We were advised to apply at Reus as the queues and messing about at other locations seem horrendous. Here is our story:-

It takes at least 2 trips. The Police were very friendly and helpful, especially considering the dull and repetitive job they are doing. Queues were very short.

You need a form EX-15 completed. Download it from:
http://extranjeros.empleo.gob.es/es/ModelosSolicitudes/Mod_solicitudes2/15-Formu...
A colour photocopy of your Passport
A copy of your Padron (from your adjuntament, €5)

Go to the Commisario de Policia in Reus.
We parked in Mercadonas underground car park in Carrer de St Joaquim. You need to buy something in the store to get your pass out. It's 2 mins walk away.
The police office is on Carrer de General Moragues, just south of Carrer Antoni Gaudi, opposite the wide open end of the park.
Go in to the desk and ask for 'Aplicaciones NIE'.
You will be given a piece of paper with a number on.
Go through the door on the left of the reception desk and go to the far left and wait to be called to the 'Informationes' desk. It might help to keep your number visible to the officer as queue jumping is the norm.
Hopefully, they will accept your application and ask you to return in 2 or 3 days.
They will give you a nearly blank Modulo 720 form to hold onto.
Go back on a Tuesday or Thursday early!
Get another number at the desk and queue for the information desk again.
If all is well they will write your NIE number on the Modulo 720 you were holding onto.
Take that across the road to the right to the Santander Bank to pay the €9.36 fee.
The bank only takes payments from 8:00-10:30am on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Take the stamped Modulo 720 back to the information desk and collect your NIE.
Best of luck! 

Pay at the Caixa Catalunya. They process payment all day everyday. The other banks don't. See other posts re getting NIE from Reus. We got ours in 4 hours flat from start to finish. We got residencia at the same time and din't need any padron or colour photocopies just black and white made at the post office on the corner.

Well done for getting it though.

BTW, how did you get a padron without proving you already own a place? You need the NIE to get a place so it looks like its 'All aboard the merrigoround' again.

John, after seeing the times at Santander bank we walked round to CatalunyaCaixa (which we bank with). The branch was totally empty but the cashier told me they only process payments up to 10am!

We were told by the police that we needed some 'Spanish' identification, not just a passport and were told that a padron was the easiest.

Rules seem to change often and even vary between offices.

You can get the padron with a rent contract .

Hello all

I regularly organize NIE numbers for my clients, and even though I'm based in Tarragona I always go to Reus if possible.

So far I've never been asked for a padrón certificate, though it is a requirement for a residency application.

You do have to provide some kind of proof of why the NIE is needed, like a letter from a notary in the case of a property purchase, a rental contract, or a letter from a bank when opening an account.

And you need your passport and one photocopy, and the application form.

Citizens of non-EU countries need to show Schengen visas and/or entry stamps, so if that applies to you it's a good idea to copy all pages of your passport in case they are required.

Longest I've ever had to wait is 40 minutes, and I find the best time to go is after 12:00.

Processing the NIE application usually takes from 2 days to a week, depending on their workload. Anyone can pick the NIE up for you, provided they have the stamped form and the tax has been paid.

Most banks in the area of the police station will only let you pay the tax certain hours and/or on certain days. Last time I visited, the Banco Popular in the carrer Llovera was processing them at any time, but said they planned to stop doing that.

You can generally get round this problem by walking 10 minutes or so to a bank that's not near the police station.

And if you have a La Caixa bank card, you can process the payment in La Caixa's ATM machines. The bank staff will usually help you with this if you ask.

One point: Reus police station are only supposed to process applications from the Reus area, which includes the Priorat as far as Mora la Nova. In practice they seem to be happy to process applications from outside their area... but at some point they may stop doing that.

Hope this helps!

Jeff
(AICAT registered estate agent)