The Spanish Consulate in Manchester has closed- Now what?

A little bit of bad news this week. The Spanish Consulate in Manchester has been closed down. Apparently, it has been considered redundant as there are Consulates in London and Edinburgh. This means that if you live in one of the following regions (Cleveland, Cumbria, Durham, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyshire, North Yokshire, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, West Yorkshire, Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry and Tyrone) you will now belong to the jurisdiction of the Spanish Consulate in Edinburgh.

Any person from those regions willing to apply for a NIE number through the Spanish Consulate or willing to sign a power of attorney or public deed before a Spanish Consul, will have to travel to Edinburgh.  This can prove complicated for most people, specially if they live in England. However, there are other options. The first one is to travel to Spain and sign there the required documents before a Spanish Notary or the Spanish Authorities, in the case of the NIE numbers. This can prove sometimes unnecesarily complicated, specially for those who are not fit to travel. Fortunately, there is another option which consists in contacting one of the few Spanish lawyers based in the UK such as the author of this article.

The said lawyer will draft the necessary documents and organise the signature before a UK Notary Public as well as its legalisation, saving the person the costs of having to travel to Spain.

So, a combination of good and bad news. It is definetly sad to see the Consulate close after more than 20 years in Manchester but it is good to know that there are a few Spanish lawyers in the UK who are still able to assist with most of the legal work that was previously carried out by the Notarial department of the Consulate.

Photograph from www.freefoto.com

 

Comments

4 responses to “The Spanish Consulate in Manchester has closed- Now what?”

  1. Erika Avatar
    Erika

    Hola Antonio. Soy Española con pasaporte Español y vivo en Southport desde hace 15 años. Se me caduca el pasaporte a finales de Agosto 2011 pero me acabo de enterar de que han cerrado el consulado de Manchester y yo no puedo viajar a Edinburgo o Londres que esta muy lejos y es muy caro. En Septiembre me mudo a Canarias para siempre. Cual es mi opcion? Me dejaran viajar a España con el pasaporte caducado para arreglar el asunto alli? Veo muy mal que sea yo la que tenga que pagar 100 libras por el tren – hay alguna ayuda estatal? deberian pagar por el trayecto si cierran oficinas. Gracias.

  2. AntonioGuillen Avatar

    Hola Erica

    Perdona que no te haya contestado antes pero es que he tenido problemas con el blog. Ahora ya está reparado. Supongo que ya lo habrás podido solucionar. De no ser así, por favor no dudes en contactar conmigo. Un saludo

  3. Cathie Avatar
    Cathie

    Hola Antonio….estoy viviendo en Barcelona. Estoy empadronada. Conesgui la NIE por 3 meses. Ahora se ha caducado. Cual es el proximo paso que debo tomar por favor. Soy inglesa

  4. AntonioGuillen Avatar

    Hola Cathie

    Los nuevos certificados de NIE ya no caducan, como los anteriores. Si te están pidiendo uno nuevo actualizado, en ese caso tendrás que ir a la comisaria de policía en Barcelona y pedir uno actualizado. Te darán un certificado similar con el mismo número pero sin fecha de caducidad.

    Espero esta información te sirva de utilidad.

    Saludos

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *