Abroad in Spain: Travel Blog

Last month I picked up my new foreigner residency card at the police station so that I could be “legal” for another year in Spain.  This was the first time I have actually had to renew my card from within Spain and I must say that the process, while extremely interesting to me as a foreigner (I’d never seen anything quite like it in my life), was not exactly what I would consider “seamless.” 

To give you an idea of what I had to do to get my residency card renewed here in Spain, I’m going to break the process down into steps.  Continue reading this post…

One good resource that all foreigners living in Spain should know about is the Spanish Ministerio de Trabajo e Inmigración’s website. The website actually has a special “foreigner’s section” located at http://extranjeros.mtas.es/ which provides a wealth of information about the documents required for getting work permits for Spain, residency permits for Spain, NIE numbers, etc.   Continue reading this post…

I decided to try my luck with the whole “video blogging” thing and so I made this video to let everyone know that my visa has “officially” been granted and now I’m one step closer to going to Spain in September. It’s probably not the best video on the internet… but hey, it’s my first attempt.  Continue reading this post…

The next step in preparing for the scholarship that I have been awarded is to apply for a Student Visa to go to Spain.  I have studied abroad in Spain before so this is actually the second time that I have had to apply for a Student Visa.  I’d like to outline the general process for applying for a visa to study abroad in Spain in this post.  Please remember that this information is just a guide which was written in June of 2008 – always check with your local consulate for updated information before applying for a visa. 

Find a Spanish Consulate in the USA:
In most cases, you must apply for a visa in person at the appropriate Spanish Consulate.  There are several Consulate Generals of Spain throughout the USA.  Each consulate has a different jurisdiction and it is your responsibility to get to the one that serves your state.  You can use this webpage (in Spanish) to look up the consulate in your jurisdiction.   Continue reading this post…

Well, as my loyal readers know, I am currently working on an application for a scholarship which would allow me to go to Spain and teach English for one year.  The application process is going nicely and I am collecting all of the supporting documents that I need, except for one little hiccup: The Apostille of The Hague. Continue reading this post…

Well, I just wanted to write a quick post about a subject that I wish I knew more about: Working in Spain.  I’m no lawyer and I really don’t know what the “standard” procedure is for an American who wants to obtain permission to work in Spain; however, I can say that, from talking to other Americans who have worked abroad, the process seems to be quite difficult and it appears to vary from individual to individual.

Basically, getting a job in Spain is hard because companies there don’t always want to hire Americans.  This is due to the fact that, in order to hire an American, a company must deal with a lot of paperwork and prove that there is no other Spanish or EU Citizen as qualified for the job as the American – a daunting task.  This, of course, means that if you’re from the USA like me, finding a job in Spain is probably going to be a little difficult at first.  Continue reading this post…