Hi everyone,

New to this msg board as well as Madrid, Spain. I'm from the U.S. and I'm here in Madrid now, staying with my fiance, who is beginning to work on his Masters here. I love it here and we both would prefer that I stay here while he works on his degree, but is there any way for me to do this? My past few visits to the Spanish Consulate in my hometown gave me no suggestions. The only way... to have a huge load of money in my bank account, which is not possible. I'm not planning to work here, just to stay under the support of my fiance and soak up as much Spanish language and culture as I can. Does anyone have any experience extending there stay the legal way? Has anyone had success obtaining a residence card from just a tourist "visa"? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

No, it's not at all possible for a US citizen to get residency from a tourist visa. Your best bet would be to arrange to go to a language school (some are very affordable) while you are here and to take their paperwork back to the US and apply for a one-year a student visa at the consulate. If you hurry, you might be able to register for fall semester at a public school. Here's one:

http://www.ucm.es/info/cextran/Iprincipal.htm

You can extend your visitors visa (which is not a "VISA" per se, just the right to stay 3-months with entry on your passport) from 3-months to 6-months but that's it. You'll have to go through a formal "process" to for this so it's NOT automatic.

If you want to stay longer than the total 6-months you'll still have to return to the USA before being legally able to stay in Spain because you have to ENTER Spain with the Visa in-hand. You can't simply stay while the visa is processed - whatever visa you might be getting (student, work, etcetera).

As madridmadridmadrid above mentions, getting a student visa would be the easiest way to study but you'll have to pay for your classes. And while many are inexpensive, we're still talking about several thousand Euros total. If your fiance is studying for her masters NOW I'd recommend you start your own student visa process as soon as possible in order to be able to return as soon as possible. Is it all a big pain in the neck? YES! But that's the way it is. Sorry! And good luck.

Saludos, MadridMan

Thanks for both of your suggestions. I will probably try to do both. First, the extension, and then return home for the visa.