Visa - I don't mean the Olympics sponsor

The process to get a Visa in Spain has a few documents that you must prep beforehand. Also, keep this in mind if you're bringing your spouse and family. They require the same background check (though not sure about young children). Now, this is only applicable for the New York Spain Consulate office http://www.maec.es/subwebs/Consulados/NuevaYork/en/home/Paginas/Home.aspx. Each consulate is different.

Prior to submitting your Visa you need to get at least 3 1/2 months in advance:

• Fingerprints for the FBI Criminal background check. See next item.
• FBI Criminal background check http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/background-checks/background_checks (it takes about 12 weeks to get sent back)
• If married, and you're getting a visa for your spouse, you need to get an apostille for your marriage certificate. You need this from the state department of the state you got married in.

Visas in New York take about 7 weeks to process.

If your spouse is on as a resident visa through your student visa they won't be allowed to work or study in Spain. My husband and I are trying to figure out now what to do. If he has the resident visa and happens to find a job or decides to go to school, then he must fly back to the US to apply for the applicable visa. We're hoping that he can find work or at least do some freelance. Fingers crossed!

Introduction - Nice to Meet You

I'm a native Californian (hailing from both ends) and for the past six years I've been shacking up in New York City's East Village/Lower East Side with my husband in a humble tenament walk-up.


After an arduous grad school application process the hard work recently paid off and I was accepted to one of the top business schools, IE Business School http://www.imba.ie.edu/ , for the International MBA program in Madrid, Spain. As I make the transition from one big American city to a big European city, I'll blog about everything from my final months in NYC and the US, visas, learning spanish, financial aid, moving to Madrid, etc. The world seems so much smaller these days so hopefully by chance, we can catch up in any of these places.