PODCAST: The NIE nightmare – foreigners forced towards dodgy dealings to get ID cards

Broken system leaves internationals paying over the odds for residency appointments

A person shows their ID card in a Spanish police station (Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
A person shows their ID card in a Spanish police station (Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs) / ACN

ACN | Barcelona

January 8, 2022 10:42 AM

September 19, 2022 07:59 PM

 

Residency red tape is all too familiar for foreigners moving to Catalonia, but an increasingly broken system is forcing many to pay over the odds to obtain the requisite documentation. Press play below to listen or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Spotify.  

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Cristina Tomàs White and Cillian Shields join Lorcan Doherty to investigate what is going on with NIE (Foreigner Identity Number) and TIE (Foreigner Identity Card) appointments.

Skye, Zach, Antonia, Daria, Rupert, and Leslie share their Kafkaesque attempts to navigate Spanish bureaucracy.

We ask Carlos Prieto Gómez, a representative of the Spanish government in Barcelona, why getting appointments is so difficult and what is being done to improve things.

This week's Catalan phrase, or rather, word, is pocavergonya, which means shameless.

Listen to more episodes of Filling the Sink below or find out more here.

 

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