I'm legal! (Nearly)

I have received my justificante de empadronamiento, that says that I've duly recorded my legal address with the Madrid ayuntamiento

 

The empadronamiento process has always struck me as a bit bizarre and redundant as a legal requirement, and in fact I know of other Fulbrighters who have been less conscientious about getting the earliest possible appointment for it because (unlike the bendito tarjeta de identidad) it has no practical daily use, especially for foreigners who neither vote nor pay taxes in Spain.  I presume that as proof of legal residence it is used to determine both voter and tax rolls for citizens.  I suppose that it might have some sense if it also functions as an automatic voter registration for citizens, but since (according to the form) it is technically a requirement for all legal residents of Spain, including those "under three months old" it's hard to see it as anything other than a relic of dictatorship.  (My understanding is that you have three months to register yourself at a new address, whether you move from another country or around the block.  If you arrive via someone's uterus your parents have until you are three months old to register you, hence the procedure for under three month olds.  Again, very difficult to see how an infant requires proof of residence in addition to a birth certificate, not mention a baptismal certificate which a friend of mine assured me "resuelva líos" here, but as one of the Fulbright mentors said at orientation "Spaniards love photocopies.")



I had heard horror stories of Spanish bureaucracy in general and the empadronamiento in particular, but I must say that my experience was pleasant and efficient, which leads me to file the procedure under "pointless but painless."  In 1957 Richard Wright wrote that "if Spain is a police state, it is a very inefficient one."  He got a fair amount wrong about Spain, but my suspicion is that in this particular case he might not have realized that being inefficient was an attempt to be friendly.  When you are in a real police state, inefficiency saves people from being crushed by the gears of the state.  Now that the dictatorship is more or less in the rearview mirror, Spaniards seem to have made their peace with the past by keeping a good deal of hoops to jump through, but being very helpful and obliging about them, since efficiency is now a way of being pleasant rather than terrifying.

You are allowed to "empadronarse" in any of the offices of "La línea," or what is known as the "Oficina de Atención al Ciudadano" which are spread throughout the city.  Following instructions, I made an appointment online and received a reminder email 48 hours before my appointment, with instructions about what to bring, namely the one page application form, proof of identity (e.g. passport or DNI), and proof of residence (e.g. a rental contract or utility bill).  I went to the trouble of printing out the application form in advance at a locutorio, but it turned out that I needn't have worried.  When I arrived at the Carabanchel office (conveniently across the street from the Corte Ingles outlet), there was a machine dispensing numbers with a sign saying that it was for people who did not have an appointment, and a woman emerged from a cubicle seeing me looking hesitant and explained that I should go straight to the information counter if I had an appointment.  When I did so the young man there checked my name against a printed list of appointments and politely said that since I was early I should wait a few minutes and return at my appointment time.  So I had ten minutes to observe the waiting room, with its electronic numbers flashing up every so often for people who were walking in to resolve one issue or another (in addition to empadronamientos, which require an appointment, people can also do all their other municipal business at these offices, including voter registration, dog licenses, etc.).  The walk-in counters were standing, while the areas for people who had appointments, who were called via numbers that had a "P" in front of them for previa (as in cita previa) had chairs for the customers, who were presumably filling out more extensive paperwork.  I returned to the counter promptly at the time of my appointment and was given a "P" number, which flashed up within minutes, whereupon a pleasant woman typed out my entire information and then, upon discovering that I had a número de identidad but not a tarjeta de identidad went and consulted briefly with a supervisor, and then returned and used my passport number instead, since apparently a NIE printed in a visa isn't good enough (as for banks...it's weird).  In any case, she printed out the new form for me, and indicated where I should sign, and chatted politely about New York while inputting the information, and then handed me my "justificante" and welcomed me to Madrid, and said that if I stayed I would have to renew the empadronamiento in two years time.  Total time from my scheduled appointment (not counting the extra ten minutes I showed up early) until the moment I emerged into the street, twelve minutes.

I should add as a bonus that during my brief waiting time in the waiting room (which resembled a clean and cheerful DMV, with actually a fairly fast moving line) I picked up a booklet of events at the various "Centros Culturales" de Carabanchel.  Most of them are for children, but there's a guitar duo giving a concert of tango and classical music this Saturday at the Centro Cultural Oporto that I might actually want to go to.  Score one for concert in the neighborhood!

I hope that the procedure for getting the all important TIE tomorrow goes as smoothly, and that I can finally stop arguing with people that yes, my NIE is valid even though it's on a visa and not on a TIE.  Also, once I have my ID card, hopefully I can stop carrying around my passport to archives.  Fingers crossed that the Spanish bureaucracy is pleasant and efficient for this final hurdle.  Will report back.