The foreigners that for social, professional or economic reasons are associated with Spain, will be provided, for identification purposes, of a personal, unique and exclusive number of sequential character.
This personal number will be the foreigner ID that must be used in any and all documents or monetary transactions to be performed in Spain. The Foreigner Identification Number should be requested in person at the nearest police office where the foreigner has the intention to reside or buy properties.
If you want to send your request of the Foreigner Identification Number trough a Consulate or Embassy keep in mind that the Consulate or Embassy cannot issue the N.I.E. and will only act as postal service between the applicant and the proper Spanish authorities, in this case the police.
Once the Consulate sends out the request with the documents to the proper authorities in Spain is not possible to give out any information about the status of such request and any and all inquiries should be made directly to the above mentioned address and not to the Consulate.
NIE Spain