At last it seems that the abominable ‘foreigners department’ in Mallorca is to be saved from complete ignominy with a new easy to navigate website for TIE card, visa appointments, and residency card renewals. I’ll believe it when I see it.
A family member had their TIE card stolen in Eroski in Santa Ponsa back in March. Even with paid assistance, it took months to get an initial appointment. When that happened in September, we were turned away because an operative complained that the Guardia Civil theft report had a tiny error. The Guardia officer had apparently not ticked a little box on page five confirming the TIE card had been stolen even though it was stated elsewhere in the report and was bleeding obvious. So, back we went to the Guardia Civil whose officer shook his head in disbelief. All the same, he kindly added a fool-proof paragraph with many a stamp to underline that yes, the TIE card had been stolen, as previously stated.
Two weeks later, thanks to external assistance again, we returned, and the form was approved. Then another two months before gaining the final appointment. On arrival, the forecourt was rammed with miserable applicants, and it was lashing down with rain. The surly guard would only allow a dribble of people in at a time, and certainly no rellies. He snapped at those who didn’t have appointments and hangers-on were summarily dismissed and directed outside in the rain.
The whole process is ludicrous and deplorably inefficient. Why, if someone is a permanent resident who has been robbed but who has previously been processed, don’t they fast-track them as they are already on the system? It’s sheer madness to make them jump through every hoop, and finger printing all over again, and crazily time-consuming for the civil servants in the department. My takeaway from this Kafkaesque nightmare is never -God willing – to lose my TIE card. It’s the sort of hellish ordeal that would make a grown man or woman cry.