NIE in the south: Maspalomas or Santa Lucía?
Playa del Inglés, Meloneras, Arguineguín, Vecindario: the south of Gran Canaria has two police stations with foreigners’ procedures, and two different lists.
Plenty of foreigners on Gran Canaria never live in the capital. Their home is Playa del Inglés, Maspalomas, Meloneras, Arguineguín, Puerto de Mogán or Vecindario. For them, an appointment in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria means a drive up the east coast. The good news is that the south has two police stations with foreigners’ procedures. The catch is that their lists differ.
The Comisaría de Maspalomas is at Avenida de Moya 4, in the municipality of San Bartolomé de Tirajana, phone 928 730 447. Its entry in the police directory covers NIE certificates and assignment, the issue of TIE cards, letters of invitation, nationality reports, and travel documents and registration cards. That covers a non-resident buyer’s EX-15 and the fingerprints of a non-EU resident.
What its entry lacks is the régimen comunitario, the procedures for EU citizens. A Dutch retiree or an Italian waiter who needs the green certificate will not find it in the Maspalomas entry. The south has one unit that does: the Comisaría de Santa Lucía de Tirajana, on Calle Escorial at the corner of Calle Dr. Negrín, lists the NIE, the TIE and the régimen comunitario. Its founding order, though, set it up for the residents of Santa Lucía, Agüimes and Ingenio.
So, south of the airport: a bare number or a TIE card, Maspalomas, or Santa Lucía for its own towns; a green certificate, Santa Lucía for Vecindario, Agüimes and Ingenio, and otherwise Plaza de la Feria in the city. When the booking page offers you a slot, check that the office lists your procedure before you accept it.
Some procedures still mean a trip to the city. Return authorisations, students, non-lucrative residence and extensions of stay are not listed at either station of the south. Permits to live and work are decided at the Oficina de Extranjería, Plaza de la Concordia 5, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
And the padrón? That is a town hall matter, not a police one. Maspalomas and Playa del Inglés belong to San Bartolomé de Tirajana, Arguineguín and Puerto de Mogán to the municipality of Mogán, Vecindario to Santa Lucía de Tirajana: each resident goes to the town hall of their own municipality.
A last word for those who winter here. For Europeans, the line is three months: past it, registration is expected, at Plaza de la Feria, or at Santa Lucía if you live in its towns. For British and other non-EU winter visitors, a longer stay starts with a visa, and the TIE that follows can be done in Maspalomas.