TIE Card Processing Times in Spain: Real Data from 134 Offices

Everyone asks the same question after fingerprinting: how long until my TIE card is ready? The official answer — “30 to 45 days” — is an average that hides enormous variation. The real answer depends on which office is processing your card.

We’ve been tracking lote numbers at 134 police stations across 46 provinces since May 2026 — over 5,500 daily snapshots across 84 days. This is what the data actually shows.

Province Rankings: Fastest to Slowest

Not all provinces process TIE cards at the same speed. The table below shows average processing speed measured in lotes per day, based on the most recent 3 weeks of data.

Province	Offices tracked	Avg speed (lotes/day)	Fastest office	Estimated wait
Bizkaia	1	1.94	—	~4 weeks
Sevilla	1	1.64	—	~4 weeks
Melilla	2	1.55	2.00	~5 weeks
Valencia	5	1.53	2.67	~5 weeks
Castellón	1	1.40	—	~5 weeks
Guadalajara	1	1.40	—	~5 weeks
Segovia	1	1.27	—	~6 weeks
Cuenca	1	1.27	—	~6 weeks
Murcia	5	1.11	2.67	~6 weeks
Barcelona	15	1.09	1.83	~7 weeks
Tarragona	4	1.08	1.56	~7 weeks
Guipúzcoa	2	0.99	1.07	~7 weeks
Las Palmas	3	0.97	1.36	~7 weeks
Álava	1	0.94	—	~8 weeks
Burgos	1	0.88	—	~8 weeks
Málaga	6	0.87	1.41	~8 weeks
Madrid	21	0.80	3.56	~9 weeks
Alicante	6	0.75	1.11	~10 weeks
León	3	0.74	1.00	~10 weeks
Girona	3	0.71	—	~10 weeks
A Coruña	3	0.68	0.82	~11 weeks
Zaragoza	1	0.63	—	~11 weeks
Asturias	2	0.58	0.75	~12 weeks
Badajoz	5	0.55	0.71	~13 weeks
Cádiz	5	0.53	1.06	~13 weeks
Pontevedra	5	0.24	0.64	~30 weeks
Jaén	1	0.21	—	~34 weeks
Ávila	1	0.19	—	~38 weeks
Ciudad Real	5	0.14	0.25	~50 weeks

What this means: If you’re in Bizkaia or Valencia, your card will likely arrive in under 5 weeks. If you’re in Ciudad Real or Ávila, you could wait 8 months or more — for the exact same card, manufactured in the same facility.

This is why choosing your office before booking your fingerprinting appointment is one of the highest-impact decisions in the entire TIE process. For a detailed comparison of every office, see our fastest offices guide.

The 15 Fastest Offices in Spain

These offices consistently process the most lotes per day. If any of them are in your province, try to book your fingerprinting appointment there.

Office	Province	3-week lotes	Speed (lotes/day)
CNP Poblados	Madrid	64	3.56
CNP Patraix	Valencia	48	2.67
CNP Marítimo	Valencia	48	2.67
CNP Murcia	Murcia	48	2.67
Oficina Melilla	Melilla	22	2.00
CNP Bilbao	Bizkaia	33	1.94
CNP Rambla Guipúscoa	Barcelona	33	1.83
CNP Alcobendas	Madrid	30	1.67
CNP Torrejón de Ardoz	Madrid	30	1.67
Documentación Sevilla	Sevilla	23	1.64
CNP Tortosa	Tarragona	25	1.56
CNP Reus	Tarragona	24	1.50
CNP Fuengirola	Málaga	24	1.41
CNP Castellón	Castellón	21	1.40
CNP Guadalajara	Guadalajara	21	1.40

Poblados leads the nation. Madrid’s Poblados office processes 3.56 lotes/day — nearly double the next fastest. On August 11 alone, it jumped +36 lotes in a single day, the largest single-day advance of any Madrid office this month. Valencia’s Patraix and Marítimo remain dominant, and Murcia has surged into the top tier.

Madrid has the widest range: Poblados runs at 3.56/day while Getafe and Santa Engracia have been completely frozen for 84 days. Choosing the right office in Madrid is the difference between 2 weeks and infinity.

See current speeds for your province: Madrid · Barcelona · Valencia · All provinces →

Stalled Offices: Zero Movement

These offices have shown zero or near-zero lote progression over extended periods. If your card is being processed at one of these locations, the wait is indefinite.

