Extranjería Girona: one brigade behind three doors

C/ Cristobal Grober 12: the number, and a group of other procedures

At this address, postcode 17001, the Policía Nacional’s directory lists NIE certificates and NIE assignment (the NIE on its own), return authorisations, letters of invitation, students, nationality reports, non-lucrative residence, and asylum and refugee applications. Phone: 972 225 557. It is the only unit in the province that lists the assignment of a NIE.

C/ Rajolers 7: European citizens

At C/ Rajolers 7, postcode 17003, policia.es lists the régimen comunitario: the procedures for Europeans (EU, EEA and Swiss nationals), beginning with the registration that leads to the green certificate. Phone: 972 416 909.

C/ Santa Eugènia 145: issuing the TIE

The directory’s single line for this address, postcode 17005, is “expedición TIE”: issuing the card that non-EU residents apply for at a toma de huellas. Phone: 972 069 348. policia.es spells the street Santa Eugenia, without the accent the Ajuntament writes; it is the same street. Do not mix it up with number 146, the Centre Cívic Santa Eugènia, where the Ajuntament runs a padró office.

Gran Via de Jaume I 17, and who is who

The Oficina de Extranjería en Girona belongs to the State administration, under the Delegación del Gobierno en Cataluña, and not to the police. The Delegación writes its address as Avenida Jaume I 17; in Catalan, the street is the Gran Via de Jaume I. The page of the Delegación del Gobierno shows two sedes in that building, with the phone 972 069 140, and links guides to their procedures for residence authorisations. It sends return authorisations, short-stay extensions, travel documents, the NIE, the TIE and the European registration certificate to police offices. In Catalonia, first work authorisations go through the Generalitat de Catalunya.

For hours, the Delegación’s web page gives Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 15:00, for its Sede 2, while the procedure guides it links give different ones. Check the current hours before you go.

The Mossos d’Esquadra are Catalonia’s police and the uniform you see most often in the street, but foreigners’ documents are not theirs. The Generalitat, Catalonia’s government, has no hand in the NIE or the TIE either, though first work authorisations go through it. Every police address on this page is the Policía Nacional’s.

Elsewhere in the province

Outside the city, policia.es lists seven more units, none of which assigns a NIE. Each lists letters of invitation, nationality reports and the issue of the TIE; La Jonquera and Puigcerdà also list NIE certificates, for a number already assigned. The directory lists no foreigners’ unit in Blanes, Olot, Palafrugell or Salt, and the Comisaría Provincial on C/ Sant Pau 2 in Girona lists no foreigners’ procedures.

• Figueres: Comisaría, C/ Pep Ventura 8 (972 677 560)
• Lloret de Mar: Comisaría, C/ Verge de Loreto 51 (972 361 598)
• Sant Feliu de Guíxols: Comisaría, C/ Ortiz de la Vega 6-8 (972 320 160)
• La Jonquera: Unidad de Extranjería y Documentación, C/ Major 136-138 (972 554 826)
• Puigcerdà: Unidad de Extranjería y Documentación, Avinguda de Francia 2 (972 884 520)
• Portbou: Unidad de Extranjería y Documentación, Renfe station building (972 390 090)
• Camprodon: Unidad de Extranjería y Documentación, road C-38, km 11.5 (972 740 233)

Hours, phones and getting there

policia.es publishes no opening hours for any of these units, so plan around the appointment time alone. The phones above are the ones the official pages give; the booking itself is made online.

Buses: TMG’s line pages name two stops on Gran Via de Jaume I, “Gran Via Jaume I - C. Nou” and “Gran Via Jaume I - Generalitat”, served by municipal lines L1, L2, L5 and L11 and by line L6; none says how far it is from number 17. On Carrer de Santa Eugènia, line L3 has stops named after its crossings with C. Monar, C. Rovira i Virgili and C. Agudes, but no source says which is nearest number 145. No stop is named after Cristobal Grober or Rajolers, so we name none. TMG has announced temporary diversions on some lines this autumn: check its site before you travel.