Hello all. Here's a brief history of me. I went to Madrid in the summer of 2003 and planned on staying a year. Well, I met my now ex-girlfriend and I ended up staying longer. However, I wasn't able to obtain residency during the last amnesty because I had left Spain for a month (was in the US) and was uneligible.

Anyway, one of my students told me that his Colombian wife (they weren't married at the time) had tried for nearly two years to get her papers with no results. He then suggested that she use an agency his company used when they had foreigners that needed papers and sure enough two months later she had her papers. The cost was around 1100 euros.

I was just wondering if anyone here has ever went through an agency like this or knows of someone who has. I spoke to two different lawyers and they both said basically the same thing "why does it matter if you have papers, you are a white American, the police won't bother you." While that may be true I would like to have more opportunities than just teaching English.

Well, thanks in advance for any help/suggestions.

I wouldn't use an agency. First of all, these processes are like the US Green Card lottery. Agencies charge you for a free service, and some of them have swindled their customers.

I'd do it myself and If I needed any help, I'd go to a lawyer's office instead.