notices at least every few days, because a notice you leave unopened counts as served after 10 calendar days. A request for more documents (a requerimiento) gives you 10 working days from notification to reply, or the application is treated as withdrawn.

Your TIE fingerprints are booked with the police: within 1 month of arriving in Spain on a visa, or within 1 month of approval if you were approved in Spain (booking). After a refusal: reconsideration within 1 month or court within 2 months, and if the office stays silent, no deadline for reconsideration and 6 months for court (appealing a refusal).

If you are an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen

You register your residence instead of applying for a permit, so the provincial-versus-national office choice does not apply to you (registering as an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen).

If you are still abroad

You file at the Spanish consulate that covers where you legally live, not where you happen to be on a trip (which consulate handles your application).