Spanish ex-pats



Recognise all of this @alicante mackem
I've lost it in there too! The bored petulance of the Spanish civil servant is an amazing thing.

My nie has a different address on too. I had to update it with an old address to sign the papers to then move to a new address!

Happy to get on a Spanish burocracy / footy what's app group about it all. I know a few people in Madrid who seem to have all the answers. One fella is head of some UK citizens abroad group if anyone needs real help.

Going down the paying a gestor route is sometimes the only way. I need a new driving licence next year and I'm already sweating at the thought of it.
 
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pablo casals said:
Recognise all of this @alicante mackem
I've lost it in there too! The bored petulance of the Spanish civil servant is an amazing thing.

My nie has a different address on too. I had to update it with an old address to sign the papers to then move to a new address!

Happy to get on a Spanish burocracy / footy what's app group about it all. I know a few people in Madrid who seem to have all the answers. One fella is head of some UK citizens abroad group if anyone needs real help.

Going down the paying a gestor route is sometimes the only way. I need a new driving licence next year and I'm already sweating at the thought of it.
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We are currently trying to change my address with the police using my clave pin, but the website keeps going down. We'll see who else wants to be in the group and then I can set it up. Obviously, I have your number already. Haway the lads
 
kossoff said:
When I come to changing to a TIE, my green card states one pueblo, my padron will state a different pueblo - just the same as it would if I had to update the residency card (if Brexit didn't happen).

I don't understand why they wouldn't update it for you. Sounds like I may encounter the same problem.

Gives me no confidence of potentially travelling back home this summer.
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Well, you are expected to keep your relevant documents updated. If you don't, you encounter problems. If your TIE says one address but your Padrón another, it's understandable you can't exchange it because the addresses don't match.

Why didn't you change it when you moved?

It is a pain in the arse but I learnt pretty much right from the start of my time here that it's extremely important to have all of your documents etc up to date to avoid hassle.
 
aupaalaves said:
Well, you are expected to keep your relevant documents updated. If you don't, you encounter problems. If your TIE says one address but your Padrón another, it's understandable you can't exchange it because the addresses don't match.

Why didn't you change it when you moved?

It is a pain in the arse but I learnt pretty much right from the start of my time here that it's extremely important to have all of your documents etc up to date to avoid hassle.
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I changed my padrón. The problem is the ayuntamiento didn't inform the police. Ties didn't exist then, I guess most of us never thought we'd have to go back to extranjero to change the NIE. Now it's a catch 22.
 
alicante mackem said:
I changed my padrón. The problem is the ayuntamiento didn't inform the police. Ties didn't exist then, I guess most of us never thought we'd have to go back to extranjero to change the NIE. Now it's a catch 22.
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I think that is exactly the position I am in. I need to check with the ayuntamiento about that.
 
alicante mackem said:
I changed my padrón. The problem is the ayuntamiento didn't inform the police. Ties didn't exist then, I guess most of us never thought we'd have to go back to extranjero to change the NIE. Now it's a catch 22.
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Why didn't you update your green card when you moved to your current address?
alicante mackem said:
I changed my padrón. The problem is the ayuntamiento didn't inform the police. Ties didn't exist then, I guess most of us never thought we'd have to go back to extranjero to change the NIE. Now it's a catch 22.
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As far as I'm aware, the town hall do not inform the policía Nacional over a change of address. Maybe the politicians municipal but not the policía Nacional
 
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aupaalaves said:
Why didn't you update your green card when you moved to your current address?
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Didn't even think about it like almost everyone else. Most of my colleagues and lads on here are in the same boat. However, the only place you can change it is in extranjeros, exactly where I was yesterday so it begs the question why didn't the lazy cow change it for me?
 
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spitfire said:
To be fair that you find that in a lot of countries. Its a Brit thing in general I think.
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How though? During lock down I've started learning to speak Spanish - it's not even hard and must be much easier if you actually live there - I cannot understand the mentality

What happens if they need to make a phone call, or go to the post office or pharmacy? Or speak to a taxi driver, delivery driver etc.?

It must be a right ball ache living in a country where you don't speak the language
 
Rustie Trombone said:
How though? During lock down I've started learning to speak Spanish - it's not even hard and must be much easier if you actually live there - I cannot understand the mentality

What happens if they need to make a phone call, or go to the post office or pharmacy? Or speak to a taxi driver, delivery driver etc.?

It must be a right ball ache living in a country where you don't speak the language
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I think you can only judge the difficulty when you can properly speak the language mind.
 
alicante mackem said:
Didn't even think about it like almost everyone else. Most of my colleagues and lads on here are in the same boat. However, the only place you can change it is in extranjeros, exactly where I was yesterday so it begs the question why didn't the lazy cow change it for me?
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Because they no longer issue new green cards to UK citizens.

It seems that you are in a grey area.

As I mentioned before, I learnt pretty much from the start of my time here about making sure I have my documents up to date because I have had hassle with the old ID card we had, padrons, driving licence, green card and signing on the file and pretty much every single time the problem was down to not having something up to date.

It's a pain in the arse to keep updating things if you move house frequently pero que vamos a hacer? 🤷
 
Rustie Trombone said:
True - when we can eventually travel again I'll see how well I'm doing with my Spanish :lol:

Does Spain have heavy regional accents like the UK
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None have quite so many as the UK but yes the differences are very noticeable.
aupaalaves said:
Because they no longer issue new green cards to UK citizens.

It seems that you are in a grey area.

As I mentioned before, I learnt pretty much from the start of my time here about making sure I have my documents up to date because I have had hassle with the old ID card we had, padrons, driving licence, green card and signing on the file and pretty much every single time the problem was down to not having something up to date.

It's a pain in the arse to keep updating things if you move house frequently pero que vamos a hacer? 🤷
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I'm definitely in a grey area, but I need to find a solution.
 
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