From now on, all foreigners have to appear in person at the office for foreigners of the local police station where they will be living in order to get the N.I.E. number.
This administrative regulation in connection with the N.I.E., which is necessary and indispensable whenever you have to deal with the Spanish Administration in order to pay your taxes or any other bureaucratic matter, is due to an Internal Order of the Police Headquarters based on a Decision of the Supreme Court from March 2003 which says that foreigners have to appear in person at the local police stations like a Spanish person in order to get his National Identity card.
This Order which will cause serious professional problems for us in matters of the sale and purchase of real estate property or the acceptance of an inheritance when there are foreigners involved, can be temporarily resolved by granting power of attorney to a professional in Spain giving him the power of fiscal representation in order that the professional may pay the taxes in the name of the client.
Fiscal representation is a serious matter as the fiscal representativ accepts the subsidiary responsibility of his client in case the latter does not pay the due taxes to the Administration.