The Spanish digital certificate and Cl@ve: getting online access with a NIE

Why you will want one

Spanish administrations have moved most procedures online, and several are now online only — the nationality application is one. To use them you have to identify yourself electronically, and the two ways most people do that are a digital certificate issued by the Royal Mint, FNMT, or registration in the government's Cl@ve system.

The FNMT lists what the certificate is for: filing and paying taxes, submitting appeals and complaints, checking and registering on the padrón, checking traffic fines, applying for grants, and signing official documents and forms electronically. In practice it also opens the immigration electronic office, the Social Security's Import@ss and the Ministry of Justice services.

Who can get the certificate

Any Spanish or foreign citizen of legal age, or an emancipated minor, who holds a DNI or a NIE can apply for and obtain the FNMT citizen certificate free of charge. So the NIE comes first; without it there is no certificate.

The four routes, and the one that works with a NIE

The FNMT offers four ways of getting the certificate as a downloadable file: with video identification, with in-person identification at an office, using a Spanish electronic DNI, or through its mobile app.

Video identification requires a valid DNI. The app's video identification is also available only for a valid DNI for now, the FNMT says, with other documents to follow. The electronic-DNI route obviously needs a DNI. That leaves foreign residents with a NIE one route: in-person identification at an identity accreditation office.

The in-person route has four steps in a fixed order. First, install the software the FNMT indicates on the computer you will use. Second, apply online; you receive a request code by email. Third, take that code and your identity document to an identity accreditation office — the FNMT has an office finder, and offices of the Tax Agency and Social Security, among others, require an appointment. Fourth, about an hour after identifying yourself, download and install the certificate on the same computer, using the request code, and make a backup copy.

Do the application and the download on the same computer. Once installed, keep the backup copy the FNMT recommends, protected with a password, somewhere safe.

Cl@ve, and how the certificate helps

Cl@ve is the common electronic identification system of the public administrations. Instead of a certificate installed on a computer, you identify yourself with the Cl@ve app or with a permanent password plus a code sent by SMS. You have to register first, and there are two levels.

The basic level can be obtained online, by automatic video identification or with an invitation letter sent by post. It gives access to many services, but not all, and it does not let you use Cl@ve Firma to sign.

The advanced level can be obtained by video identification reviewed by a public employee, in person at a registration office, or online with an electronic certificate or DNIe. For a foreign resident who has just obtained the FNMT certificate, that last route is the simplest: the certificate lets you register in Cl@ve at the advanced level without another appointment.

Where this sits in the first months

The order is: NIE, then the certificate, then Cl@ve. Once you have your NIE — on your TIE, your EU registration certificate or the NIE certificate itself — book the FNMT identity appointment early, since several of the offices that do it work by appointment.