We want to announce that we have finally taken the big step and have made it official. Yesterday, after three months of occasionally-challenging visits to City Hall, la Estacion de Policia and la Oficina de Extranjeros, we are holding our Tarjeta de Residencia cards in our happy little hands. While we are good to go for a full year as residents of Spain, this newfound extended freedom concerns Jorge a bit since our current plans land us back in the U.S. in May.
There are many parts of our Spanish sojourn that have been wonderful, but seeking extensions for the standard 90-day/year visa in the EU was not one of them. Early research on the internet helped and the initial 22-hour round-trip travel day to Chicago for a 10-minute visit at the Spanish Consulate should have been a signal that the right and left hands are not always clapping in Spain.
Or maybe we should have gotten a clue when required to be fingerprinted, notarized, medically checked for contagious diseases and prove that we had a permanent place to stay, repatriation insurance to ship our bodies back (and I don’t mean in an airplane seat) and the funds to do it all without taking a Spanish job. But we persevered and here we are.
Jorge thought it would be a good idea to document the entire process for humanity’s sake or at least anyone contemplating a move to Spain, but we both agreed that it might be hard to get a fix on a moving target. So this holiday season when we raise our glass of Cava in a toast, we will be celebrating as extended visitors to our host country and from where we sit overlooking the Mediterranean Sea that seems like a very good way to start the New Year. Feliz Navidad y Feliz Año Nuevo a todos!
