How To Obtain an Autorización De Regreso In Spain

My residency card was to expire during my vacation and before I got back to Spain. What I have to do is get an appointment for the Autorización De Regreso – a piece of paper that will allow me back into Spain. Please be aware when booking your tickets back. If you have a layover at another Schengen country, they may not accept the Autorización De Regreso so you might get stuck. Try to do a direct flight to Spain.

Two options:

1. Make an appointment and probably trek because finding an appointment near the city center is impossible.
2. Show up to Rambla de Guipuscoa, 74 the day before you flight without an appointment. They open at 9am so I hear people suggesting going at 8am. I am not the kind of person that waits last minute. Plus, I heard someone not being able to get their regreso because they only take a certain amount of people without an appointment.

Making the Appointment

I needed an appointment in January. I started searching near the end of November and the soonest it gave me was January 25th! I booked it using my NIE number. Then every morning at 8am, I would keep searching to see if anything else sooner came up. Since the system only allows one appointment per NIE number, I used my passport number to search and when I finally found something I was happy with, I cancelled the other appointment.

If you’re not familiar with making an appointment, I have it here step by step:

Link to make appointment: https://sede.administracionespublicas.gob.es/icpplus/index.html

Select Barcelona, Autorización De Regreso, then Aceptar

Select – CNP – Autorizaciones De Regreso, Aceptar

Click Entrar

Enter information and captcha, Aceptar

Enter another stupid captcha

A list of available offices populates. Badalona is an hour from me. Nearly impossible for an office in the city pops up. Click Siguente

Enter telephone, email and another captcha and click “siguiente.”

The office will send you a confirmation email. Make sure to print and bring it to your appointment.

Required Paperwork

1. Confirmation of appointment
2. EX-13 Form – Fill out the first two pages. On section 4, mark the first box “Titular de autorización de residence en periodo de renovacaión o prórroga”. Then in section 4.2, I wrote the dates that I would be leaving and coming back. As far as the 3rd page, leave it blank – I guess the office will fill it out
3. Passport + photocopy of your main page AND your visa page. No need to make copies of every single page
4. NIE Card – photocopy front & back
5. Plane reservations – They didn’t even bother looking at it
6. Tax Form 790-012 – Fill out top portion, then check the box that says “autorización de regreso.” Then scroll down and click the blue button “Descargar impreso rellenado” to download the form. Take this to the bank and pay 10.40€ and save the receipt. Pay this before you go to your appointment.
7. NIE Renewal papers – remember those 3 pages I said to hold on to? Bring those PLUS a photocopy

My Experience

After booking my initial appointment for 1/25, I kept trying and trying every morning at 8am until an appointment miraculously showed up for 1/5 at 11:30 am. SCORE!

I got there at 11:00 am. There was a lady at the desk and she told me to take a seat. After one minute, a gentlemen came out and got me. Then he checked all my paperwork…awkward silence. And then he issued me my Regreso. I was out by 11:12am.

Once you get back, you can refer to my other blog post about how to Renew Your Non Lucrative Visa AND obtain your fingerprint appointment which is the next step.

Autorización De Regreso in Spain