Never moved since tracking began (84 days)

Office	Province	Current lote
CNP Hellín	Albacete	frozen
Comisaría de Motril	Granada	frozen
CNP Ayamonte	Huelva	frozen
CNP Ciutadella	Islas Baleares	frozen
Calahorra	La Rioja	frozen
CNP Les	Lleida	frozen
CNP Seo de Urgell	Lleida	frozen
CNP Monforte de Lemos	Lugo	frozen
CNP Getafe	Madrid	frozen
CNP Santa Engracia	Madrid	frozen
Oficina Única Navarra	Navarra	frozen

Stalled 2+ weeks

Office	Province	Days without movement	Last moved
CNP Santa Coloma	Barcelona	63 days	Jun 11
CNP Terrassa	Barcelona	32 days	Jul 12
CNP Mérida	Badajoz	29 days	Jul 15
CNP Ourense	Ourense	28 days	Jul 16
CNP Sant Boi	Barcelona	27 days	Jul 17
CNP Rota	Cádiz	27 days	Jul 17
CNP Alcázar de San Juan	Ciudad Real	20 days	Jul 24
CNP Puerto Rosario	Las Palmas	20 days	Jul 24
CNP Marbella	Málaga	16 days	Jul 28
CNP Zaragoza	Zaragoza	15 days	Jul 29

24 offices currently stalled. If your card is at one of these offices, there is no mechanism to transfer your application. The only option is to wait for the office to resume processing. Historically, frozen offices do resume — but on an unpredictable timeline.

Three Patterns That Explain Processing Behavior

Our data reveals that offices don’t just differ in speed — they differ in how they process cards:

Synchronized batch delivery. On August 11, seven Madrid offices all advanced on the same day — Poblados +36, Alcorcón +17, Coslada +11, Fuenlabrada +11, and three others — totaling +78 lotes in a single day. We’ve observed the same pattern in Málaga (4 offices moving on the same day), Barcelona (5 offices), and Valencia (Patraix and Marítimo). This confirms cards are distributed in provincial batches, not manufactured per-office.

Burst processors. Some offices stay quiet for days, then jump in large batches. Poblados in Madrid is the clearest example: it can go 5 days without movement, then process 36 lotes in one day. If your office is a burst processor, check weekly rather than daily — daily checking only increases anxiety without adding information.

One-at-a-time offices. Ávila, Soria, and Huesca advance a single lote at a time. The card is coming — just slowly. These offices often serve smaller populations and may receive less frequent shipments.

How to Estimate Your Personal Wait

If you already have your lote number:

(Your lote − office’s current lote) ÷ office speed per day = estimated days

Example: Your lote is 300. The office currently shows lote 240. The office processes 1.5 lotes/day.

→ (300 − 240) ÷ 1.5 = 40 days

Use our live tracker to find your office’s current lote and speed. For a personalized estimate, enter your details at Check your lote →.

When the formula breaks:

• Stagnant offices → speed = 0, formula gives infinity. There is no estimate — wait for the office to resume.
• Burst-pattern offices → daily speed is misleading. Use weekly averages.
• Year transitions → if your lote is low (e.g., 5) and the office shows a high number (e.g., 980), you may actually be ahead — lote numbering can reset in January.

What This Data Can’t Tell You

Our tracking covers lote 4036 (card pickup notification). It does not cover:

• Application processing time before fingerprinting — that depends on your immigration office (Oficina de Extranjería), not the police station.
• Appointment availability — how quickly you can get a fingerprinting slot is a separate problem. In Madrid and Barcelona, slots are extremely scarce.
• Why an office is stalled — we can detect that Getafe has zero movement, but we cannot determine if it’s a staffing issue, a delivery backlog, or a system problem.

For the full picture of the TIE application process from start to finish, see our step-by-step application guide.

Track Your Office in Real Time

This page is updated regularly, but for live data:

• TIE Tracker → — All provinces, all offices, updated daily
• Check your lote → — Enter your lote number and office to get a personalized ETA
• Get notified → — Get notified when your office’s lote advances
• Fastest offices → — Detailed office-by-office comparison to help you choose

We track 134 offices across 46 provinces — over 5,500 data points across 84 days and growing. No government website, no forum, and no immigration lawyer publishes this data at this scale.

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Data current as of August 13, 2026 · Based on 5,590 snapshots across 134 offices in 46 provinces · Updated regularly

Related: What Is a Lote? · Fastest Offices · Choose Your Office · Card Pickup · How to Apply · Live Tracker →