Booking a cita previa

What a cita previa actually is

A cita previa is the booking you get before you turn up at a Spanish office. You can't just walk in and take a ticket. You book a slot online, then come back at that time.

Almost every public office here works this way — the town hall, the foreigners' office, the tax office, the health centre. So this isn't really one more task on your list. It's the skill underneath all of them.

When you book, you get a justificante — your appointment confirmation. Print it and bring it. It shows the date, the time, the place, and a reference code you'll use later. And the booking itself is always free.

There isn't one website. There are several.

This is the thing that trips everyone up. There's no single "book any appointment in Spain" site. Each office runs its own system. So the first question is never how do I book — it's who am I booking with.

Here's where the main ones live:

• Your NIE, residence certificate, TIE card, or fingerprints → the national government site, the sede electrónica (the government's online office). It's shared by the foreigners' office (the extranjería) and the national police.
• Your padrón (registering where you live) → your town hall, the ayuntamiento. Each town runs its own booking page or phone line.
• Your health card, the SIP → your local health centre, through the regional health service.
• Social security, or your work history → the Seguridad Social site, or its phone line.
• Tax matters → the tax office (Hacienda).

Which of your steps need one

The short answer: almost every in-person one. What changes is which office — and that depends on where you're from.

• If you're from the EU or EEA (Danish, Norwegian): your main one is the green residence certificate — the document that registers you as living here. You book that with the foreigners' office or the police.
• If you're from outside the EU (Russian): you'll book a few. First the NIE. Then the toma de huellas — the fingerprint appointment for your TIE card. Then picking the card up. Each is its own appointment.
• Everyone: the padrón at the town hall usually needs an appointment too.

How to book one, step by step

The systems look different, but they follow the same shape. Here it is using the foreigners' office (the busiest, and the one most readers start with):

1. Find the right system

   Match the office to your task, using the list above. For your NIE, TIE or certificate, that's the national sede electrónica. Double-check the address is the official .gob.es one before you type anything in.

2. Pick your province, then the exact trámite

   Choose Alicante (or your province). Then pick the precise procedure from the list — for example the fingerprint appointment, or the certificate. Choosing the wrong one is the top reason people get sent home, so read the options slowly.

3. Enter your details

   You'll give your passport or NIE number, your name, and your nationality. You may also need a Cl@ve login (your online ID for Spanish government sites) or a digital certificate. From 2026 this is becoming the rule — more on that below.

4. Take a slot — if there is one

   If free times show up, grab one fast and don't agonise over the date. This is the step where many people hit a wall instead, so the next section is all about that.

5. Save your justificante

   You'll get a confirmation by email or download, with a reference code. Print it. Check your spam folder if it doesn't arrive. Keep the code safe — you'll need it to check, change or cancel the appointment.

"No hay citas disponibles" — the message everyone hits

Sooner or later you'll see no hay citas disponibles — no appointments available. It feels like you've done something wrong. Usually you haven't.

Each office only releases a small batch of slots, at times nobody announces. They can be gone in minutes. There's also an uglier reason: organised groups use bots — programs that snatch the free slots the second they appear, then resell them.

How to actually land a slot

There's no magic trick. But these are the habits that work:

• Check often, at odd hours. Slots can appear early in the morning. There's no fixed schedule, so steady persistence beats clever timing.
• Try every office in your province. You don't have to use the closest one. A slot in a nearby town counts just the same.
• Have your details ready. Passport number, NIE if you have one — so you can book the second a slot shows.
• Use any official side channel. Some offices let you send your documents by email instead of booking. If yours does, follow their instructions exactly.
• Mind the day itself. Keep your justificante safe, and arrive about 10–15 minutes early.

The appointment is free. Don't pay for it.

Because slots are so hard to get, a black market grew around them. People sell "guaranteed" appointments for €400–500. Some pretend to be the office and ask you to transfer money. None of that is real, and none of it is legal.

What's changing in 2026

There's good news, arriving slowly. Spain is bringing in a new system to kill the resale market. The idea is to tie each appointment to you — to your identity, through a Cl@ve login or digital certificate — so a slot can't be sold on or handed to someone else.

Some places are going further. In Barcelona, for fingerprint appointments, the office now assigns you a slot itself once your residence is approved — instead of making you hunt for one. The hope is the rest of the country follows.

Common questions