Getting Legal

In order for us to live here legally we needed not only a visa but to register with the Department of the Interior and get a resident card. We were required to register within 30 days or arriving which was complicated both by the fact that we would be in England for 10 days in the middle of August and that the woman at the University who usually helps people was on vacation for all of August. We had been told it was quite complicated and we had the name of a local lawyer who could help for 600 Euros.

After doing a lot of online research which presented a lot of conflicting information and having a couple of fights about it, we decided to just to go to the office and try our best and see what happened. We had two addresses for where the office should be and decided to take a taxi to the closest one first. This was the wrong place so we took another taxi to a second office. This was a more major complex and there were lots of armed police people hanging around.

We stood in one line to figure out where in the complex to go. Then we stood in another line where we were told we had filled out the wrong paper work, given new forms, a number and told we could make an appointment 3 weeks into the future, or come back at 1pm (90 minutes into the future). We filled out the new forms and headed to lunch. At 1pm we were told to wait in a special area for our numbers to be called. At 1:15 our numbers were called and we were given new numbers and told to sit in a different area. At 1:30 we were called and sent to the desk of an agent who started the process.

All was going well until the agent realized that the letter from the University with Mike’s research appointment information was in English, this would not work. Things we not looking good but the woman took pity on us and said that if we could get a letter faxed that she would take it. Mike hurriedly called the HR person who agreed to translate the letter and send it back by 2:15. The problem was that the office closed at 2pm. The agent told us to return at 2:30. We were skeptical but went with it.

We also had a problem that our passport photos from the US were too big and that we needed Xerox copies of our marriage certificate and kids birth certificates. We ran across the street for new photos and copies. We returned just as the office was closing at 2pm. Our lady wasn’t there but we were put in a waiting area and told to stay there until 2:30pm. We were the only ones there and all of the employees were leaving. Like always we were confused. Finally at about 2:30 our lady came back and waved us in. In the whole office it was just us and our lady. For the next 90 minutes she worked it all though and in the end we had our NIE numbers and were legal.

It was amazing. We felt like we had slayed the bureaucratic beast.