Words
Catalan and Spanish words on the way to your NIE
Girona's offices write in Catalan and Spanish, and the forms in Spanish. Here is what the words on your papers, your appointment and the signs mean.
A
- Ajuntament / Ayuntamiento
- The town hall and its council, in Catalan and in Spanish. In Girona the Ajuntament keeps the padró.
B
- Brigada Provincial de Extranjería y Fronteras
- The Policía Nacional’s foreigners-and-borders brigade in a province. Girona’s is listed under three addresses.
C
- Carrer / calle
- Street, shortened to C/. State pages sometimes drop the Catalan accents: policia.es writes Santa Eugenia, the Ajuntament writes Santa Eugènia.
- Certificado de registro
- Usually called the green certificate: the record that a European (EU, EEA or Swiss) is registered as living in Spain.
- Cita prèvia / cita previa
- An appointment booked ahead. The police booking pages use the Spanish; the Ajuntament, the Catalan.
D
- Delegación del Gobierno
- The State’s administration in Catalonia; its Oficina de Extranjería handles permits.
E
- Empadronament / empadronamiento
- Putting your name on the padró at the address where you live.
G
- Generalitat de Catalunya
- Catalonia’s own government. The NIE and the TIE are not its business, but first work authorisations in Catalonia go through it.
M
- Mossos d’Esquadra
- Catalonia’s police force. They do not issue the NIE or the TIE.
N
- NIE
- Número de Identidad de Extranjero: given once to each foreigner, and used for tax as well.
O
- OAMR
- Oficina d’Assistència en Matèria de Registre: the name Girona’s town hall gives its citizen offices, at Plaça del Vi and in the neighbourhoods, where the padró is handled.
- Oficina de Extranjería
- The State office that decides on residence authorisations; in Girona, on Gran Via de Jaume I.
P
- Padró / padrón
- The municipal register of residents. The Catalan word appears on the Ajuntament’s pages, the Spanish one on police forms.
- Policía Nacional
- Spain’s national police, which assigns the NIE and issues the green certificate and the TIE.
R
- Régimen comunitario
- European rules on residence, applying to EU citizens and their relatives. In Girona, policia.es lists these procedures at C/ Rajolers 7.
- Resguardo / resguard
- A receipt proving that an application has been made; keep it until the document arrives.
T
- Tasa / taxa
- A fee. The State fee for foreigners’ procedures is paid on the Modelo 790, código 012; taxa is the Catalan word on municipal pages.
- TIE
- In full, Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero. Non-EU residents carry it; it bears their photograph and NIE.
- Toma de huellas
- The fingerprinting appointment, where your TIE application starts.
V
- Volant / volante; certificat / certificado
- Two papers from the padró: an informative note that serves most purposes, and the formal certificate that notaries, courts and consulates ask for.
Which door is yours?
Tell us which passport you hold, where in the province you live or will live, and any date already fixed: a contract, a signing, the start of term. We write back with the procedure, the form and the street.