The Total Cost of a Spanish Non-Lucrative Residence Visa

We've already established that getting your Spanish non-lucrative residence visa is no small feat, and it's not cheap either. Every time you turn around it seems there is a new fee for something - 5 euros here, 10 dollars there. It all adds up over time.

To help prevent sticker shock, I've added all of the expenses up for you in this post.

Getting Your NIE Spanish Resident Cards from the Police Station

After 7 months of a rigorous application process, and spending thousands of dollars on airplane tickets, lodging and travel, photocopies, certified mail, Apostille's, notaries, visa fees, application fees, photographs, and more, our NIE Spanish resident cards are finally here! We are officially legal residents and no body is going to deport us! Woohoo!

So, this is the easiest and most exciting part of the entire process, and I'm going to tell you what we experienced.

Requesting Your Residence Card at the Local Police Station

By this time you've got to be feeling good. You've just completed a rigorous application process. You've collected more documents and jumped through more hoops than you have ever done for anything in your entire life. And now, finally, you're going to the police station to request your residence card! Hallelujah!

Preparing Your Final Documents for the Police Station

Now that you have your empadronamiento, there are really only two more things you need to do before heading to your local police station.

How to Get Your Empadronamiento or Padron Municipal

Well, Kevin and I are some what experts on this subject because we've had the sheer pleasure of getting an empadronamiento not once, but twice!

Our first experience happened in March, when we arrived in Spain completely blinded by our optimism. After settling into our apartment in Barceloneta, we located the Ayuntamiento for our neighborhood, took them our required documents and left with a really cool stamped piece of paper! Easy enough...

Until we later learned that we had skipped steps 4-8 of the residence visa application process and would have to return to do it all over again! Oh joy!

Well, if we look on the brightside - getting an empadronamiento is a fairly painless process - and I'm going to tell you all about it.

Arriving in Spain with Your Visa Stamp

On August 27th, exactly 3 months after being in the US, Kevin and I finally flew back to Barcelona, Spain to finish the residency process and start our new lives abroad.

This time was exceedingly more easier than the first time. Since we had already made this trip once, we were familiar with the the airport, public transportation, mobile phone service and all of those other things you worry about when arriving in a new country. At this moment, however, the only thing you should be concerned about is getting through customs - and fortunately it's a breeze!

What to do After You Receive Your Visa Notification

Congratulations! You've received your visa notification (la notification de concesion), and hopefully that means you've successfully completed the entire non-lucrative visa application process and are now approved to move to Spain as a legal resident. That was no small feat and cause for celebration. Make sure you and your family do something special together to celebrate this occasion and mark a new chapter in your lives. I can still remember the sense of relief I felt after receiving our notification in the mail. The wondering and the waiting was finally over - and I felt like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders.

The journey is not over yet, however. You still have a lot of steps to complete before the process is finished. To start, you and all applicants (including children) must return to Miami to pick up your visa stamp and several more documents outlining the rest of the process. Here's what you can expect.

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Waiting for Your Visa Notification to Arrive in the Mail

When we learned that we would have to return to the States in order to complete our residence application and receive our visa stamp, Kevin and I were pretty upset. We didn't want to spend the extra money to fly home or miss the summer in Barcelona.

Before heading home, we asked our new friends in Spain how long they waited for their visas, and they told us only 4 weeks. Therefore, we were optimistic that it would only take us 4 weeks as well. However, while at the Consulate in Miami we were told to expect to wait 3-6 months!

We were shocked!

At the time, we were temporarily staying in a guest room in my parent's house - living out of a suitcase and disrupting their lives a little bit. Plus, we were anxious to get back to Spain to enjoy the summer and continue our adventure abroad.

But everything happens for a reason, right? And although we didn't realize it then, there was a plan and a purpose for us returning home.

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What to Expect at Your Visa Appointment

Since Kevin and I don't live in Miami, we made arrangements to stay with some friends for a few days. We decided to stay a few nights just in case something went wrong at the Consulate. A few extra days would give us some time to prepare whatever documents we were missing and return again in the same trip.

The night before the appointment I organized and arranged all of the documents, and went through the check list making sure I had everything we needed.

The next morning, we woke up early and left with plenty of time to spare so we wouldn't be late to our appointment (and for those of you who know us, you understand that this was a great feat). : )

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Monday was our first "normal" day since arriving in Barcelona. We woke up at a reasonable time, had a fairly normal breakfast, and then prepared for the day, which included a trip to the market and grocery store, several loads of laundry and starting work around 3 PM.

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