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2nd December 2020


So here I am again. Standing in a queue outside the commissioner's office.


My appointment date was 2nd December at 8:30am. 5 weeks after I applied for the TIE.

I arrived 10 minutes before my appointment. Of course I had to queue. But not for long. 10 minutes later they let us into the waiting room...to wait.


Me toca....los c....


At 8:40am the doors opened and a guy appeared with a clipboard. Scenes from school flashed before my eyes as he called out names from his sheet of paper as if he were calling the class register. When he came to my name, he looked up and said in a monotonous voice

'Your TIE hasn't arrived. It'll arrive next Wednesday'.

Then he continued peering down at his clipboard. No apology. No advice. WTF?!

You told me that my TIE was going to be ready in 30 days. It's been 5 weeks. WTF!! But what's the use of yelling at them. Seething inside, I left the office without saying anything. There was no point.


What a waste of time.


Mobile phones. E-mail. They have both of these details of every person who requests an appointment. We live in an age of technology and they couldn't find 30 seconds to inform me that my TIE wasn't ready BEFORE I woke up early and walked 25 minutes to their office?! No. Of course not.


And I'm not the only one. Upon seeing an Instagram story about the whole saga, a former colleague reached out saying her English husband was going to collect his TIE the following day. A couple of days later she sent me this...

"...he came back very pissed off yesterday... as I'm sure you've guessed, empty-handed"

A week later, another friend told me they were off to the "comisaria" (should be co-misery) to pick up her partner's TIE. Since he's Canadian he has to renew his ID card every year! IMAGINE.


The Inevitable Return Part II


As soon as I got home, I went online to book an appointment only to become even more frustrated. The system wouldn't let me book an appointment on the same day. The next day I was slightly more successful. I could view the next available appointments....for 29th December. Will my TIE even still be there?! Will they really be working over the holidays?


The day after that, I went back online and miraculously dates for the 10th, 13th and 14th December appeared. Who knows why. And so the inevitable return, returns.


 

Update: 15 December 2020


Appointment:12:35


At 12:00 I'm running around the flat searching for my passport. I can't find it.


Now, they told me I just needed to bring the proof of application. So I don't really need my passport just to pick up the TIE. Do I?


Finally, I find my passport and run out of the door. I arrive at 12:30 and join the queue on the left reserved for the foreigners. Surprisingly, by 12:53 I was allowed into the waiting room. And even more surprisingly at 12:55 I was called in!


The guy who saw to me didn't sit me down and immediately hand over the TIE. I hadn't expected him to. I was left waiting at the desk whilst he wondered off to help one of his colleagues. Finally, he walks over and says "Give me your passport".

Jeez!


After a few flicks through a filing cabinet, I finally got my TIE at 13:01!

I hope anyone else going through this journey has a much smoother experience than me. Although, I honestly wouldn't count on it.

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