nuria can you elaborate more on someone in spain sponsering you to get a residence permit? i would like to know more info on that!

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Spain Page!! Check it out! http://www.geocities.com/missmadrid98/homepage.html?957296168010

Brian,

I'm in telecommunications with Lucent. Despite the higher unemployment in most of Western Europe, the IT/Telecom industry can't get enough workers and have a easier time now getting work permits for non-EU citizens. It is no cake walk, though.

If you (or anyone else out there) are interested in non-education opportunities, I recommend highly the website www.emdsnet.com. This headhunter organisation specializes foremost in professional opportunities within Western Europe for young professionals (0-5 years experience, 0-10 in IT/telco). The sponsor excellent job fairs for all of Europe and have recently been doing country/regional fairs with good success.

For other leads, I recommend posting your CV on www.headhunters.net and www.monster.com. Headhunters are extremely valuable here, especially if you are trying to relocate and will need sponsorship from a company. They will be able to help find companies willing and able to do it...albeit there are good and bad headhunters.

Saludos!
cjl

About Kerry...

Kerry, we are waiting to see what happened with your visa...did it REALLY come through. and are you in spain now???!?!?!?!!?

or did it fall apart in the bureaucracy?
please, please let us know what the consulate ended up doing.

thanks,
brian

I am an American who is going to be living in Spain for 6-9 months starting in March of 2001. I am 25 and have a reasonably high, verifiable net-worth.

The question is: should I go through the effort and pain of applying for a residency visa; or if I am planning regular visits around Europe, just a new Spanish-entry stamp be good enough to "start over" the 90 day "visa free" period?

Thanks in advance for the info...

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If you're worried about being illegal, you could apply for a visa and always claim "my papers are being processed" if anyone asks. I seriously doubt anyone will blink an eye in Spain. If you are traveling to other EC countries (except UK), they won't stamp your passport (I know most don't- can't say ALL). I wouldn't venture into GB with an overstayed welcome. They will make your life hell. If you go there while still on the 3-month stamp, they may (and have with me) ask you for a return ticket out of Spain to the US. What I did is marched myself to the Delta counter and purchased a fully refundable ticket from Madrid to the US. Then, when I arrived in Barajas (Madrid's airport) I simply refunded the ticket. I played the game for many years and never encountered a problem (except in the UK).

Most EC countries are part of the Schengen agreement that provides for the abolishment of passport control at the borders. To get a new stamp, I guess you have to leave the Schengen area, that is, by going to Morocco, the UK, Turkey etc., a journey to France, Holland etc. will most likely not suffice.

Has anyone ever thought about Andorra?

well granted it is not spain, but they speak spanish! haha, and catalan too of course.

but the situation is much different there, they MUST get foreign workers for many things simply because there are not enough andorran citizens. Andorra is not an EU country, though their heads of state are techincally the french president (or PM dont remember) and a Spanish bishop.

i applied and interviewed for a teaching job there, and i was probably going to get it...mostly because i knew the Spanish ambassador to Andorra (i had taught his son in catalunya...illegally of course). but i took a job in budapest before they had decided. a stupid stupid move on my part.

the fact i was not from europe was not an issue for legal work...they just need things like a police record saying you have not been a criminal in your country and probably a physical.

it would be a great way to live legally next to spain. but it is a small, crowded place in the mountains, and i guess you need to the skills that they are looking for...but it is much easier than dealing with an EU country.

just a thought...also i hear in Portugal it is generally easier to get legal work for non EU citizens. though i cant confirm this with personal experience, i do have a canadian friend working there teaching english.

brian

Hey Missmadrid,
I am sorry it took this long to give you a response. As far as I know that only way to get a visa throug a sponsor is if your sponsor is a relative. I don't want to ask you personal questions but, do you have a Spanish boyfriend? That my help.

I think a boyfriend is not sufficient, but it has to be a parent, child under 18, or spouse (residence visa to reunite families). Maybe they have something like the US visa for fiancés, but even if they have it, I would guess that it is similar to the US one in as far as it just refers to a very limited period of time within which you would have to get married.
Moreover, a visa does not necessarily mean that you are entitled to work, it depends on the particular type of visa.
I think sponsoring by relatives or friends is just valid for another situation: the application for a tourist or business visa, http://www.spainconsul-ny.org/!consula.doi/!visatou.htm -which you do not need as US citizen for stays up to three months and which definitely does not entitle you to start a job in Spain.

Actually, your sponsor doesn't need to be a relative. We sponsored the sister of someone we knew in Madrid. We hadn't met her before. She went on to work elsewhere once she arrived, but it got her started. Be aware, however, that your permiso de trabajo/tarjeta de residencia states your specific job, so you can't - legally - do just anything you want once you have it.

[This message has been edited by Diana (edited 11-27-2000).]