Applying for Visas: Austin TX to Valencia, Spain
The process for applying for Visas was long and confusing. There was no one place for solid information on the process, so a lot of research and trial and error went into it. We tried applying for self-employed Visas – no. Tried entrepreneur Visas – also no. We had to go the “non-lucrative” route, which means we cannot work here in Spain. Of course, that is (mostly) okay, as we pay the bills with the small business we own in Texas. At some point, we hope to be able to work here playing music, but at least for our first year here, that’s a ‘no’ as well. Here’s a basic list of everything we needed to apply for our Visas, and the various places we found information or received services.
1. Passports – Your passport & that of your spouse must have been issued at least one year prior to your Visa appointment. All your plans of applying for a Visa will be put on hold if that is not yet the case. If your dependents don’t have theirs yet, then the first thing to do is apply for each of them to get their US passports. You will need recent passport photos of each person – 2 for the passport application. You will also need photos for the Visa application, so go ahead and purchase 4 photos of your dependents, and you and your spouse should purchase 2 each (since you already have your passports). We took our kids to Walgreens first, didn’t know we would need more than 2, and had the second ones done at CVS. Both were reasonably fast and similarly priced. Passport info: https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/passports.html
***Tip: go ahead and purchase 4 passport photos per person up front, as you will need them for passport applications and your Visa appointment. Photos (4): $26/person; Passport: $110 each (16 and up), $80 each (under 16); Additional passport fees: $25/person. Also note: Many passport application sites do not accept credit cards for the application fees.
2. Find your nearest Spanish consulate - Since we lived in Austin, our consulate is in Houston. Lucky for us, ours is in our own state. There are only 8 consulates in the United States. Here’s the website: http://www.exteriores.gob.es/Portal/en/Paginas/inicio.aspx Switch to English up at the top. Under “Citizen Services” go to “Embassies and Consulates.” Use the map to find the consulate nearest you.
***Tip: for United States, look under “E” for Estados Unidos. The abbreviation for USA in Spain is EEUU (you’ll need to know that for lots of stuff).
***Tip: Each consulate has their own specific checklist of requirements. You must visit the website for the consulate you will apply at.
3. Make an Appointment - Go to your specific consulate’s website, look under “Information for Foreigners” and click “Visas.” You will need an appointment for each person in your family. At this point, you have no idea how quickly you’ll be prepared, so choose a date 3 months out that works for you, and schedule it. If you’re ready before then, try to make new appointments if you like, but at least you will have these appointments in case nothing sooner is available. Here’s the website for the Houston Consulate: http://www.exteriores.gob.es/Consulados/HOUSTON/en/InformacionParaExtranjeros/Pages/Visas.aspx
4. Get your checklist – On your consulate’s site, they will have a list of different Visas to apply for. Click the one that applies to you, and print out the checklist. Ours is non-lucrative (http://www.exteriores.gob.es/Consulados/HOUSTON/es/Consulado/Documents/Visado%20de%20residencia%20no%20lucrativa%20EN.pdf ) so from here, I’ll be listing only the requirements for that specific Visa in the order we gathered them (or learned would have been best) to get everything ready for your appointment. Also, everything must be less than 3 months old. You need new copies of birth certificates, marriage certificate, criminal record clearance, medical certificate, financial documents, proof of insurance, etc. Several things will have to be Apostille certified, and most of it will need to be translated into Spanish by a certified translation service.
5. Criminal Background check - https://www.dps.texas.gov/administration/crime_records/pages/faq.htm Question 1 in the FAQs is what you need. We set an appointment at a FAST Location which we found here: https://uenroll.identogo.com/workflows/11FT12/locator/location It was quick and easy versus the application via mail. We brought our valid TX drivers licenses and filled out the online application in advance, and they took our fingerprints and a photo, we paid and were out the door. A couple weeks later, we received our documents in the mail.
***Tip: These are only needed for adults, not minors. Cost: $25 per person. These also need to be translated at $30/page. I think there were 3 pages per person.
6. Medical Clearance – You need a letter from your primary care physician ON THEIR LETTERHEAD stating your full name, and that ‘the patient has been examined and found free of any contagious or infectious diseases according to the International Health Regulation 2005.’ The doctor must sign it, and the document must be dated. Depending on your doctor’s office/clinic, this may be difficult to obtain. When calling to make our appointments, I told the receptionist what we needed, and asked what kind of appointment we would need for the clearance. We were all in need of our annual well-checks, so we were able to schedule those and get the clearance letters at the same time.
