I found this posting on Just Landed:

http://www.justlanded.com/english/Spain/Spain-Guide/Visas-Permits/Residency-and-NIE

The Tarjeta de Residencia is a card incorporating your NIE, your personal details and a photograph/fingerprint. It is necessary for transactions where someone wants to see a proof of your current physical address in Spain (i.e. in local video rentals, banks etc.). The Tarjeta is valid for five years and must then be renewed. Non-EU applicants are granted an initial Residencia for one year, which is usually extended to five years on renewal.

NOTE March 2009: currently the administration does not seem to be issuing or renewing identity cards to EU/EEA nationals and only a NIE is available which then needs to be used with a passport/national identity card for the purposes of identification. It is unclear if/when this situation will change.

Has anyone heard about this?

Also, if I am married to a Spaniard and am registering our marriage in the US through the Spanish consulate and applying for the Tarjeta de Residencia and NIE in the US, does this affect me?

annamaria11 - 30 September 2009 09:07 AM

Has anyone heard about this?

Indeed it is the subject of many a discussion on this and other forums. EU/EEA citizens are now issued with a green A4 sheet of paper that has no validity as an ID document.

The residencia card for EU citzens was ceased around 2 years ago!! (maybe more….) it was replaced by the certificate, so there still is a process to go through when your card expires

However for non EU there is still a card . Full details here:

N.I.E. (EX14) / RESIDENCIA (EX16)

Application Forms and the
Regulations Governing EU citizens in Spain document.

http://extranjeros.mtas.es/

For forms - Click: Modelos de Solictudes

Or direct link
http://www.map.es/servicios/servicios_on_line/extranjeria/modelos_oficiales_solicitudes.html

For the Regulations document
http://extranjeros.mtin.es/es/InformacionInteres/FolletosInformativos/index.html