Now that I’m more or less settled into my apartment, job and life here, I feel like the time has come to comment on Spanish bureaucracy, if only because we’ve had some random, arbitrary-seeming encounters with bureaucrats in the past few weeks.

Our visa to come to Spain is a student visa that’s only valid for three months, so upon our arrival here, we needed to fill in the appropriate paperwork to get a more permanent student/foreigner card (called the NIE). Okay, I’m on board with that. I remember doing it last year when we arrived and just how much time it took to get all the paperwork sorted out, so I really wasn’t all that excited about doing it again this year, but that obviously doesn’t really matter. What I also distinctly remember about last year was how LONG everything took, because all bureaucratic offices in Spain are open from 9am-2pm, exactly the time that I was working everyday. So each week on my day off, I’d go do one more piece of the required paperwork: pay something at the bank, go to city hall to verify that I reside in Logrono, return to city hall to pick up my paper, etc. So finally after about a month I had everything in order and could turn in my papers, only to be told to come back in a month to get my card. Okay fine.

One of those pieces of paperwork was called the empadronamiento, which is essentially a piece of paper that says that you legally reside in a city. This time around, we arrived at the Comisaria de Policia and were told that yes, the empadronamiento is a very important part of the paperwork and is necessary. Well, wait a sec – a friend of ours had gone a few days before and was told nothing about the empadronamiento. And in fact, she had turned in her paperwork the day before without anyone questioning her on that particular piece of paperwork. But when I very specifically asked about needing it, I was told that it was absolutely necessary, despite the fact that I recounted that my friend hadn’t needed it. No, it’s obligatorio. Seriously?

So okay, in order to get empadronada, I needed a photocopy of my landlady’s ID card and a bill for the apartment, along with my passport and a form correctly filled in a signed by both of us. So I spent a good couple of days running around, meeting with my landlady to jump through the appropriate hoops. Excellent. Always my favorite way to spend my days, running around like a crazy. But I got the piece of paper that verified that I did indeed live here, and I was all set to turn in my papers again.

Meanwhile, my friend Chris goes back to the Comisaria and tries to turn in his paperwork without the empadronamiento, and his conversation goes something like this:

Policia: Where’s your empadronamiento? It’s obligatory!

Him: I don’t have it, here’s the thing…

Policia: Well…okay.

That’s it? He starts explaining his situation and all of a sudden it’s no longer required? And THEN, yesterday Becky goes to the Policia to see if she, too, can turn in things without the empadronamiento and she’s told no, out of the question. So basically, no one knows what the eff is going on in this office. It really just seems like some people can’t be bothered to require all the paperwork while others are sticklers for these things. It just seems so insane to me, though – how can something be required and then not necessary? Oh wait, but only for some people. If you’re nice enough. Or come on “free for all Friday”. Or something.

So that’s fun bureaucracy adventure #1. #2 comes at the banks. We went through a huge confusion because we wanted to get a bus card, one that you can recharge and use on all the city buses to pay less to ride them. Well, many places didn’t want to give them to us because we didn’t have NIE numbers, but Chris and I found one bank that took our passport number as identification. Becky went to the EXACT same bank and was told no, she needed a NIE to get a bus card. Strange. So I went with her yesterday and explained how I had gotten my card using my passport number, and they were all of a sudden able to do it! I don’t understand! Who makes the rules in this country?! Apparently everyone at once.

Anyway, I just thought I’d share those lovely adventures with y’all back at home for a new perspective on living abroad. : )

xxx