Just the other day I received notification from the Spanish consulate in Toronto that my visa had been approved. Since Toronto is three hours ahead, I received the notification while checking my email messages from my bed in the morning – what a great email to wake up to!
In total, it took about 42 days from the time they received my application in Toronto until I received the approval notification. While I was purposefully trying not to bug the consulate with emails, I did send one at the two week mark just to make sure my application was around and they knew about it, and a final email politely requesting a status update at close to the six week mark. Since it was summer, I was trying to poke them from time to time just to hope my application stayed near the top of the vacation pile. But I was pleasantly surprised that it was approved in only six weeks as I figured it would take closer to twelve (like the website says).
A few of the items I was potentially worried about in my application ended up not coming into play at all. For example, the Spanish health insurance I had purchased with Sanitas was primarily meant for entrepreneurs – even though I’m not working in Spain, it was accepted just fine. Also, none of my documentation was certified or translated into Spanish, which would have been a huge hassle to organize. I’m sure your mileage may vary depending on the consulate, but in general this process was fairly straightforward and my application was accepted without any issues at all.
I mailed my passport to the consulate a few days ago, and it appears that it just arrived there this morning. As part of my original application I had to include a return express post envelope to mail my passport back to me. I scanned the tracking number into my phone prior to sending it off originally, which means as soon as the consulate mails my passport back to me, my phone should chirp and show me its en route.
I had originally planned to fly to Spain at the start of October, but not that I have early approval, I’ve decided to head there at the end of August. As of yesterday, my house in Canada is officially rented for a year. I also sold my Mazda SUV a few weeks ago, which means I don’t really have any reason to come back, at least not for a year or longer. So in short, I’m ready to hop on a plan and start my new Spanish adventure!
