Published · NIE Tenerife
Ask a neighbour where to get a NIE on Tenerife and the answer depends on where the neighbour lives. In Santa Cruz or La Laguna, it is the police office on Calle Ramón Pérez de Ayala. In Los Cristianos or Costa Adeje, it is the Comisaría Sur in Las Terrazas, Adeje. Both answers are right, for some procedures.
The official police directory gives the two offices different lists. Both assign NIE numbers and both handle EU registration, the régimen comunitario, so an EU citizen or a non-resident buyer can choose freely. Santa Cruz adds TIE issue, return authorisations, students, extensions of stay, non-lucrative residence and asylum. Adeje adds cédulas de inscripción, invitation letters and nationality reports.
That gives a simple rule. For a bare NIE or an EU registration, pick the office you can reach most easily on the day. For anything that involves a card, a non-EU resident should expect the north, wherever they live.
The same directory also lists NIE assignment at the police stations of La Laguna and Puerto de la Cruz, and the Puerto de la Cruz unit lists TIE issue as well. They are worth knowing about if you live on the north coast, but the booking screen, not the map, tells you what is actually on offer.
Then there is the booking itself. The cita previa booking system works by province, and the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife takes in La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro as well as Tenerife. Read the address on the screen before you confirm a slot.
A third address sometimes comes up: the Oficina de Extranjería of the Delegación del Gobierno, on Calle La Marina in Santa Cruz. Its page lists residence and work authorisations and the family-member card, and also mentions the NIE and the EU certificate, while the police directory places those two at police offices. When the sources disagree, follow your confirmation: it names the office that expects you.
Finally, treat the trip like any other island journey. An early slot in the capital from the south means leaving with a margin for traffic and parking, and with every paper in one folder.