I have been accepted for a Masters and PhD in Barcelona and now I am coming to the part that I dread most: applying for the student visa. I have only the worst memories from this process when I studied in Madrid in 2007, and now that I am staying for 3-5 years I can only imagine things will be worse. I reviewed the page on student visas for longer than 180 days and I want to scream… I have screamed. The most difficult requirement for me will be the police records, because I have also resided in Australia and Germany for more than 6 months in the past 5 years, meaning I need records from those places too. But the consulate also requires an Apostille of the Hague Convention from each of those states AND approval of the records by the respective Spanish embassies; a process that would require me to send things back and forth overseas multiple times, no doubt taking in excess of 2 months to complete, and just for the police records requirement.

So my question (I have a feeling the answer is no, but I am desperately searching for some loophole):

As a US citizen I am allowed to be in Spain for 90 days without a visa. Can I apply for an NIE and residency card during my 90 “free” days in Spain? Is a long, drawn-out visa application the only way for me to do my Masters and PhD in peace (legally)?

Thank you very much for your help, I will continue searching the forums for pertinent information. Right now, and in fact all week I have been flustered thinking of what I can possibly do to save time, so my search in the forums has not been very thorough I must admit. I already waited three months for one contract in Barcelona, but it fell through because the Ministry of Science didn’t have its things in order. And now that I have another offer that has all the paperwork in order, I just want to get back to my research and studies, and not wait around even longer than I anticipated. Spain is such an amazing country, but it is a shame that it has such stifling bureaucracy compared to other some countries.