A Crash Course in Spanish Bureaucracy (Featuring My Digital Certificate)

Photo by Sam Williams on Unsplash

There are a lot of things to love about Spain. The bureaucracy is not one of them, but as an immigrant, it’s something you learn to navigate and figure out along with everything else.

A couple of weeks ago, Will and I decided it was time to get our digital certificates.

What the heck is a digital certificate? you might be thinking.

We don’t have a true equivalent of the certificado digital in the United States. The closest thing I can think of is, if you’ve ever signed up to see your Social Security benefits online, you probably signed up for something called ID.me. The IRS also uses this system. They use video identification and some physical forms of ID to determine who you are, and then you can access personal information online on government websites.

The digital certificate does this, but it takes it one step further. Need to renew your empadronamiento (padron)? Use your digital certificate. Visa renewals? Digital certificate. Sign up for your municipality’s local sports centers? You can do that with your digital certificate. It takes many of the things you would have to do in person and allows you to do them online, without ever setting foot inside a government office.

There are some exceptions to this, of course. You can renew your visa online, for instance, but you still have to go to a police station and get your fingerprints taken in person. But it takes what can be complicated, frustrating, sometimes messy, and often time-consuming government procedures and simplifies them into a website form. You still have to complete the forms correctly (this is Spain, after all), but it takes the bureaucracy levels down several notches.

I had put this process off for months. After I spent 18 months of my life prepping to make the big move to Valencia – including getting our pet passport, TIE cards, and padron squared away once we arrived – the last thing I wanted to do was figure out another government procedure. Our upcoming visa renewal pushed me to finally take care of it. We’ve been here for seven months, which means our renewal is just around the corner. I thought I’d hit the lottery when I discovered you could get your digital certificate online by paying about €3 and using your phone’s camera. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be. I went down that rabbit hole just a little too far and discovered holders of NIEs (foreign residents) can’t use the virtual verification method.

I put my sad face aside because now I had to finish this.

Eventually, using a combination of YouTube, Google, and ChatGPT, I figured out how to make appointments for Will and me. Within a week, we were at the Agencia Tributaria waiting for our numbers to be called and get this over with.

The process itself is fairly simple. For the appointment, you need:

• TIE card

• Passport

• Código de Solicitud (a code generated when you apply for your digital certificate online)

Here’s where the tricky part comes in. You can only use your last name when you generate the code for your digital certificate appointment. The code is invalid if you add any other part of your name. Not knowing this, I filled out our complete names for each application.

Luckily, the man who helped me was an empathetic soul. He explained that my code was incorrect, then left me for a few moments to grab a coworker who spoke fluent English with a slight British accent. He knew the Spanish would be a bit complicated for me, so he went out of his way to find someone to help. She was wonderful, quickly explained how to fix it, watched while I did it, and verified everything. They helped me install the certificate on my phone and sent me on my way.

Will was not so lucky.

The man who helped Will only explained that the code wouldn’t work and that he needed a new one. I wandered over to try to translate some and help, but he wasn’t having it. He shrugged and told us to come back another day.

This is the infamous Spanish bureaucracy at work. Your experience will depend entirely upon the person who calls your name.

Frustrated, we went home and – using the steps the woman who helped me had used – I generated another code and set up another appointment for 10 days later.

Will and I laughed when we realized he was going to the same guy who had refused to allow him to generate another code at the last appointment. And he seemed to remember us as well! We thought we were going to run into another snag, but thankfully, it became a non-issue. Will received his verification, and we are done with digital certificates for four years.

Life in another country is never easy. You (likely) don’t know the language. The processes are unfamiliar. Every small thing feels like something huge. The feeling of overwhelm can paralyze you into not taking action when the action is absolutely needed.

I probably don’t have to tell you that I cheered when I found out we don’t have to repeat this process for four whole years.