VISA, VISA, and No VISAs

Scott and my VISAs have been approved.  They are waiting for us to come to Washington, DC to pick them up.  The kids however, still have no VISAs.  Lots of people are confused by why and what this means for us - so today is a primer in Spanish VISAs (and an elementary primer at that!)

You do not have to have a VISA to visit Spain.  As an American we can visit Spain with just our passports for up to 90 days.  We are tourists.  If you wish to stay longer than 90 consecutive days, then you need a VISA.  (At 90 days you must leave the country for at least 90 days)

Spain offers a variety of VISAs.  We have applied for a Residential VISA with a no work exception.  In other words we want to live in Spain but will not have a paying job.  (Work VISAs are very difficult to obtain - Spain protects the jobs in the country for the Spaniard as the unemployment rate is nearing 30%)  To apply for this VISA we had to have birth certificates, marriage certificates, proof of insurance, proof of financial means to be there, a letter of invitation, FBI background checks, and more.

On June 13 we traveled to Washington, DC to turn in our applications (by the way there are several Spanish embassies in the United States, but you are assigned an embassy where you must apply based on your state of residence - we are blessed that ours is DC and not Miami or Chicago - where we could not drive in a day).  All of our paperwork was accepted and our fees were paid.

Normal turn around time on these VISAs is 90 days, but August is a holiday month for most of Europe so that had the potential to slow our VISA applications down.

We learned about two weeks ago that our VISAs have been approved and the kid's VISAs are still pending (meaning they have not been rejected, just not approved).  We were told to call back in a couple days and when we did nothing had changed.  We have a fabulous contact at the embassy in DC that is trying to help us, but so far no changes.

So what does it mean if the kid's VISAs are not approved before we leave?

1. We will wait as late as September 27 to go pick up Scott's and my VISA.  This gives the embassy as much time as possible to approve the kid's VISAs.  Thankfully only one adult must go pick up the VISAs - so if nothing changes before then, on the 27th I will get up very early and drive to DC (while Scott and Alex head to his mom's to finish fixing the shed that was damaged by Hurricane Irene and pick her up to be here for our departure).  I will get the adult VISAs and then return home.
2. Scott and I will enter Spain with our VISAs and the kids will be in the country as tourists.
3. On November 17 I will return to the states for a quick VISA trip.  Remember the kids are only allowed in Spain up to 90 days and Hannah has already been there for a month.  
4. After I return to Spain with the kid's VISAs we will have to take a quick trip out of the European Union (Morocco is the closest non-EU country) so that the kids can re-enter the country and have their VISAs stamped.

So, yes we are still leaving on the 30th.  Yes, the kids are going with us.  Yes, we are learning a lot about the Spanish government.  And Yes, we are learning a whole lot more about faith!