AFTER READING THE POST ON SPAINEXPAT PROVIDING INFORMATION ABOUT OBTAINING A FREELANCERS VISA.. I HAVE SOME QUESTIONS…

IS THIS VISA IN OTHER WORDS A WAY TO LEGALLY WORK IN SPAIN UNDER ANY PROFESSION???

CAN ALL OF THIS INFO BE MADE UP?? IE. FALSE COMPANY NAME, ETC???

I AM LOOKING TO WORK IN SPAIN BUT HAVE FOUND IT IMPOSSIBLE TO GET A CONTRACT… AFTER READING THE INFORMATION BELOW I AM UNDER THE ASSUMPTION THAT I CAN MAKE UP THIS INFORMATION IN ORDER TO OBTAIN A FREELANCERS VISA…

CAN SOMEONE PLEASE CLARIFY???

Journalists looking to move to Spain can get something called a Freelancer?s visa or Collaborator?s visa.(or a Foreign Press Credit as it?s referred to in the Consulate) Basically this is a visa based on employment from an outside media source employing you as their foreign correspondent. All you have to do is prove to them that you are A) a professional journalist (details below), B) employed full time by this particular media outlet and C) that you are the best person for the job. Sound easy? The visa allows you the same benefits as any other type of visa (once you?re in the country it doesn?t matter what you do) and it?s a great alternative than first trying to get a job in Spain and then applying for the working visa, which is traditionally how it has to be done.

The following are a list of documents needed, to apply for a Freelancer?s accreditation. (Note: All documents can be submitted in English and no translation is needed)

A Letter from the Director or News Editor where you will be employed indicating:
That the interested party is a professional journalist who has been appointed to carry out news reporting assignments for this media.
That there is a permanent working relationship between the interested party and the media indicating the salary to be received.
That the interested party will work exclusively on the designated news reporting mission. 
If there are other accredited correspondents from the same media specify which of them is the Chief Correspondent.
Characteristics of the media (type of information, broadcast or circulation or audience, etc.)
Note: The letter from the Director or Editor must be on company letter head and be addressed to:
Director General de Informaci?n Internacional
(Director General for International Information).
Secretar?a de Estado de Comunicaci?n
(Secretariat of State for Communications)
Complejo de la Moncloa (Moncloa Complex)
28071- MADRID.
Telefax: 91 321 42 31

The letter must also be on company letter head.
The rest of the documents that must be submitted for the accreditation visa consist of the following:
Copy of the valid passport or National ID
In the case of journalists residing in Spain who are citizens of a non-European Union country or citizens of expansion countries during the transition period a copy of their residency permit.
Copy of the employment contract.
Copy of the certifications that authorize their professional activity in the country of origin.
Professional background of the applicant (CV or Resume)
Two ID-sized photos.
Duly completed accreditation application form (Click hee for accreditation application form

Hi,

In response to your question about the freelancers journalist visa. The idea behind the visa is that it’s for journalists who are freelancing for a media outlet in their home country, or in any other country other than Spain. You and your boss have to prove that you are the only one capable of doing the job (that no one in Spain can do it) and the Embassy in Madrid will actually call your media outlet to verify that is in fact legitimate and that you will be paid a certain amount of money. (they don’t want you coming to Spain and not being able to support yourself)

Technically no, you don’t have to be a journalist and once you are approved for the visa no one is really checking up on you in Spain and the residency/work permit is completely valid. However it’s not as easy as making up a media outlet as the process to get this visa is long and in-depth and the embassy takes several measures to ensure that your media outlet is legitimate and that you will actually be their corespondent on the ground in Spain.

I hope that helps a bit.

thank for the responsE! have you had personal experience with this type of visa?? do you have any suggestions on how i could possibly do this??

Hi,
I actually got my residency card and visa this way and know someone else who also did. My advice to you is basically to contact the Spanish embassy in your home town. Find out what you need to submit to them to apply for a visa. At the same time contact the Consulate in Madrid and say you want to apply for a Journalist’s Accreditation visa. You will have to send them a form (I think it’s on this website) as well as your contract with your media outlet. In the contract it has to say, exactly what you’ll be doing, your relationship with this company, in what capacity you have worked with them, how much you’ll be getting paid and it has to be signed. Also have a job description. Then I think you send that in with a few more things and once it gets accredited, they will contact your embassy in your home town and then go through with the rest of the process from there. I hope it helps a bit. Good luck! Let me know if you need more info.

hey, thanks again!! wow.. i could definately use more info! can you contact me directly ?? email : .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
MSN : .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

who do you work for? i want to know was much info as i can!! i really really appreciate this! this gives me hope!

