Documento Nacional de Identidad (Spain)

In 1824, King Ferdinand VII of Spain founded the first police force in Spain and gave it the exclusive right to create and maintain city registries which would hold information on each resident's age, sex, marital status and profession. This was its first role and something that has continued to today. [1]

The idea to create a new document began by instituting a law on March 2nd of 1944, with the purpose being to gather census data. The government enlisted the public by making a contest to make the new DNI, which was won by Aquilino Rieusset Planchón. [2]

The initiative to create a new DNI came from Francisco Franco, which got his first DNI in 1951. The first group of people who were required to get a DNI were prisoners and people on bail, house arrest or parole. The next group required were men who had to frequently move houses for their job, then people living in cities of 100,000 people and plus, then people in cities between 25,000 people and 10,000, and so on until everyone in the population had a DNI. [3]

Zaragoza was the first provincial capital to issue a DNI. After the test run in Zaragoza, it was extended to the rest of Valencia and then continued spreading until all of Spain had a DNI. [3]

The first modern DNI included the names of one's parents and what their jobs were. The card was green in colour and used the San Juan eagle which was a typical sign of the fascist regime in Spain at the time, and it also included the holder's social status. The second card in 1962 incorporated their marital status and their blood type. The colour of the DNI was changed to blue to represent the blue of the police. This version didn't have the sex of the user. The next card – issued between 1965 and 1980 – was one of the most popular cards. It kept everything the same except for the signature of the Director which was superimposed.

The most significant changes happened between 1981 until 1985. It included the new constitutional seal and stopped using the former fascist signs. It also re-introduced the sex of the citizen. In the next model – issued between 1985 and 1991 – the profession, marital status and blood type were removed, which was causing medical issues. In the 1990s, new models were being made with computers, the fingerprint was removed and the Royal Mint began preparing the DNI's.

In 2006 they included a chip inside the DNI, making it an electronic identity card. This card allows the card holder to use the Internet for communications with the government. [3]

In 2015 they launched the DNI 3.0 with NFC technology. [4]

DNI's are personal documents and are not allowed to be transferred. They are issued by the Ministry of the Interior which regulates their protection and their laws. The cardholder is obligated to hold and maintain the card during its period of validity. Any DNI is sufficient proof of identity and all the personal information in it, and is also a proof of holding Spanish Nationality. On each DNI there is a number which is considered a general personal numerical identifier.

To obtain a DNI it is necessary to have Spanish citizenship, and all Spanish citizens have a right to obtain a DNI. Spanish citizens 14 years or older are required to hold a DNI if residing in Spain and for people who return to Spain for more than six months. [5] People can be fined for not holding a DNI and have a requirement to hold one.

Everyone who is required to have a DNI are obligated to show the card to the authorities if asked. While people aren't required to have the DNI on hand at all times, they are required to identify themselves and give it to the police officer if having it on themselves. If a DNI is required but can not be given, another document can be given in substitution for the document, even if that document is not officially a way to identify themselves. For example, under Spanish law, a driver's license isn't a document to identify a person, but an authority can choose to admit it.

If it is not possible to identify someone because they don't have their DNI at the moment, it is possible that they are required to accompany a police officer to the closest place to identify the person. [6] If someone doesn't present their DNI when they can or don't agree to the police station, it can be considered civil disobedience - which results in a fine - or it can be considered disobedience to an authority which is a felony under section 634 of the penal code. [7]

The number of the National Identity Document includes 8 digits and one letter for security. The letter is found by taking all 8 digits as a number and dividing it by 23. The remainder of this digit, which is between 0 and 22, gives the letter used for security. The letters I, Ñ, O, U are not used. The letters I and O are not used – to avoid confusions with the numbers 0 and 1. The Ñ is not used in order to avoid confusions with N.

From the beginning up to the present day, DNI's are assigned to the different police stations. Thus, every police station that issues DNI's don't run out of numbers. If the station runs outs of numbers they are assigned a new lot, which is not necessarily the same as the previous lot. This stops the false belief that low new DNI numbers are actually old DNI numbers of someone who has died.[3]

Number one was given to Francisco Franco, [8] with number two being given to his wife, Carmen Polo, and number three to their daughter, Carmen Franco y Polo. The numbers four through nine are vacant to this day. The numbers 10-99 are reserved for the royal family. Number 10 was given to King Juan Carlos I, number 11 for Queen Sofía of Spain and numbers 12 and 14 for Princesses Elena and Christina, respectively. King Felipe VI of Spain has the number 15, [3] Princess Leonor has the number 16 and Princess Infanta Sofía of Spain has the number 17.[9]The number 13 was left out due to superstition.

There is evidence that there are thousands of people that share their DNI numbers.[10]

Since December 2015, version 3.0 of the electronic DNI has been issued at all police stations. The card is made of polycarbonate and has an electronic chip with the digital information of the cardholder. The dimensions are identical to a credit card (85.60 mm wide × 53.98 mm tall). This version of the DNI has the following elements:[11]

• On the front
  • The main section indicates last names (all Spanish citizens are required to have two last names), first name, sex, nationality and date of birth. The serial number includes a security feature, expiry date and signature of the cardholder
  • On the lefthand side of the card there is a photo of the cardholder. The photo is in black and white and is a bigger size than all of the previous cards.[12] Under the photograph is the holders DNI number and security letter.
  • On the righthand side there is a transparent window with a laser engraved physical support number. Below that there is a changing image made via a laser which consists of the issuing date and a miniature photograph of the cardholder and the Card Access Number to access the RFID chip. [13]
• On the back
  • The top includes the holder's address and country of residence. Under that is where the holder was born and the names of the parents of the cardholder.
  • On the left is the issuing code of the DNI and the cryptographic chip with an NFC antenna
  • On the bottom part there is OCR-B information, compliant with ICAO regulations on travel documents
• On the cryptographic chip, in electronic form
  • Electronic certificate to authenticate the citizen
  • Electronic certificate to sign electronically, with the same legal power as a handwritten signature
  • Electronic certificate from the issuing body
  • Keys of every electronic certificate
  • The cardholder's fingerprint
  • The cardholder's photograph
  • Digitalized image of the cardholder's signature

The electronic chip does not hold personal information that is not on the card, including from other government agencies.

To use the electronic DNI it is required to know the personal password. This can be changed at a police station that issues DNI's. It is also required to have a computer and a card-reader. Card-readers come in many different ways, including inside the actual computer or being connected to a USB port, and the card-readers must be able to read an electronic DNI, meaning it must be ISO 7816 compliant. Finally, one must download the software which the police provide.[14]

In October 2011, 5 years after its launch, El País reported that utilization of the electronic DNI feature was very low, with many people preferring to use a digital certificate.[15]

In 2015 the DNI 3.0 was launched, incorporating NFC technology which can be read by phones.[16]

To get a DNI it is necessary to have Spanish citizenship. Foreign residents in Spain can get a card similar to the DNI but in blue, called the Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero.

This card is the document that proves that the foreigner is legally in Spain. This card shows that the cardholder has been granted permission to stay in Spain for more than 6 months. The card is personal and untransferable.

On the card it also has the Numero de Identification de Extranjero, or NIE.

• National identity cards in the European Union