Getting Your NIE at the Los Angeles Spanish Consulate: Step-by-Step

Process
Written By Daria Kulachek

By Daria Kulachek

Every Spanish property purchase runs through the same nine characters: a letter, seven digits, a letter. That's the NIE — Número de Identidad de Extranjero — and without it, the Spanish notary won't let you sign a deed, the tax office won't take your money, and most banks won't open your account. It's the first bureaucratic gate on the road from California to Spain, and for Southern Californians, that gate sits in a ninth-floor office on Wilshire Boulevard.

The good news: this is the cheapest step of your entire purchase. The NIE fee at the Los Angeles consulate is $12. The less-good news: it runs on an appointment system, a Spanish police form, and rules that punish improvisation. Here's the full process, verified against the consulate's own pages as of July 2026.

What is an NIE, and why do you need it before anything else?

The NIE is Spain's identification number for foreigners — the rough equivalent of a Social Security number for tax and legal purposes. It's assigned once, it's yours for life, and it attaches to everything: the purchase deed, the property registry, your utility contracts, your annual non-resident tax filings.

Two things Californians consistently get wrong:

  • The NIE is not a visa. It doesn't let you live in Spain, and getting one doesn't start any residency clock. If you're weighing residency, that's a separate process — start with our breakdown of Spain visa options for Americans.
  • You need it earlier than you think. You can reserve a property and even sign a private purchase contract (arras) without one in some cases, but nothing completes without it. If you wait until you've found the apartment, the NIE becomes the thing holding up your closing. Get it while you're still browsing listings.

Order of operations matters: NIE first, then bank account, then the property hunt in earnest.

Does the Los Angeles consulate cover you?

The Consulate General of Spain in Los Angeles serves eleven Southern California counties — Imperial, Inyo, Kern, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura — plus Arizona, Colorado, and Utah.

If you live in Northern California — the Bay Area, Sacramento, anywhere north of the San Luis Obispo/Kern line — your consulate is San Francisco, and its procedures differ in the details. Check before you book anything.

One trap for San Diegans: there's an honorary consulate in San Diego, but it doesn't process NIEs, visas, or powers of attorney. You're driving to LA — the consulate is at 5055 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 860, Los Angeles, CA 90036, open to the public Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Four-hour public windows. Plan accordingly.

The step-by-step process

Step 1: Book your appointment online

The LA consulate handles NIE applications strictly by appointment, booked through its Bookitit online system. One appointment per person — a couple buying together needs two slots, even if you arrive in the same car.

Availability fluctuates. If you see nothing open, check back over the following days before resorting to emailing the consulate. Book before you do anything else on this list — the appointment is usually the longest pole in the tent.

Step 2: Complete form EX-15

The EX-15 is the national police form requesting an NIE. The consulate wants it completed online, printed, and signed — bring the original plus one copy.

The form asks for the economic, professional, or social reason justifying your request. Don't overthink it, and don't leave it blank: "purchase of real estate in Spain" (compra de un inmueble en España) is exactly the answer this box exists for.

One detail that matters more than it looks: the form must include your email address, because that's where Spain sends your NIE. No card, no certificate in the mail — an email. Typo the address and you'll be chasing a nine-character number through two bureaucracies.

Step 3: Prepare Form 790, code 012 — and the $12

This is the fee form, also from the Spanish national police. Fill out the Modelo 790, código 012 online, selecting the option for assignment of an NIE at the applicant's request, then print it.

Per the consulate's current fee schedule, the charge in Los Angeles is $12 — the single cheapest line item in your entire Spanish property budget. (Apply inside Spain instead and the same fee is €9.84.) The consulate's accepted payment methods change from time to time, so confirm how to pay — and whether they want exact form of payment like a money order — when you book. Don't assume they take cards.

Step 4: Gather the rest of the file

The complete checklist, per the consulate:

  • EX-15 — original and one copy, signed
  • Form 790, code 012 — completed, with the $12 fee
  • Your valid passport — original, plus a copy of the biographical data page
  • Proof of residence in the consular area — a California driver's license with a Southern California address does the job; a utility bill works too

If a representative applies for you, they bring their own ID (original and copy) plus a power of attorney that expressly states they're authorized to present your NIE application. Generic POAs get rejected. Specific language or nothing.

Make your copies before you leave the house. The consulate is not a Kinko's.

