My husband and I are planning our move to Spain but we have some general issues that we haven’t been able to resolve.  We visited the Spanish Embassy in D.C. this morning and are now working on gathering all the documents we need to apply.  Right now, our intention is to apply for a non-lucrative visa and were told it takes 1-6 months for the visa to be approved.  We own a home that we wish to sell before moving and we also have two dogs that we want to take with us.  I’ve looked over the post about bringing pets to Spain and also found a website the proper form is located (mapausa.com - if anyone has used this before, please let me know!).  As to the house issue, we have family that can assist us if we aren’t able to sell before we move.  We are mostly worried about the dogs and are trying to work out a good timeline.  Basically, it is my understanding that if the dogs are approved (i don’t imagine they won’t be, neither breed is on the potentially dangerous animal list”) that we have four months to move them to Spain.  I guess my question is - when should we apply for the visas for our animals?  My idea was to wait for our visas to be approved then begin the animal application process, but i have no idea whether or not there is a set time for when we need to travel to Spain.  Can anyone give me advice on this?