My Spain Non-Lucrative Visa Application at the San Francisco Consulate
It seems surreal to be writing this, but this is our NLV APPROVAL post! 🎉
- San Francisco consulate in-person drop-off: November 4th 2024. The consulate was absolutely packed, as it was the day before the elections.
- Email requesting missing documents: November 6th 2024. They needed our letters of termination from our employers.
- Dropped off requested documents with official translations: November 11th 2024.
- Passports with visas delivered: December 9th 2024!
I want to thank everyone in this group for providing such helpful input with all the questions I had asked this group. I felt so overwhelmed at the beginning of this process, but this page has been beyond helpful and supportive, which made our path to visa approval much smoother.
Questions and Answers
These are the questions and answers of Spainguru’s Facebook group members:
Q1: “Did you get an email with a website to track when the visa was approved?”
A1: “We never got an email with any updates or tracking information. Our passports just showed up in the mail!”
Q2: “Do you already have a rental property, or will you find one when you arrive in Spain?”
A2: “We do not. When we applied at the San Francisco consulate, they didn’t require a rental agreement or proof of property ownership. I know that’s changed in the last few weeks, though. Some people in this group have used an Airbnb address for their application.”
Q3: “What date did you request for your move to Spain?”
A3: “We asked for February 2025, expecting to get a visa valid from February to April. However, our visas were issued for December to March, meaning we had to move sooner than planned! This has made getting our padron and TIE appointments a bit stressful, but many people here have assured me that as long as you start the process, the timeline is flexible.”
Q4: “Do you think the new San Francisco BLS system will slow things down at the San Francisco consulate?”
A4: “I’m not sure, as we didn’t go through BLS at all. It might be helpful to search this group for posts about ‘BLS San Francisco’ to see if there are any updates.”
Comments
“Wow, congrats! You submitted to the same consulate nearly a month after us and got approved before us—enjoy Spain!”
“Nice! We submitted on October 21st 2024 and just got an email saying our application was approved. Hope others in the process get their visas soon!”
“We mailed in our application, got one email asking for a revised document, then complete silence—until our passports arrived in the mail with visas approved!”
Conclusion
Navigating the Spain Non Lucrative Visa process at the San Francisco consulate can be unpredictable, but overall, this applicant had a smooth and relatively quick approval process.
Key takeaways
- Processing times at the San Francisco consulate can vary, but this approval came in about one month.
- Missing documents are requested quickly, so it’s important to respond as soon as possible.
- No email notifications were received for updates, making it essential to check for passport deliveries regularly.
- Proof of housing was not required at the time of this application, but some applicants now use Airbnb addresses.
- Visa start dates may not align with requested move dates, which can lead to earlier-than-expected relocations.
For those applying through San Francisco, staying flexible and well-prepared can help navigate any unexpected changes in the process. Also notice that San Francisco started outsourcing the NLV process to BLS.
