Last Updated on March 18, 2026 by Bruno Bianchi
Chicago Consulate – Non Lucrative Visas
Just want to share my recent experience obtaining the NLV at the Chicago Consulate. I live in Minnesota, US so I had to fly to Chicago for my appointment. I did the process all by myself. I speak fluent Spanish. Destination is Tenerife.
Spanish Non-lucrative visa timeline at Chicago’s Spanish Consulate:
- January 14 2023 – Emailed consulate requesting appointment after 2nd week March with arrival date in Spain of May 1st
- January 20 2023 – Response from consulate with appointment for March 20 at 11:30 AM.
- March 20 2023 – Appointment, it took about 25 minutes, they asked for all the documents listed on their consulate NLV website. I had everything needed, the hardest part for me was to leave my passport there, I told the lady to take good care of it. They gave me a link to keep track of the process.
- April 5 2023 – Status changed to “RESUELTO” meaning process was finished
- April 6 2023 – Received my passport with NLV
It all went very smooth!
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Proof of financial means: I ONLY provided bank statements in (printed bank PDFs) because they don’t need to be translated. Account balance met IPREM requirements. Any other financial documents would’ve had to be translated (pensions, SS, 401K, IRAs)
Health Insurance: I went with Caser. I’m paying quarterly so I only paid for the 1st 3 months, May to July. I provided bank information using my Wise account. I don’t have a bank in Spain. The Caser agent provided all the necessary documents. It took 1-2 days after I provided the bank info.
Criminal record: this was tricky because I started the process to early. It didn’t take long, my FBI background and apostille were ready by December 6. I thought it was going to take longer. Documents have to be no older than 3 months, so, by appointment date it was expired by 3 weeks (but I went ahead and continue with the process). $20 for finger prints at county’s sheriff office, $18 for FBI background check; $20 for Department of State apostille. Had the FBI background check and apostille translated by a certified translator I found on the consulate’s certified translators list. $53 for 2 pages with 1 day turn around.
Medical certificate: This was easy. It has to have a stamp and be on letterhead. I printed the consulate’s template and added the clinic logo. Took it to my clinic and explained was it was for. For stamp they used their address stamp. Free!
Payment of visa fees: $140 Visado No-Lucrativo + $12 Tasa de autorización inicial de residencia temporal= got money order for $152.00 at USPS office.
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Explore Cities →Proof accommodations: “…provide lease (minimum 3 months in Spanish language or translated into Spanish) with a “Nota Simple”. This was the most difficult part. I had to emailed or send WhatsApp to many ads because no one wanted to provide the “nota simple”. Finally, I found someone on Airbnb that was very kind and provided everything needed. The nota simple can be requested on line by the owner but for this one they couldn’t do it on line so they went to a gestor to get everything I needed. I don’t know them (yet).
USPS Express Mail envelope $28.75 for the return of the passport
Author: Wanda Ortiz-Maysonet
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