There have been some changes to the NIE Number certificate in the last year, which coincide with the changes to Spanish Residency regulations.  One of these is that Spanish NIE Certificates no longer show an address and another is that at the bottom of your NIE certificate it now says that your certificate is only valid for three months. This may be a worry for you if you are still searching for a property or know that you will need to use your NIE certificate after the expiry date.



The reason your NIE certificate states it will expire after three months is that the Spanish Government is now trying to encourage everyone to apply for their Residency after the initial three month period of living here.  The NIE number you have been allocated (which will  begin with an X  or, for newer numbers, a Y) actually stays with you for life and does not expire.



Once you have had your NIE for 3 months, if you are still living here, you may wish to apply for your Residency which is a credit card sized green card. This shows your name and address and the NIE number you have already been issued with.  It is now a more complicated procedure to do this and you are required to show that you can support yourself financially as well as any dependents and if applicable, also have medical insurance. Each application is looked at on an individual basis and the requirements seem to vary depending at which National Police Station Extranjeria you make your application.



If you decide to apply for your Residency, you will need to be sure you are going to stay here long term as it is also a requirement that should you leave Spain to live elsewhere that you de-register your residency.



However if you are not planning on living in Spain and only have a property here for holidays then what do you do when your NIE certificate is older than three months?  It may be that certain Notaries will refuse to accept it.  If you have not managed to do everything that you needed to with your NIE within the three months and you have further business whereby you need to go the Notary, eg making a will, buying or selling a property, then you can register your NIE as a non resident. This means that you can continue to use your NIE certificate without worries and do not need to apply for your Spanish Residency.

info from .niein1day.