***Tip: I printed and brought in this template: http://www.exteriores.gob.es/Consulados/HOUSTON/es/Consulado/Documents/Medical%20Certificate%20of%20Good%20Health.pdf so all the doctor had to do was copy it on their letterhead and sign. These will also be needed by each family member. Our well-checks were free, so this did not cost us anything except for the translations at $30 per page. (Some doctors are not comfortable with signing the Spanish portion if they are unable to read it themselves, in which case you will need to have the English portion translated by a certified service. If your doctor speaks Spanish, and signs that portion, then no certified translation is needed).
7. Get birth certificates - Go to your local Vital Statistics office and have new certificates printed. They are $22 each in Austin. You can also request online or by mail, but the office was convenient to us, and we were all born in Texas, so we just went in. If your children were born in another state from where you currently live, find the birth state VS office website, and request a new certificate online. Here’s the website for Texas: http://www.dshs.texas.gov/VS/
***Tip: Every dependent in your family will need this document, and they will all need to be translated. This will end up totaling about $55 per person.
8. Marriage Certificate – you need the County Clerk’s office in the county where you got your marriage license. Our county office had specific hours in which they issued marriage licenses & certificates, so be sure to find out what the hours are if you plan on visiting in person. If you cannot go in person, call your office and ask them what the process is for requesting via mail or online.
***Tip: Only the spouse of the primary applicant provides this in their application. It cost about $10 for the marriage license, but I assume it varies by county, and then $30 to have it translated.
9. Get Apostille Authentication – gather your background checks, birth certificates, and marriage license, and have them authenticated in person or via mail. Here’s the office for Texas: http://www.sos.state.tx.us/authinfo.shtml Each document cost $15 to be authenticated.
***Tip: Before you go/mail them in, go ahead and scan and/or copy all your documents. The Apostille will staple their certification on top of your originals, which will make it difficult to get this done after the fact, and you will need a good clean copy of everything for translation services, and future applications.
***Tip: If you have students 10-12th grade, you will also need their transcripts Apostille authenticated. More on that in section 14
10. Property/Leasing contract – okay, guys, this part is tricky. You don’t even know if you’ll be allowed to move to Spain, and they want you to prove you have a place to live when you get there. I don’t know how others have done it, but we went ahead and found a realtor to work with who provided us with a leasing contract on one of his properties that was only to use for the Visa application process. I would guess several realtors and/or property owners in Spain provide a similar service (fees will vary). Another option is to actually rent or buy property, which is great if you find something you love that you can at least vacation to if you happen to be denied your Visa, or you can get a short-term rental on. The document will already be in Spanish, so YAY! No translation fees!
***Tip: Realtors are called inmobiliarias. You can locate one via google search in the city you plan to move to. If you’re looking at Valencia, www.PerfectSpain.com is who we recommend. The owner is American, but has lived in Valencia for over 10 years. His office also provides relocation services and other great info for foreigners.
11. International Medical Insurance – for us, obtaining actual Spanish private health coverage was too overwhelming to navigate state-side. We just had too much going on to dedicate the time needed to find a good private plan. But we still needed something acceptable for the Visa process – must cover Repatriation, and a minimum of $30,000 in emergency coverage. (current requirements may vary – we recommend contacting your consulate and asking them) We ended up getting a good travel insurance plan through World Nomads that covers all of us for a year. https://www.worldnomads.com/travel-insurance/
***Tip: this coverage works anywhere we go, and provides travel protection, so it’s kind of brilliant as a first year, emergency only plan. It does not cover any basic doctor appointments, though, so be prepared to pay out of pocket for those expenses. It also assumes you will continue to be a US resident, so that’s a little awkward. Currently $2800/year. Plus, policy translation $30/page
12. Letter of intent – Why do you want to live in Spain? What do you plan to do there? How will you support yourself and your family? Write it up all nice and sweet, and take it to the notary.
***Tip: This should not be longer than one page, just sum it up in a few paragraphs. It will need to be translated, so no need to add to that cost by being too wordy. $30 for translation; price for notary varies – approx. $8
13. Proof of funds – We provided last 2 years of tax returns (first page only), current year-to-date P&L, previous year P&L (for our small business), Estimated Seller’s Net Worksheet (from our realtor, as we were under contract but had not closed yet on the sale of our home), Deposit Account Balance Summary for each of our bank accounts at Chase Bank, and the last 3 months bank statements. We had all of these translated ($30/page) except the 3 months most recent bank statements.
