Renewing Mariel’s TIE
Introduction. What are we talking about?
The story about how we renewed Mariel’s TIE (Tarjeta de Identificacion de Extranjeros) card, this is the card foreigners need to interact with the government to identify themselves in Spain. Mariel’s card expired at the beginning of June, the process to renew it is somewhat cumbersome, 60 days before it expires you can process the extension of your authorization to reside and work in the country as a foreigner. Once you have this you can get an appointment with the police to have your fingerprints taken and issue the card, the problem is that in reality it takes the governmental agency 40-60 days to give the residence authorization and until you have it you can’t book the appointment with the police and there is a long waiting list for them meaning the appointment may be 2 months in the future, this means that the process has the applicant very likely 1-2 months in a compromised situation without a legal way to interact with the social security or other government agencies. This in general is not that big of a problem since these interactions are, in normal conditions not necessary, but if it coincides with the moment of giving birth to a baby it is a problem because you can’t process your maternity leave subsidy with social security until you have the card. The problem is less of a bureaucratic sort since there is a very long period (up to a year) to apply for the maternity subsidy, but you may end up without your monthly salary for a couple of months and depending of your finances that may be a problem.
There no appointments in the province of Madrid
Knowing how this works Mariel had process the extension of her permit to reside in Madrid pretty much as soon as it was available, and we received the approval a weak or so before the expiration date of the card. Since we knew we would need the document to file the governmental help for the maternity leave we tried to find an appointment as soon as possible. The surprise is that in Madrid there are no appointments at all, not even in two months time. Feeling a sense of urgency we decide to try to search an appointment in the surrounding provinces, Toledo is in a similar situation but in Avila and Segovia appointments are available only a couple of days away. It seemed like the way to go, It is very soon to go on a trip with Mateo but being prepared it shouldn’t be impossible. Since Mariel had been in Segovia but not in Avila we select Avila as the destination.
We try to go to Avila
May the 30th
The appointment in the police station in Avila at about noon so it shouldn’t be difficult to get there in-time, traveling with Mateo we give ourselves plenty of margin times for possible stops to feed and change him on the way there. We start the trip and Mateo has had a long breastfeeding before leaving and is sound asleep, this makes things quite easy since he remains asleep during the whole trip.
We are already in the province of Avila, at about 30 min to the city and the check engine light pops up limiting the speed of the car in the freeway. Not knowing how serious the failure is and not wanting to put ourselves on risk we stop the car ASAP in the side of the road and call the road assistance service of the insurance. After briefly assessing the options we decide the best option is to go back to Madrid, order a towing truck to take the car to the workshop and a taxi back home. A complete account of the story of the car problem is left for an other post.
Back in Madrid we go to my parents home to share our bad luck with them and my aunt MariRos which happens to be there.
We go to Segovia
Jun the 4th
Having had this problem with the car in our attempt to go to Avila for the appointment for the renewal of the TIE we find ourselves in the same situation as before but without a car. We still think this should be done as soon as possible, and decide that a second attempt is worth it, this time traveling by train. Avila seems to be jinx so lets go to Segovia. We file an appointment for the 4th of Jun and book some train tickets to Segovia, that give us plenty of time to not be in a hurry.
The trip is mostly uneventful, Mariel feeds Mateo in Chamartín station and the baby is asleep in the train and during our stay in Segovia until we stop to have lunch in a restaurant where we change Mateo and feed him again. We have some cochinillo for lunch with a salad and from the point of view of the first trip with Mateo the outing is a complete success. On the other hand…
A complete failure from the point of view of getting the paperwork done. We arrive at the police station, we are attended pretty much immediately but when the police take a look at the documents he says, are you living in Madrid? You have to do this paperwork in the province where you live, this information is on the webpage.
At least in this attempt we got to do some tourism in Segovia, have some cochinillo and get some experience in traveling with Mateo… One has to look at the bright side of things.
NOTE: Reviewing the webpage it did say that it had to be done in the same province, I swear I read the page, I don’t know how I missed it. Maybe I was distracted and sleep deprived by Mateo… Yes lets blame the baby, he doesn’t care.
Finally in Madrid
After our two failed attempts, at least we know for sure that it must be done in the province of residence, which we could have known if we had read the webpage properly.
NOTE: Shsshsh we agreed it was Mateo’s fault.
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Well as I was telling you, It must be done in Madrid but there are no appointments in Madrid, what a conundrum. I find a telephone for the administration that is answered by a bored sounding, but helpful man that tells me that they are saturated in foreigners affairs, that the only thing that you can do is go to the webpage everyday and check for appointments, they usually create new appointments every week or two. I express my frustration with the whole situation because without the TIE, that has expired by now I can’t file my petitions to the social security, he agrees but there’s nothing he can do about it.
So I start checking for availability several times a day, soon I know by hart all the data needed from Mariel, and I just make a custom of trying every time I have a couple of minutes to wait. All of a sudden, while on a bus, on my way to meet my mom in the Retiro park, for a quick catch up, on my way back home from the register after asking if a Norwegian official translator would be a valid translator for the divorce certificate (see the post of getting Mateo registered); I do my routine of checking availability and there are many available spots in Aluche (Av. de los Poblados). I get to my stop, still in the process of finalizing the reservation. To confirm they need me to write the code they have sent to the email, Mariel’s email. I try to reach Mariel at both her phones, through whatsup, normal phone call, a couple of times, …, she doesn’t answer. By this time I reach where my mom is waiting, in a bench reading a book, and tell her the good news that I am reserving an appointment for the 10th of June, just a few days away, but I can’t get a hold of Mariel to confirm the process. It is Friday Jun the 7th by now so the appointment is just next Monday.
My mother says: this is important we should take a taxi home, no time to loose. I say, well, maybe but lets try calling again, call her from your phone. Mariel answers her call this time and we get the code from her email. With this done my mom and I go to a bar and drink a beer for celebration.
NOTES:
Having a beer was the plan al along but it sounds better like that.
Why Mariel didn’t answer my phone but did answer my mom is a secret that up to this day Mariel refuses to share
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Monday, the 10th of Jun, became a very busy day. For one we had to go by metro to Aluche and back with Mateo (the car was still in the workshop). After in the late evening I went also in metro to Tres Cantos to pick up the translation of Mariel’s document (see the post of getting Mateo registered).