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Brits in Spain urged to make this change to avoid passport control headache
A new update on the UK government website urges British residents in Spain to swap their green certificate for a TIE card
They highlight the risk of airport delays for those without the biometric residency card
The UK government has updated the ‘Spain: register your residency’ section of its ‘Living in Spain’ with information of great importance to British citizens living in Spain.
The change to the page was made this Tuesday July 8, 2025 to a page of the gov.uk website which is described as being about “how UK nationals who plan to live in Spain for more than 3 months must register as a resident and on the padrón at their town hall.”
The need to register as a resident, or ‘empadronarse’ when living in Spain full-time, is already a requirement for UK citizens living in the country, but the change made by the government this Tuesday pertains more to the additional paperwork that UK citizens in Spain need.
According to the government website, the information added states that “British residents in Spain should apply for a ‘Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero (TIE)’ to be exempt from the European Entry-Exit System (EES). Green Certificates will not be recognised.”
The EES is a border control system that the European Union is introducing before the end of 2025 to control its Schengen borders, and is the precursor to the ETIAS visa waiver system that will require non-EU residents to pay €7 for a 3-year permit to enter the Schengen area.
The TIE is an electronically chipped ID card, the equivalent of the Spanish DNI which is obligatory for all citizens above the age of 14, that states the holder’s Número de Identidad de Extranjero (NIE) and other personal information.
This card was brought in to replace the ‘green certificate’, a piece of paper that also served as proof of the holder’s NIE but was useless as an identity document on its own, without another form of photo ID such as a passport.
These green certificates are no longer issued to new residents in Spain, but for those who have held onto them they are still valid as a way of proving a person’s NIE.
However, due to the tendency of these green certs to become broken (after all, it is just a piece of paper, only the original copy of which must be legally carried with you at all times) and for the convenience of the TIE, the UK Embassy in Spain has long been urging Brits in the country to switch over and get themselves a card if they haven’t already.
The latest reason to do so is that ownership of one of these TIE cards will exempt the holder from being subject to additional controls at airports and borders due to the EES, whereas anyone who only has a green certificate to show will not be exempted from it, and will potentially face longer queues at passport control.
In addition, once the ETIAS visa waiver system is subsequently introduced, green certificate owners may still be subject to having to pay the €7 fee, even though they are legally resident in the EU.
Some people have been resistant to changing from the green certificate to the TIE because of fears over government control, and will see the latest move by the Spanish border force and the UK government as a means of trying to force them to subscribe to a system of citizenship with which they do not agree.
Others say they would happily swap their green paper for a TIE card, but cannot get an appointment in the Extranjería foreigners’ office. Some unscrupulous agents book up appointment slots in these offices in bulk so that they can then charge foreigners to be able to carry out simple administrative tasks for them.
Image 1: joyfull
Image 2: Ajuntament de Barcelona
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