Por que no?

June 16, 2009 6:54 PM

Spanish visa for over 90 days? As always...

For my ladyfriend who has no mefi account:

Okay, I got an under the table job as an au pair in Spain for roughly three months, but technically I'll be there for over 90 days (somewhere in the 95-98 day range depending on flights). I am trying to get a visa.

The visa I need is a tourist visa (or non-lucrative visa) since I will not be formally employed or enrolled in a school. The nearest embassy to me (I live in Portland Oregon) is in San Francisco.

Do I need to actually travel to SF to apply for this visa? Everything on the embassy website says that applications must be made in person. I can't seem to get a person on the phone or through e-mail. How do people all over the country acquire visas if they live outside the 6 or 7 major U.S. cities that have embassies?

If you have any experience procuring this type of visa, or experience in dealing with an embassy outside a city such as your own, I would love to hear how you handled the situation. Thanks!

(And thanks to my lovely manfriend, who let me jack his mefi account...)

posted by furnace.heart to travel & transportation (5 comments total)

I studied abroad in Spain.

I needed a visa and did have to apply in person (I live in NYC and we have a consulate here). Some of the other students came from out of state to apply, since each embassy/consulate covers a specific region. I got myself a 90-day visa, but our program was over that by 11 days.

As far as the extra days go, here's what they advised us to do at my school program - go down to the authorities when in Spain and register/get the paperwork for a visa extension. Basically, we'd get an appointment (which would generally be for way later than our departure date) and simply overstay the visa and leave on schedule.

By registering and filling out the paperwork and getting the appointment, you're covered. I left in mid December and my appointment wasn't until January. Procedure was followed. This was several years ago, but I don't think it's changed much. I was in Madrid, FWIW.

Of course, if your appointment falls before your departure date, then you'd obviously just go.
posted by cmgonzalez at 7:10 PM on June 16

Well, I overstayed my Spanish (Schengen, I think) 90 day visa by 4 months, but got a passport replacement after about 60 days.

When I left I was sure I was going to get picked up, but the passport control guy asked where my entry stamp was, I told him it was a new passport, and he just said "well, there's nothing to do then" and waved me through.
posted by claudius at 7:13 PM on June 16

For future reference, making fun references to the "More Inside" link in the main body of your post is discouraged in AskMe.
posted by hermitosis at 8:43 PM on June 16

You could call the SF consulate and ask. They are usually helpful. But seriously staying a couple extra days will rarely get you into trouble. (I've heard of people staying months over their basic tourist visa without problems. Having gone through the visa process it is a big PITA. I don't know if immigration to Spain has slowed down but when I did it a few years ago, there was much traveling to various police stations there to get everything approved along with standing in lines for most of the day.
posted by JJ86 at 5:56 AM on June 17

You might want to ask the folks here what their recommendation is for over-staying your visa for a few days. My experience was on a student visa, and thus they were pretty lenient (watch out for Portugal, though--they take it seriously over there, in my experience).

You 100% definitely must go in person to get your visa, with virtually no exception (if you're a minor, if you're a student, etc--these don't fit you, based on your description).

I was at the LA consulate with people from Utah, Arizona, and other states. The explanation I was given for going in person was that a) tighter security after 9/11 requires everything to be done in person now and b) the Americans give the Spanish a pain in the ass when trying to get visas, so unofficially they're returning the favor to the rest of us (though that was mainly in relation to why visas cost so much).

Oh, and I did have luck getting them to respond by email (I even wrote in English, though I'm fluent in both languages). Here's a page, you're probably familiar, listing all the embassies' official emails. You might try emailing the LA consulate if SF isn't responding.

If going to SF is too much of a hardship for you, and you're uncomfortable with overstaying your visa, you may want to re-think your au pair position. I'm sure it won't be your only chance to visit Spain.
posted by librarylis at 1:08 AM on June 18