Because the Visa is officially only valid for 90 days from the date you stated as the entry-date to Spain - the last step to legally residing in Spain for a year is getting your DNI (your Spanish SSN - technically assigned on your Visa) and your NIE (national identity-card).
Once you’ve got your Padron you can apply for the DNI. There are three steps:
- Pay for your DNI application at a bank
- Submit your DNI application at the DNI office
- Pick-up your DNI application at the office DNI
The office for the application is in the neighborhood of Aluche, to the South of Madrid’s City Center, in a joint police-station/immigration-detention-center/visa-processing-station.
Steps 1 and 2 can easily be handled on the same day. Plan to start the day a bit early as you’ve got to get the bank in the morning (they told us at the bank that they don’t process the paperwork after 11am, but they’d make an exception for us). A convenient bank to handle the payment is right next to the train/metro station - so here’s a good route to follow.
I’ll go into more detail about my experience in part 8!
For more on my journey to legal residency: