The TIE Card in Spain: First Card, Renewal, Changes and Loss

The TIE, the tarjeta de identidad de extranjero, is the card that proves you are legally in Spain for more than six months. It is renewed when your authorization is, replaced when it is lost, and updated when your address or family situation changes, each time in person at a police office. The first appointment, in the order of your first weeks, is covered in your first month in Spain; this guide covers the card itself, the fees, every application after the first, and what ends its validity. This article is for informational purposes only and is not immigration or legal advice; verify current requirements with the relevant Spanish authority or a licensed professional.

When does a TIE stop being valid?

A TIE is valid for exactly as long as the authorization behind it, according to the Interior Ministry, and it loses its validity with that authorization, whatever the cause, or when you lose the right to stay in Spain.

There is no separate card clock to watch. What decides the card is the expiry of the authorization and the conditions for renewing it: a non-lucrative renewal, for example, requires more than 183 days of residence in Spain during the calendar year, and an authorization that is not renewed ends the card with it. Those conditions are in the non-lucrative visa guide.

When the card’s validity ends, when a renewal is granted, or when you lose the right that justified it, you must hand the card back at the police station where you live. Breaching the TIE obligations falls under the sanctions regime of Organic Law 4/2000 on the rights of foreigners, the ministry states.

The four TIE applications and what each needs

The Interior Ministry distinguishes four TIE applications, and each one starts with the official form, EX-17 according to the Policía Nacional, completed and signed, plus original documents that the police return after checking them.

The first-card list is the one the first-month guide walks through step by step. After any change of address, the renewal and replacement lists add a padrón document issued less than 3 months earlier; the empadronamiento guide covers how to get one.

Fees and the appointment itself

Every TIE application is made in person at the documentation unit of the Policía Nacional, in the foreigners’ office or police station of the province where you live, with an appointment booked through the Cita Previa de Extranjería service of the Administraciones Públicas electronic office, the Interior Ministry says.

The fee is paid before the card is issued, on form 790 code 012. The Policía’s fee table lists:

• 16.08 euros for a card documenting the first grant of a temporary residence, stay or cross-border worker authorization;
• 19.30 euros for a card documenting the renewal of a temporary residence authorization or the extension of a stay;
• 21.87 euros for a card documenting long-term residence.

The card is then issued by the police office that processed your file and handed only to you: you prove that you are the person it is for and that the fees were paid. If your authorization depends on Social Security registration, the police check it themselves before issuing the card.

Renewing the card after a renewal

For a non-lucrative authorization, the Ministry of Inclusion’s renewal sheet gives you 1 month from the notification of the renewed authorization to apply for the new TIE at the police station where you live.

The order matters: the authorization is renewed first, and the card second. The Policía Nacional’s procedure page says the same for every temporary residence card: once the favorable renewal decision is notified, you apply for the TIE. Telework permit holders have their own date on the card side: the Washington consulate says a TIE renewal can be started in the 2 months before the card expires, as long as the conditions still apply, and the digital nomad visa guide covers those conditions.

When a renewal or any other decision changes your legal or work situation, the new card is issued for the period that decision sets. After five years of continuous legal residence, that decision can be long-term residence, whose card follows its own renewal cycle, as the long-term residence guide explains.

Lost, stolen or damaged cards

Losing a TIE, or having it destroyed or made unusable, obliges you to request a new one immediately, with the same validity as the card it replaces, the Interior Ministry says.

The replacement is not a renewal: it runs only for the time left on the old card. If you request it inside the renewal window of your authorization, the two procedures are handled together. Bring the police report of the loss or theft, or the damaged card, with the rest of the replacement list above.

Changes that send you back to the police within a month

Three kinds of change oblige you to go back to the police within 1 month, in person, even when your card is still valid:

• a new habitual address, including a move within the same city;
• a new nationality;
• a change in your family circumstances or in any other detail recorded on the card.

If the authorities ask you about the change first, you have 15 days from their request. You report it to the police station, or the police service at the foreigners’ office, for the place where you live.

Put your next TIE date in the calendar now

Look up the date your current authorization expires, and set a reminder 2 months earlier, when its renewal can be filed.

Most holders can handle every TIE application alone once they can book appointments online and read the forms. Get help when your authorization type is changing, for example from a visa to a permit, or when a renewal is refused, because the card then depends on a decision you would have to contest first.

The Spain Navigator puts every step of your move to Spain in order, from the visa to settling in.