Question
I’m a US citizen who have lived in the US for 33 years. I was born in Venezuela which has different agreements with Spain about visa and citizenship but I can’t go to Venezuela to apply for a visa. And finally, my brother is an EU citizen who lives in Spain. I was going to apply for the Non lucrative Spain visa but now seems I have the option to apply for the family of a EU citizen visa.
Answers
These are the answers of some Facebook group members:
“Since you are a U.S. citizen living in the US, just apply for the Non lucrative Spain visa via the Spanish consulates in the US. It doesn’t matter that you have dual citizenship with Venezuela. That being said, there is a 2 year path to Spanish citizenship for Latin American citizens once they’re legal residents for 2 years.
For the family residency of EU citizens, this does not allow for siblings, only dependent children and dependent elderly adults.”
“I was born in Colombia. I am US citizen who was residing in Albania legally. I applied for my visa to immigrate to Spain in Albania’ Embassy, because I was residing legally over there. If you check the Spain’s Consulate sitio web they specify over there that you can apply for any visa from the closer Spain’s Consulate to the place where you are legally residing. So, example if you live in Florida the closer Consulate will be Miami. You just find out the closer consulate to you and that is all. That is independently of the place you where born. You won’t need to go to Venezuela to apply for the NLV and certainly you can’t apply from la Coruña either. NLV is a Visa that will be requested from a country of origin or from the country where you are a legal resident and you can submit a proof with your application.
Now, obviously there are documents that you might need from your country of origin, that will only depends of each individual case. For example within the visa I requested, It was possible for me to add my mother. So to be able to proof that relationship mother – daughter, it was required by the Consulate to submit my birth certificate from Colombia, so I ask a family member to get it for me. After that, I did the apostille and it was ready to submit.
Also, I have a son who still depends economically from me, and he was born in USA,.so I requested to Vitalchecks his birth certificate, than I requested the apostille and after that the sworn translation. Keep in mind documents in Spain can not be longer than 3 months from the date that they were issued. That is the funny part because the Spaniard’s processes take a long time so you will be ask to change the documents constantly. Good luck.”
“Who told you that there’s the option of applying for family member of an EU citizen? I hope that’s true but I’m under the impression that family benefits only work vertically and not sideways. Meaning, you can apply for your parents as an EU citizen or your children… but not sideways for your siblings, cousins, etc. i wish that were the case so i can grant it to my siblings!”
Conclusion
In conclusion, according to Spainguru Facebook group members, the most viable option for a US citizen with Venezuelan birth and an EU citizen brother in Spain is to apply for the Non-Lucrative Visa (NLV) through a Spanish consulate in the US. This approach is recommended regardless of dual citizenship with Venezuela.
Additionally, the family residency visa for EU citizens typically does not extend to siblings, focusing instead on dependent children and elderly adults. Therefore, pursuing the NLV appears to be the most straightforward and applicable route for immigration to Spain under these circumstances.
