Immigration on Sasha Katsnelson

How To Move to Spain - pt 10

Mon, 31 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000

With a plan to head to LA for a wedding the timing seemed perfect: 3 weeks before I leave, I get to pick up my NIE. Unfortunately, during the educational previous visit my birth-date was entered incorrectly, an oversight that was only discovered by the woman who checked my passport before declining to hand me my ID card. Seizing on an opportunity to embarrass a rival, this titan of office politics shouted across the floor “There’s a mistake in this one, [name redacted]”

How To Move to Spain - pt 9

Fri, 16 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Finally, Elena and I made it back to the immigration police station, payment in hand; went through the relaxed security system; and were ushered directly towards one of the seated workers. Sitting down across from her, Elena explained the situation and handed over my paperwork (in blazingly fast Spanish). “You live together?” our agent asked - “and you’re not married?” Our agent’s expression shifted slowly from bored to confused as she saw my visa - “what kind of visa is this?” - “so you’re not allowed to work?”

How To Move to Spain - pt 7

Mon, 24 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Because the Visa is officially only valid for 90 days from the date you stated as the entry-date to Spain - the last step to legally residing in Spain for a year is getting your DNI (your Spanish SSN - technically assigned on your Visa) and your NIE (national identity-card).

Once you’ve got your Padron you can apply for the DNI. There are three steps:

Pay for your DNI application at a bank
Submit your DNI application at the DNI office
Pick-up your DNI application at the office DNI

The office for the application is in the neighborhood of Aluche, to the South of Madrid’s City Center, in a joint police-station/immigration-detention-center/visa-processing-station.

How To Move to Spain - pt 8

Mon, 24 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Here’s a good route to follow… our process wasn’t so efficient… Comically, if you ask for directions to the DNI office, even the police will only point you vaguely in the direction of this odd building. It felt like everyone was a bit embarrassed or confused by the whole thing. In one conversation with a policeman in a marked car:

“Officer, can you point us to the DNI offices?”

“They’re that way” [gestures along the road]

How To Move to Spain - pt 6

Mon, 10 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Another painless part of immigrating was getting my proof of residency or Padron. I (well, Elena really) made an appointment at our local municipal police station. In our neighborhood, Arganzuela, the local police are conveniently located a short walk through Madrid Rio from our house. We took a number when we arrived just like everyone else, but the web insists that you need an appointment. There is a slightly high-tech, touch-screen ticketing system - you choose your category of service and then sit in a room with enough chairs and free wi-fi for about 20 minutes before meeting your agent.

How To Move to Spain - pt 5

Sat, 01 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Moving to Spain was mostly painless. After living in a small bedroom in Manhattan and leaving all communal property with my roommates - I managed the whole move with just four bags. Elena checked one bag for me and I carried two large backpacks and a single messenger bag - I get a bit nervous every time I check a bag because of some rough experiences as a management consultant - but it all worked out!

How To Move to Spain - pt 4

Thu, 16 Mar 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Submissions were pretty painless, I had an appointment to submit my papers and the consulate office in New York wasn’t completely full - it took about 45 minutes including re-filling out two forms that I’d filled incorrectly between arriving and heading out.

One point that I hadn’t considered when I applied was: The later the start-date of your Visa, the more time you’ll have to get your NIE (the year-long Visa is actually only valid for 90 days, more on this later). I didn’t realize any of these timing issues and it created some urgency in Madrid because I had to leave for a wedding in LA almost exactly 90 days after arriving in Spain.

How To Move to Spain - pt 3

Fri, 10 Mar 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Getting a triple-stamped criminal record from the NY State was an adventure in convoluted bureaucracy.

This was a comically long process that took around 7 hours of activity spanning a month or so. First I had to get the NYS police to send me a criminal background check - apparently this is easier than getting it from the FBI, but I didn’t even explore the federal route. You can’t ask the police for your criminal record - you have to go to an out-sourced vendor: IdentoGo and make an appointment at your closest finger-printing center. The closest to me was at W35th St - they were professional and got to me right at my appointment time. One set of fingerprints and $62 later - I was ready to wait for the security check.

How To Move to Spain - pt 2

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 00:00:00 +0000

There are many papers and details to put together for the visa, but in general, you’re trying to show that you’re not a criminal and that you’re not going to be a drain on the Spanish economy. Specifically, it ends up being relatively easy with a couple of exceptions.

**1. Two national visa application forms. ** I applied for the visa for non-lucrative purposes for reasons described in the previous blog post.

How To Move to Spain - pt 1

Thu, 23 Feb 2017 00:00:00 +0000

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

In The Beginning

Wed, 15 Feb 2017 00:00:00 +0000

I moved to Spain in December 2016 and there were a few hurdles and details that I would have overlooked without substantial help from knowledgeable and Spanish-speaking people. Over the next few posts, I’ll talk about my experience of getting a Spanish Visa in the U.S. and figuring out what I needed to do after arriving in Madrid. Before diving too deeply into the immigration process - here’s the story of why I moved to Madrid in the first place!