Spain rolls out automatic fingerprint slots for TIE cards in six provinces
Spain's Policía Nacional has begun automatically assigning fingerprint appointments for TIE cards to selected applicants in six provinces, easing a long-standing bottleneck.
The Spanish police have expanded a test program that automatically allocates fingerprint appointments for the foreign identity card (TIE) to a subset of residency applicants. Starting 9 October, six provinces—Alicante, Málaga, Murcia, Valencia, Madrid and Barcelona—will receive scheduled slots without the applicant having to search for openings. The automatic allocation applies to roughly 10 % of applications decided after 8 October and not to those pending additional conditions such as entry into Spain or Social Security registration.
Selected individuals are notified via text, e-mail or both, with details of the police station and time. Those not automatically scheduled must still book through the existing online system, and cancellations are handled on the same platform. The pilot will be evaluated before any broader rollout.
Why it matters
It reduces administrative delays for foreign residents needing a TIE card, a key step in legalizing their stay in Spain.
In this story