Step 5: The appointment itself

Show up early — Wilshire and Highland at 9 a.m. is its own adventure, and parking in that stretch of Mid-Wilshire is neither fast nor cheap. The appointment is administrative, not an interview: documents checked, forms stamped, fee collected. If your file is complete, you're done in minutes. If it isn't, you're rebooking, and that can cost you weeks.

This is a filing appointment. The consulate doesn't issue the number on the spot — nobody walks out with an NIE in hand.

Step 6: Wait for the email — about two weeks

Your application goes to the General Commissariat for Immigration and Borders in Spain, part of the national police. The NIE is normally issued within two weeks and arrives by email. The consulate itself can't expedite it — the number is assigned in Madrid, not on Wilshire.

Print several copies when it arrives and save the PDF everywhere. You'll be asked for it constantly from here on.

Somewhere between booking the slot and printing the copies, most buyers realize the NIE is only form one of many — the bank account, the POA, the tax forms, and the deed all have their own choreography. That's the part we run for clients start to finish. Book a free consultation and we'll map your whole timeline, NIE included.

The alternative: get your NIE in Spain through a power of attorney

Here's the route many of our buyers actually take: skip the Wilshire appointment entirely and have a lawyer in Spain request the NIE for you at a Spanish police station.

The mechanics:

  1. Sign a power of attorney naming your Spanish lawyer, with express authority to request your NIE. You can execute the POA at the LA consulate — its notarial fee for a general power is $35 per the current fee schedule — or before a California notary with a Hague apostille added afterward.
  2. Your lawyer files in Spain with your passport copy and the same EX-15 and 790-012 forms, paying the €9.84 fee there.
  3. The NIE comes back through your lawyer, who typically needs it anyway to open your bank account and prepare the purchase.

Why bother? Because if you're buying with our model — remote purchase, no flights required — you'll need that POA regardless. The same document that lets a lawyer get your NIE also lets them sign the deed for you. One notarization covers the entire transaction. A client buying a three-bedroom in Alicante can complete the entire purchase, NIE included, without leaving California.

The trade-off is honest: the POA route means paying a Spanish lawyer (usually folded into the legal fee you'd pay for the purchase anyway, not a separate charge), and timing depends on the police station handling it. The consulate route costs $12 and a morning of your time — if you can get the appointment.

Which route fits you?

Go through the LA consulate if: you live within striking distance of Mid-Wilshire, you're early in your search with no time pressure, and you'd rather not sign a POA yet.

Go through a POA in Spain if: appointment slots are scarce, you're in San Diego or Bakersfield and the drive stings, or you're buying remotely and will grant a POA anyway — in which case the consulate NIE appointment is a trip you never needed to take.

Either way, the number is identical and permanent. This isn't about the better NIE. It's about the better use of your time.

Next step

The NIE is step one of roughly a dozen between a California living room and a Spanish deed — and it's the easiest one. Bank account, currency transfer, due diligence, notary, registry: each has its own forms and its own ways to go sideways.

We're in LA — book on California hours. The consultation is free, we've filed these forms for ourselves and for clients, and you'll leave with a clear sequence for your specific situation, whether you're planning a scouting trip or buying entirely from your couch.

Book your free consultation →

Quick answers

How do I get an NIE at the Spanish consulate in Los Angeles?

Book an appointment through the consulate's Bookitit system, then bring form EX-15 (original and copy), form 790 code 012 with the $12 fee, your original passport plus a copy of the photo page, and proof you live in the consular area. The NIE arrives by email, normally within about two weeks of filing.

Can I buy property in Spain without an NIE?

No. Every foreign buyer needs an NIE to sign the purchase deed, pay Spanish transfer taxes, and register the property. You can browse and even reserve without one, but the sale cannot complete. Get the NIE early — through your consulate or via a power of attorney in Spain — so it never delays your closing.

Who can help me get an NIE as a Californian buying in Spain?

You can file yourself at the Spanish consulate in Los Angeles if you live in its Southern California jurisdiction, or authorize a Spanish lawyer by power of attorney to obtain it in Spain. Inside Job Concierge coordinates the POA route for California clients buying remotely, folding the NIE into the broader purchase timeline.

Sources

Daria Kulachek
Next

Should You Hire a Buyer’s Agent in Spain? What Californians Need to Know