Hi All

I will be applying for Spanish residency once I move to Spain with my Spanish wife in the next month or so. From reading others’ posts it is clear that some extranjeria offices approve residency applications extremely quickly while others can take ages to approve and issue the tarjeta de residencia. It looks to be luck of the draw in some cases, but I’d guess that if you put in your application at a “good” office that it will be done swiftly with little wait or obstacles.

We are worried that going to one of the extranjeria offices in a big city will ensure that an approval could take many months. We are not sure yet where we are going to settle in Spain so we were thinking that it might be good to rent an apartment initially in a place that is known to have a fast and efficient extranjeria office to speed up getting my tarjeta.

Does anyone out there know of any cities with extranjeria offices which are known for being particularly fast and not very busy so that things are processed quickly?

Thanks!

I would have thought that with a Spanish wife you would not have a problem in any office, you don’t mention your nationality, it is probably more straight forward for EU residents but cannot see your problem. The system is much more efficient these days and so what if it does take a while, but normally issued same day if you get organised with the application which has to be made in the office where you live.

Hi Rob,

I am an American citizen?? not EU, and so possibly slightly more of a wrangle. That’s great to hear that things are running more efficiently these days. I have noticed that, for example, the Modelo 790 forms are now fillout-able (and even payable!) online?? so it does look like things are becoming more streamlined and efficient.

I have been warned of some extranjer?a offices which have in the past tended to be extremely unhelpful and overly-bureaucratic (Bilbao, for example). But as my wife and I don’t know where we are going to live yet (and in theory, could go to live anywhere in Spain) thought it would help to start off picking somewhere that is easiest in terms of setting up shop.

Cheers!

Hi, OK my experience does not extend to rules and regs for Americans, so I will leave others to comment. But having a Spanish wife will give you an advantage and that does come experience! Moving around (legally) is a bit complicated with padron, health registration etc etc. One problem you will have is driving licence as you will not be able to exchange for a Spanish one without undergoing a test. (I think) Anyway, enjoy -

Good luck