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After I received my non-lucrative visa, I quickly finished closing up my life in Canada ( at least for a while ) and continued getting ready to head to Spain. I was debating a lot of different things at the time, one of which was whether or not I should bring an extra suitcase full of items I thought I might need in Spain, or to simply pack lighter and buy what I would need there. I chose to do the latter, mostly because I hate travelling with a lot of stuff. When the time finally came, I boarded an […]

Yesterday I received my passport back from the Spanish consulate in Toronto – inside was my non-lucrative visa, which contains my NIE number that I’ll need in Spain. It’s possible to obtain a NIE without getting a visa (for example to buy a house), but they are issued automatically with your visa as well. I started assembling my documents In May, and mailed my application at the end of June. It took roughly six weeks for them to process the application, and approximately one more week to send them my passport and for them to mail it back. When I […]

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 […]

Two days ago I picked up my new passport from the office in Surrey, BC, Canada and updated the last bit of my non-lucrative application. Afterwards I went across the street and made two full copies of the entire application, one for me and one to include in the application (since most consulates say you should include duplicates). One thing I didn’t do is submit my entire passport with the application: instead I opted to just send in a photocopy of the primary page and said in my application I will just mail it overnight as soon as they require […]

One of the last tasks a person needs to do before sending in their non-lucrative visa application is to pay for the process and the resulting residency. If you look at the Toronto embassy’s website, they have this really informative paragraph: You must pay a fee. Look for it in this page: [ link] Please, ONLY money order or certified cheque payable to the Consulate General of Spain in Toronto will be accepted. So, they ask that you go to another page, and then figure out the fees there. But which out of all those options are the ones you […]

As part of applying for the Spanish non-lucrative visa, one of the requirements is a negative criminal record check from the country you reside in. In my case, that’s Canada, so as soon as I arrived back from Spain I made a point of trying to decipher what exactly I needed to supply. Once again, different consulates seem to have different requirements. For example, the Toronto consulate says the following: Negative criminal record (not applicable for minors), issued by the authorities of the country or countries where you have lived during the past five years, including Canada. They are issued […]

One of the requirements for most long term visas in Spain is to acquire medical insurance in Spain. This requirement can be satisfied a variety of different ways, such as obtaining long-term (1 year or longer) travel insurance that has worldwide coverage, or by obtaining coverage from a private company in Spain. In terms of the non-lucrative visa for Spain, the coverage must allow at least €30,000 of coverage per year, and also not have a co-payment component. A co-payment (in North American terms) would be more like a deductible, that is a type of fee you have to pay […]

Last winter I was sitting around a bar near Vancouver, BC, watching the rain fall down while sipping an India Pale Ale. I was thinking about my upcoming trip to Europe, still about four months in the future, and talking to a friend of mine about just how bored I was. Instead of living life, I guess the truth is I sort of felt like my life was on hold until that plane lifted off again, taking me to Europe. Over the last six years or so, I have visited roughly 39 countries while working remotely. And for me, Canada […]

In just a month, I’m hopefully going to submit my documents to apply for a Spanish long-term visa so that I can live in Spain for a year or longer (and potentially buy a property). As part of all long-term visa applications, Spain requires proof that the applicant is in good health. For the most part, what they are concerned with is that you don’t have any infectious diseases that can be spread to others, which would be an economic drain on the health care system in Spain. In terms of proof of being in good health, you are going […]

So if you’re here, you’re likely thinking about moving to Spain at some point. I know this, because that’s my end goal as well. Maybe not forever, but likely for a year or more. One of the first hurdles you may encounter is opening a bank account. Once you have a long-term stay visa or a temporary residence in Spain, you can open an account as a resident. But there are certain advantages to having one sooner. For example, I thought moving larger amounts of money from Canada to Spain would probably be much easier when I am actually physically […]