3 Weeks Goes By Fast!

It has been a great three weeks in Barcelona. In fact, it feels like it has gone by very fast.

Our first week here, our visa application was submitted to the government, and we should hear back before the end of March.

When applying for a Spain Digital Nomad Visa, the duration of the visa and processing timeline depends on where you submit your application. If you apply from the United States, the visa is valid for 1 year. However, if you submit your application in Spain, the visa is granted for 3 years.

Additionally, when applying in Spain, the processing time is notably faster. For example, we submitted our visa application on February 28, and we can expect to receive our visa by or before March 28, 2025.

If no decision is made by March 28, 2025, we can submit a request for approval by administrative silence. Once this administrative silence request is filed, the government may approve the application as quickly as the next day, though it could take up to the full 15-day processing period for the administrative silence request.

Essentially, approval by administrative silence means that if the Spanish authorities do not respond to your visa application within the allotted time, it is automatically approved.

So that is one item on our to-do list!

One of our current challenges is that we are also searching for an apartment. While we only plan to stay until the end of August, the visa we are applying for grants a 3-year residency. This poses a unique challenge. Agencies and landlords in Barcelona are reluctant to offer short-term rentals (11 months or less) because they see the 3-year visa and assume a longer commitment. Due to strict government regulations and hefty fines, they often ignore or reject applications with these visas, fearing legal trouble, even though we do not intend to stay the full term.

But we are praying and believing in faith that God has the right place for us in His perfect time. We are grateful we have the church dormitories to stay in while searching for the right apartment. It has been a blessing to us and has allowed us to not be as stressed as we would be if we were in a hotel or Airbnb while apartment hunting.

After we get these two items checked off, we can start solidifying a language school to enroll in, which we’re very excited about! We are already feeling more confident in our listening comprehension while out and about in the city at the metro, grocery, and cafes. In the meantime, we are going hard with at-home Spanish learning, like listening exercises and our flashcard deck. We’re currently working on our vocabulary and grammar while trying to retain everything we’re learning.

That’s it for now. Hopefully next time I’ll have some updates regarding the visa or our housing, but thanks for reading!

LAST MINUTE EDIT: We got our visas approved in only 10 business days! This is a huge weight off of our shoulders!