Identification

[Karen Jones]

Don't forget to take identification with you when out walking etc. A couple were fined at quasada 200€.

[freddo]

You have always been required to carry identification in Spain nothing new there

[Graham Knight]

I've always got my Driving license ( Spanish, with photo ), and health card in my wallet.
I assume that's sufficient identification ?
I ain't carrying my A4 residencia paper around with me .

[freddo]

Spanish Driving licence is OK in most places but sometimes the officials require your passport I have always carried mine

[Graham Knight]

Do they accept the "reduced" sized passport , Freddo ?
The one the photo shops in Torrevieja do - credit card size .

[freddo]

Do they accept the "reduced" sized passport , Freddo ?
The one the photo shops in Torrevieja do - credit card size .

Yes if it is stamped by a Guardia office or the town hall it must be done before laminating though

[Graham Knight]

Thanks for that, Freddo.

[Rosiemac]

Out walking without ID. Fined €200? Utter madness and a downright disgrace More money for the Spanish coffers.

[freddo]

nothing mad about it the law in Spain says you must have ID at all times so you were lucky you were not fined more

[Brandyboy]

Out walking without ID. Fined €200? Utter madness and a downright disgrace More money for the Spanish coffers.

Still hold the same opinion Rosie


Carrying ID

Every­one in Spain must carry gov­ern­ment is­sued ID at all times, re­gard­less of whether we are Span­ish, an EU na­tional, or a for­eigner liv­ing or hol­i­day­ing in the coun­try.

The spe­cific law is Art­icle 4 of Or­ganic Law 4/​2000 which states that for­eign na­tion­als in Spain must carry iden­tity doc­u­ments is­sued by the coun­try of cit­izen­ship.

Thus, if you live in Spain, and you don,t have Span­ish gov­ern­ment is­sued photo ID, you must carry at all times your own na­tion,s photo ID, in the case of Brit­ish cit­izens this means our pass­port.

There is no ob­lig­a­tion on the part of au­thor­it­ies in Spain to give you 72 hours or some other reas­on­able amount of time to present your doc­u­ment­a­tion. Quite simply, if you do not pro­duce an iden­tity doc­u­ment on de­mand when asked by law en­force­ment of­ficers (Poli­cia Nacional, Guardia Civil, Poli­cia Local) then you could be de­tained and fined.

Most of­ficers of the law will let you off with a verbal warn­ing if you don,t have your ID on you, but this is not a re­quire­ment on their part. If you can­not identify your­self, they can ar­rest you, un­til they have iden­ti­fied you then will set you free. Ob­vi­ously it is be­cause of ter­ror­ists, sus­pec­ted crim­in­als etc. and someone not able or will­ing to identify them­selves could be sus­pi­cious.