***Tip: The Account Balance Summary will show the total in your account, plus a 12-month average, plus it’s only one page per account, which saves on translation costs. You only need 3 months bank statements for one checking or savings account, so pick the one with the highest balance to help your financials look their best!
14. Students 10th-12th – As promised, more on this. The public schools here work a bit differently than in Texas. Grade level is determined by birth year, so your child may go down a grade, or move up a grade depending on birth year and how their grade was determined where you are from. If you have an older teen that will be entering the equivalent of 11th or 12th grade (which is 1st and 2nd Bachillerato here), you will need an official transcript from their current high school. It will need to be notarized, Apostille authenticated, and translated into Spanish, so be sure to have this ready before visiting the Apostille.
15. Certified Translations – Many of your documents must be translated, but not by your brother-in-law that is fluent in Spanish. It must be done by a certified translation service. We used The Spanish Group because I could submit everything online (or even via e-mail on my phone) using PDFs or photos of each document, and the price was on par with their competitors. We were extremely happy with their services. https://thespanishgroup.org/ Things you need translated: letter of intent, proof of funds, criminal records & Apostille, birth certificates & Apostille, marriage certificate & Apostille, medical clearance letters, medical insurance coverage, official transcript (high school students only) & Apostille
***Tip: They even provide rush service in case you forgot something and need it fast!
16. Applications & Fees – The Consulate requires a few forms for your appointment in addition to all of the required documents. Fill one out for each person applying.
The application:
EX-01:
http://www.exteriores.gob.es/Consulados/HOUSTON/es/ServiciosConsulares/Documents/EX01.pdf
790-052 (this is a form for part of the fees will need to pay):
http://www.exteriores.gob.es/Consulados/HOUSTON/es/Consulado/Documents/Formulario%20790-052.pdf
on this form you will most likely need to check box 1-C and take the amount of the tax in cash with you to your visa appointment.
You will also need a valid driver’s license or state ID for each adult applying as proof of residency in a state within the jurisdiction of the consulate you are applying at.
Visa Fees can be found here: http://www.exteriores.gob.es/Consulados/HOUSTON/es/Consulado/Documents/Tasas%20visados%20EN%202017.pdf
***Tip: Our Visa fees were $140/person, and the 790-052 was $11/person. (fees may change or vary) They only accept cash or money order, so be sure to show up to your appointment with enough to cover all the fees.
Now, gather all your documents, and make copies of EVERYTHING! Organize it all by person, and you are ready to apply! Good luck!
Once your application is approved, you will get your passports back. They will contain your 90 Visa and new N.I.E. identification number. You have 90 days from the “From” date on you Visa to have your appointment at the police station to get your new residency cards.
Make your Cita Previa here: https://sede.administracionespublicas.gob.es/icpplus/index.html
Select your Province (Valencia). The office you need is CNP-Comisaria Patraix, Extranjeria - Gremis 6
The appointment you need is called: POLICIA-TOMA DE HUELLAS (EXPEDICIÓN DE TARJETA) Y RENOVACIÓN DE TARJETA DE LARGA DURACIÓN
Note what you need for your appointment:
Passport, photo carnet, and tasa 790-012 (get your form here: https://sede.policia.gob.es:38089/Tasa790_012/ and take it to the bank to pay, or pay online and print the form afterwards) Make sure each page of the tasa is stamped correctly by the bank before leaving.
TIP: If you get an error while trying to schedule your cita previa, leave the box blank that asks for the expiration date of your card. There is a glitch on the website that can sometimes be fixed that way.
The Police Station is located here:
Dirección:
Calle dels Gremis nº 6 - Polígono Vara de Quart - 46001, Valencia
Teléfono:
963136106
Horario:
Lunes a Viernes de 09,00h a 14,15h y tardes ( lunes a jueves) de 18,00h a 19,45h
Before your Residencia Appointment- you will need to visit your local town hall in Spain to acquire your “Empadronamiento” This is how you register that you are living in Spain. You will need your passports, lease agreement, birth certificates for dependents, and just go ahead and take along every other document you have because I can’t remember what else they require. You will need empadronamiento forms for Residencia, enrolling your kids in school, and medical services.