Proving Financial Means for Non Lucrative Spain Visa in San Francisco after receiving a large sum

Last Updated on March 18, 2026 by Bruno Bianchi

Question about financial requirements of a non lucrative Spain visa

I’m applying for a non lucrative Spain visa through the San Francisco Consulate, and have a question regarding the proof of financial means. 

I know that they are likely to ask for 3-6 months of bank statements. Without going into it too much, the majority of the money was put into my account by a family member very recently – 1.5 months ago. 

I assume they are looking for large sums of money entering my account recently, which is exactly what they will find with those older statements. However, it will exceed the required amount by a few thousand. Should I be worried about a rejection? Has anyone heard of a rejection for having recent/large transactions recently?

Answers

These are the answers of some Facebook group members:

“We just applied for the non lucrative Spain visa through San Francisco. We’re using an attorney as well. Our attorney has advised that having a lump sum in an account just prior to application, is okay. We had funds in various investments and just before applying, we moved a chunk of cash over to the bank account.

Having said that, we just applied this week so I can’t confirm this is accurate yet.

A quick word on SF: They emailed after receiving our applications (!!) and advised they are now following the LA consulate guidelines for documentation. As I understand it, there’s basically one person doing the job at the consulate. I feel so bad for whoever that is. I know they’re hiring more staff (saw the consulate tweets last week). I’ve been obsessively checking FB pages for any SF info. It seems like things are moving again after months of hearing nothing. One person here said they physically went to the consulate about 2 weeks ago and were told to expect to wait 3-4 months after applying. Take that with a grain of salt since any SF consulate information is basically a game of Telephone.”

“I inherited money in March and was told that I should have a letter from the entity handling the inheritance confirming that this was a legal inheritance. In my case it was an investment bank and they provided a letter stating that it was a legal inheritance and was in unencumbered cash. I had that letter notarized (and apostilled, just to be safe). I know a couple who sold a house and business and a windfall of money and have documentation notarized detailing the sales and the money that came from those sales. It was the Spanish consulate in Miami. They were very clear that I must show where the money came from, and that it was unencumbered funds- specifically that the funds are not in an investment account that could lose value. As the funds were with my family’s investment banker, I have his write a letter on the bank letter head detailing that the funds were an inheritance and in cash. He had his signature notarized and I chose to take the additional step of the having the notarization apostille just to make it as official as possible as they like to see stamps, and stickers and the like.”

Bruno Bianchi CEO & Spain Immigration Expert

Bruno Bianchi is the founder and CEO of Spainguru, Spain's largest expat immigration community with 150,000+ members. Since 2014 he has helped thousands of people relocate to Spain through expert guides, webinars and vetted professional services covering visas, residency, taxes and life in Spain.

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