The National Police quietly rolled out a software patch to its Extranjería e-Portal on 27 July, allowing foreign residents to book or modify documentation appointments up to six hours before the slot instead of the previous 48-hour cut-off. The change, flagged in the portal’s release notes, applies nationwide to NIE issuance, TIE fingerprinting and travel-document collection. The move aims to reduce no-show rates, which the Interior Ministry says reached 23 % in 2025, clogging booking calendars in cities with large expatriate communities such as Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia. Users will also now receive an automatic QR code that can be scanned at self-service kiosks in police stations, further shortening check-in times. For global-mobility teams the new functionality means faster onboarding: newly arrived employees can often secure a same-week TIE fingerprint slot rather than waiting three to four weeks. Relocation providers, however, caution that prime morning appointments still vanish within minutes of release and recommend logging in at midnight when fresh quotas are uploaded. The portal update is part of a broader digital-services overhaul intended to align Spain’s immigration procedures with the EU’s Digital Identity Framework. Future phases will include electronic payment of Tasa 790 012 fees and secure document upload for dependants’ applications.
