The visa process is a bit confusing and if you’re not working for a company that’s sponsoring your visa (and presumably leaning on their legal team to deal with the paperwork) there are a few different routes available. In all cases the process looks something like this:
- Choose a visa to pursue
- Gather documents and sign-up for stuff
- Show I’m not a criminal
- Submit everything to the consulate, wait, and get my visa
- Move to Spain
- Get my proof of residence
- Get your NIE in theory…
- Paying for my NIE
- Getting my NIE
- Picking up my NIE (done for the year)
1. Choose a Visa
This is kind of important, but also relatively simple. If you don’t fit in any of the special classifications described in the list here (e.g., Au pere or Artist with a project): Spanish Consulate Visas and you don’t have a job offer, you should apply for the Visa for non-Lucrative Purposes. You will need to switch visa types if you get a job, but in the meantime you’re able to work remotely for companies outside of the EU as long as you’re paid outside of the EU as well (e.g., US companies into US accounts).
I’ll dig into the details of the requirements of the visa and the next steps in the next posts.