FastNIE vs Easy To Spain: Which Is Right for You?

What Does FastNIE Actually Do?

FastNIE is a fully remote NIE and NIF service aimed primarily at the US and international market. Their pitch is speed and convenience: you never leave your chair, you never travel to Spain, and you never deal with a Spanish consulate. They offer three NIE tiers (Urgent VIP at 7 business days, Lightning at 14 days, Blaze at 30 days), a Business NIF product, plus apostille services for US and UK documents.

The mechanics are straightforward. You order a plan online, upload a copy of your passport, complete a short virtual notary session to sign a Power of Attorney, and their representatives in Spain then file your NIE application with the Policía Nacional. You receive a digitally signed PDF of your NIE by email. You never attend an appointment, never speak to a Spanish official, never deal with the Modelo 790 fee directly.

For the right person, that is genuinely valuable. But three things deserve a clear look before you click order.

The Real Cost of FastNIE

FastNIE prices are denominated in US dollars and sit at the top end of the NIE service market. The Urgent VIP plan runs around $599 per person, Lightning around $499, and Blaze around $349. That is one to two hundred dollars more than most European remote NIE agencies charge for the same outcome.

The upside is that FastNIE bundles the virtual notarization, apostille, and shipping into the flat fee, so you genuinely are paying a single price with no separate notary bill afterwards. The downside is that the headline number is still several hundred dollars, and you are paying it to obtain exactly one document. Need your family on board? The 10 percent bulk discount softens the math but does not change the ceiling.

What You Get Is Just the NIE

FastNIE does the NIE (and business NIF) and nothing else that an actual relocation requires. Your empadronamiento at the town hall has to be done in person by you. Your TIE biometrics, if you are a non EU national, require your fingerprints in Spain. Your Seguridad Social, your Autónomo registration, your Certificado Digital, your bank account, your utility contracts, your driving licence exchange with the DGT, none of it is covered. The moment the PDF arrives in your inbox, the relationship ends.

That is fine if the NIE is genuinely all you need. It becomes a problem the moment you realise how much else is waiting for you the day you actually land in Spain.

You Hand Over Control via Power of Attorney

Signing a Poder Notarial is not a small thing, even in a virtual notary session. It authorizes a third party to act in your name before Spanish authorities. With a reputable firm, the arrangement is perfectly safe. But it also means you never have direct contact with the Policía Nacional about your own file. If something is queried, delayed, or filed under a wrong detail, you learn about it through the agency. When things run smoothly, that is seamless. When they don't, you are one layer removed from the office that can actually fix it.

What Does Easy To Spain Do?

Easy To Spain sits at the opposite end of the market. It is a self guided platform built out of our own emigration to Spain in 2024. Rather than doing things in your name, it gives you the knowledge to do them yourself, correctly, with confidence.

Each Easy To Spain module is a full walkthrough of one Spanish procedure. You learn the exact form, the exact boxes to tick, the documents to bring, how to book your cita previa, and what to expect at the counter. You attend the appointment. You hand in your paperwork. You walk out the same day with a stamp and a document that is unmistakably yours.

The Price Difference Is Enormous

The Easy To Spain NIE module costs €29.95. That is roughly €570 less than FastNIE's fastest plan. No notary fees (you attend in person, so none are needed). No apostille (an EU passport or a TIE process removes the requirement for most cases). No courier. A full Easy To Spain journey covering NIE, green card, Certificado Digital, Seguridad Social and Autónomo registration still costs a fraction of one FastNIE Urgent VIP plan.

If you are actually relocating, that difference is not cosmetic. It is often the gap between one document handled and your entire first year in Spain mapped out.

You Actually Learn the System

Spain's administrative world has its own logic. The sede electrónica, the Modelo system, the AEAT portal, the rhythm of cita previa slots, the division between your local Hacienda and the national one. The sooner you internalize how it all fits together, the easier everything else becomes.

People who go to their own appointments pick up things a proxy client never will. They know which office handles what, they know the language of the forms, they spot mistakes on a Modelo, and they know who to call when something goes wrong. That knowledge compounds for every year you live here.

A Full Ecosystem of Modules

Moving to Spain is not one document. Easy To Spain covers the full sequence:

• NIE Number for EU citizens at €29.95

• NIE Green Card (Certificado de Registro) at €29.95

• TIE Card for non EU residents at €29.95

• Certificado Digital at €4.99

• Seguridad Social registration at €29.95

• Autónomo registration via Modelo 036 and RETA at €59.95

• Digital Nomad Visa guidance at €29.95

• Driving Licence exchange at €19.95

FastNIE covers the very first box on this list, and only that one. Easy To Spain covers the whole journey at a price that is closer to a dinner bill than a specialist fee.

Who Is Each Service For?

FastNIE makes sense for a specific type of client. If you are a US based investor buying a Spanish property from afar, a founder incorporating a Spanish SL without relocating, or you need a NIE or NIF purely for one financial or legal transaction with no intention of moving here, paying a premium for a fully remote turnkey service is a reasonable trade. Your time is worth more than the fee, and you do not need to learn the administrative ropes because you will rarely use them.

Easy To Spain is built for a completely different person. If you are actually relocating, with your family, your pension, your business, or your remote job, you need far more than a single PDF. You need to understand the country you now live in. You need to handle the next ten administrative moments yourself without paying an agency fee for each one. You need competence, not dependence. That is the person Easy To Spain is built for.