Last Updated on March 18, 2026 by Bruno Bianchi
Washington DC Consulate – non lucrative Spain visa
Woo-hoo, I got my non lucrative Spain visa approved! First, I want to thank all of the people in this group that are helping others through this process. Reading your responses for the last year gave me the confidence to do this without a lawyer. It was all relatively easy… the waiting was the hardest part. Unless you have unusual circumstances, I highly recommend doing it yourself. That said, I am posting my non lucrative Spain visa timeline below as I found this to be very helpful in knowing what to expect.
I am in the Washington DC consulate area, so my requirements were found on this site: https://www.exteriores.gob.es/…/Visado-de-residencia-no… .
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Start the Moving to Spain Hub →Aug.6th 2022 – obtained medical certificate
Aug.10th 2022 – received FBI background check
Aug.12th 2022 – sent off FBI document for Apostille
Aug.23rd 2022 – bought health insurance for a year from Sanitas
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Explore Cities →Sep.20th 2022 – received Apostille
Sep.21st 2022 – had FBI document translated
Sep.27th 2022 – sent all required documents in PDF format in an email to DC consulate for review
Oct.4th 2022 – heard back from DC consulate, all documents were fine and they scheduled an appointment for me on Oct. 13th. Wasn’t given a choice on date/time but that’s ok.
Oct.13th 2022 – drove up to DC Embassy/Consulate and handed over all documents. They told me that it takes 4 to 5 weeks to process an NLV. Status started at “pendiente de tramite”
Nov.16th 2022 – status shows “pendiente de resolucion”
Nov.17th 2022 – and finally it shows “resuelto” , 5 weeks on the dot.
Other things to note
- It was not necessary to send a letter of intent, although I did mention in my email that I had retired and had been dreaming of retiring in Spain.
- For proof of funds, I just printed out last 3 monthly summary pages from all of my banks statements. No translation needed and did not need to be notarized.
- On the application forms, you need to at least state what city you intend to live in, in my case it was for Sevilla
- to buy insurance, Sanitas required an actual address so I had to use an address of an Airbnb that I was going to stay at the first 2 weeks.
- I paid the fees in cash
- I thought there would be some kind of interview as to why I wanted to come to Spain, nope, they asked me no questions, they just gave me instructions on what to do next when I arrive in Spain. Very nice and professional people at DC consulate.
- Although they mention bringing duplicates of everything, they did not take the duplicates
- If you try to make plans and buy flights and book a place to stay, make sure that you can easily change those dates without penalty. I thought the process would take less time but had to wait 5 weeks for the Apostille and then another 5 weeks waiting for the NLV to be processed.
Thanks again for everyone posting their help and experience on the visa process!
Author: Bart Beddall
Make sure to read First-hand perspective: Applying for my NLV at Washington DC’s Spanish consulate by Christy Mennel
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