What this letter is
The postman didn’t find you at home and left an aviso de llegada (arrival notice) in your letterbox. It means someone has sent you a carta certificada (registered letter): an item that needs a signature and leaves proof that you received it. It is often a notificación oficial (official notification) from the tax agency, the DGT (traffic authority), the town hall, a court or Social Security, but it may also come from a bank, a company or your landlord.
How to read it: the key parts
The Correos notice already gives you most of the clues:
| What you see on the letter | What it means |
|---|---|
| Remitente (sender) | Who sent it. This is the most important detail |
| Origen (origin) | The city or office it was sent from |
| Número de envío (item number) | A code to track it on the Correos website or app |
| Tipo de producto (carta certificada, notificación, burofax) (item type) | “Notificación” is usually a public body or a court; “burofax” is normally a private person or a company |
| Fecha y hora del intento (date and time of attempt) | When the postman came |
| Oficina de recogida (collection office) | Where you need to go. It will be available from the next working day |
| Plazo de recogida (collection deadline) | How long they will keep it for you |
Who usually sends registered letters:
- Agencia Tributaria (AEAT, the tax agency): information requests, proposed tax assessments, enforcement notices, seizures.
- DGT or town hall: traffic fines, requests to identify the driver, bills and assessments for local taxes.
- Seguridad Social, SEPE (Social Security, employment service): debts, overpayments, benefit decisions.
- Juzgado (court): summonses, lawsuits, judgments.
- Oficina de Extranjería (immigration office): requests for documents and decisions.
- Bank, company, landlord: debt claims or a burofax (a certified letter with proof of content, for example to say a rental contract won’t be renewed).
What deadline you have
Correos keeps the item for a period that depends on the type of item, and sends you reminders when there are 10 and 5 days left. When the time is up, it returns it to the sender. For official notifications the window can be shorter, so don’t wait until the last day.
Note: the deadline to respond to the letter (pay, appeal, send documents) doesn’t start until you receive it or it counts as notified. You’ll see it inside.
What you can do
| Option | When it makes sense | What happens next |
|---|---|---|
| Collect it at the post office | Whenever you can | You know what it is and you have the full deadline to act |
| Authorise someone else | If you can’t go | They take their ID, a photocopy of yours and the authorisation |
| Look for it on the online portal or DEHú | If the sender is a public body | The notification is often online too, and you can read it sooner |
| Don’t collect it | Never worth it with official senders | See below |
What happens if you do nothing
With a public body, not collecting the letter doesn’t cancel it. After two delivery attempts at different times, the body publishes a notice in the BOE (Official State Gazette), in the Tablón Edictal Único (single public notice board). With the tax agency you then have 15 calendar days to come forward; if you don’t, the notification is treated as delivered. From then on the deadlines run, and you may lose the chance to pay without a surcharge, to appeal or to submit objections. With a private sender, the letter goes back, but the sender keeps proof that they tried to deliver it.
Common mistakes
- Thinking if I don’t collect it, it doesn’t count. With public bodies, it counts all the same.
- Letting the days go by until the letter goes back to the sender.
- Panicking too early: refunds and favourable decisions arrive this way too.
- Forgetting your ID document when you go to the post office.
- Not checking DEHú or the body’s online portal, where the same notification is often already waiting.
How to respond, step by step
- Read the remitente (sender), the oficina (office) and the plazo (deadline) on the notice.
- If it is a public body, go to dehu.redsara.es or its online portal with Cl@ve or a digital certificate: it may already be there.
- Go to the Correos office with your DNI, NIE or passport (or send someone you have authorised).
- Open the letter and write down the date you received it: deadlines count from the next day.
- Work out what type of document it is (information request, fine, enforcement notice, decision…) and read the pie de recursos (appeals section at the bottom).
- Reply through the online portal, the general electronic registry or at a registry office.
Cartamiga tip: if the notice says it is from a public body, go and collect it that same week. Ignoring a notification almost never makes it go away; it only takes away your time to react.