Newcomers on the Costa Daurada tend to assume the nearest town has a police desk for the NIE. It has not: across the whole province the Policía Nacional directory lists three stations for foreigners’ procedures, in Tarragona, Reus and Tortosa, and the one to book is the station of your comarca.
The Delegación del Gobierno en Cataluña draws the lines. The Brigada Provincial on Plaça d’Orleans takes the Tarragonès, the Alt Camp, the Baix Penedès and the Conca de Barberà. Reus takes the Baix Camp, the Priorat and the Ribera d’Ebre. Tortosa takes the Baix Ebre, the Montsià and the Terra Alta.
Town by town, and by comarca according to the Delegación del Gobierno, that reads as follows. Salou, Vila-seca, Torredembarra and Altafulla, all in the Tarragonès, look to Plaça d’Orleans, and so do Valls, capital of the Alt Camp, and El Vendrell in the Baix Penedès. Cambrils, in the Baix Camp, looks to Reus, like Reus itself and the villages of the Priorat. Amposta and Sant Carles de la Ràpita, in the Montsià, look to Tortosa.
The Delegación’s page refers to the station of the municipality of residence, so the address that counts is home, not the workplace and not the flat being bought. Someone living in Cambrils and working in La Canonja books Reus; someone living in Salou and working in Cambrils books Plaça d’Orleans.
Tortosa has one wrinkle: the Policía Nacional directory and the Delegación del Gobierno print different addresses there, Passeig Joan Moreira 3 and Passeig Ribera 21. The appointment confirmation settles which door to knock on.
If your town is missing from this note, look up its comarca, or send us the address: we check it before searching the online cita previa.