Hi,

I’m wondering how the application process works / might change if I am already living in Spain and have my NIE?

a little background:  I am a journalist currently living in Spain working at a Colegio as a Language and Culture Assistant (this is my second year doing so).  I filed one freelance story when I got here then realized I had to work on my Spanish before I returned to do so.  My hope is to stay in Spain once this year finishes and work as a freelance journalist and as an English teacher (but we all know how complicated that can be for Americans) so after reading about the work visa for freelance journalists I was ecstatic, to say the least.  Anyway—my question:

Who do I have to apply to if I’m already in Spain and have a student NIE that does not expire until May 31, 2009?  I’m positive I can obtain all of the required paperwork from the radio station I used to work for, but then I wouldn’t send that to the consulate in the US, I would send it to? ...

Please help!!

Thank you,
Hayley

Hi Hayley,

If you think you can get a media outlet in your home country to vouch for you and create a contract saying you are working here etc….then you have to apply for two things. One is to the Spanish embassy in your own coutry and the other is for journalist?s accreditation from Madrid. If you give me your email address I can give you some more information about who to contact exactly.

Hope it helps.

Sam

Sammie——

My boyfriend and I are both newspaper reporters for a major newspaper in the US. I want to study an MBA in spain beginning in 2010. My boyfriend would need to come with me, and he would need to be able to work. This foreign press correspondent credit may be a good option for him. However, our newspaper is a large bureaucracy, and would not likely help him get this freelancer visa—especially since it means he’d b quitting his job and not providing them with a service they could actually use.  At any rate, he is thinking of pitching some stories about Spain to travel, and maybe sports, magazines and Web sites. Would that be good enough to get him “correspondent” status?  I guess he would have to settle on just one publication? What is the benchmark pay that he’d have to claim he’d be getting?  Like say, he gets one assignment; that’s maybe $1000..  wouldn’t get you by for more than a month. Does the publication have to agree to give you ongoing work throughout the year? How long does this freelancer visa last?

Also how large of a media organization does it have to be?  For example, a couple of different journalist friends of ours have started legitimate-looking, but not too widely read, online news companies.  Since we know them personally, they’d likely be willing to do us the favor; but not sure if that would be convincing enough to get a visa.  What do you think?

Hi,

Basically for the freelancers visa (and it differs between every country…I got mine from Canada) you need to have a pretty well established media outlet, say that you are their Spanish foreign correspondent. You need to be paid more than $1000 U.S, that’s for sure, but exactly how much I don’t know. I’d say a legitimate amount that will guarantee them you won’t be sleeping on the street etc… Your media outlet doesn’t actually have to ‘‘employ’’ you, they just have to make it look like they are. (contract, letter ). Each country differs depending on what you need. If you want to discuss this further you can email me and I’ll try to put you in touch with some people that might be able to help you. (give me your email address I’ll write you back).

You can e-mail me at this address, which I don’t use very often: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).  I will make sure to check it the next couple of days and then reply with my primary e-mail address!

We are both staff newspaper writers and neither of us have much experience doing freelance work..  I have done a couple small freelance assignments, but my boyfriend hasn’t done any before. The good news is he has about a year to form a relationship with a media company. And he has a lot of journalism experience, so it shouldn’t be impossible. At any rate, I look forward to your e-mail!

sagargparikh - 19 November 2007 11:14 PM

hey, thanks again!! wow.. i could definately use more info! can you contact me directly ?? email : .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
MSN : .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

who do you work for? i want to know was much info as i can!! i really really appreciate this! this gives me hope!

Sagar, have you googled yourself recently? Try googling your name, you’ll find this forum thread at the top (at least here). If you do apply for any visa there’s a very good chance that the officials with be equipped with a google search too. Suggestion: clean up your online profile before you apply for anything.

Hi Sammie -or anyone else who may know the answer to this. I’m a non-EU citizen, living legally in Prague for the past two years. My husband’s job was just made redundant, so our residency visas will expire in October when his work permit does. I work as a writer for a financial trade publication in the US and can live anywhere in Europe and still do my job. Now that we are no longer tied to Prague, we’d like to move to Spain. It looks like I qualify for the freelance journalist visa since that’s what i am, but I have a couple of questions. If I understand the process right, I’ll apply for a residency visa at the Spanish consulate here in Prague (my husband will apply as dependent family) while at the same time sending paperwork for the journalist accreditation to the Spanish consulate in Madrid. Do I send the paperwork or do I have the people at the Spanish consulate in Prague do it? How will the people in Madrid know where to send the approval if I send the paperwork? I tried to download a form from an article on this site and the link appears broken. Is there somewhere else to get that form? if I go to the Spanish consulate in Prague, what is the name or number of the form I’m looking for (in Spanish)? I’m assuming I’ll have to make myself understood using a combination of beginning Spanish and beginning Czech since there is no reason to believe staff at the Spanish consulate in the Czech Republic speak English. Final question: Can my husband get a residency permit as my dependent? That’s how I got my residency in Prague and I’d think EU countries would have similar requirements. I’ll probably work my way over to the Spanish consulate this week, but I’m anticipating communication problems, so if anyone on this site can help, that’s be great.