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| Stuart with his long awaited Visado! |
Stuart arrived back safe and sound from his six day trip to Los Angeles to get his visa on Saturday evening. The trip went well and he used the trip as a buying trip to get some excellent quality 300 thread count sheets and pillow case sets for our beds we have on order. Although you CAN buy King Size beds here in Spain (smaller than US 193 cm x 203.2cm & UK King Size 183cm x 200cm) getting bedding for them is like looking for hens teeth! If you can find it it is inferior quality and quite expensive too! He also took the opportunity to stock up on some over the counter pharmaceuticals that are either impossible to get over here or on pescription only! Having taken my lightweight case to maximise his luggage allowance none of these purchases caused him any issues with having to pay extra for being over his allotted allowance.
His flight arrived from Madrid 10 minutes late at 8.40pm but that wasn't too bad when you consider he had been flying since the equivalent of 2.55am CET from Los Angeles (17.55pm PST!). To say that he had to overcome some jetlag was an understatement. Having only just got over his jetlag from going to Los Angeles then having to do it all again coming back the other way I have to applaud him for his tenacity! Within 2 or 3 days he had pretty much overcome his time issues and was back to firing on all six. Which was a good thing with the week we had ahead of us!
Incidentally getting the Visa isn't the end of the line for the hoops Stuart has to jump through. Within 30 days of arriving back in Spain he now has to apply for Residencia. He will be going to Almeria on Thursday the 24th of May to apply for this.
Getting residencia is important as it will allow me to live in Spain from one to two years without having to leave the country. Residence has to be renewed a few times in order to get permamente which is the equivalent of citizenship. Ironically, because of some recent changes by the new conservative government, it now may be harder for Cliff to get residencia than it will be for me.
ReplyDeleteTemporary residency:
ReplyDelete1. Granted originally lasts 1 year
2. First renewal: lasts 2 years
3. Second renewal: lasts 2 years
Permanent residency lasts 5 years
After 10 years of legal residency a Spanish passport can be solicited.
That visa in the picture means that the original "temporary" residency has been approved.
You still have to go to the "foreigners" office and later the "police commission" to get your ID (NIE) card.
Yes Chuck Stuart knows all of that, he just didn't type it all in ;) His appointment is booked for next Thursday to go to the office. He already has his NIE as do I, though this does have to be renewed.
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