I don't know if there is anyone out there who can help but I am having all sorts of problems obtaining a student visa. I'm actually leaving in 10 days for Madrid for the first of 2 back to back study abroad programs. (one in summer and one in fall -Sevilla) The summer program is under 90 days so they did not issue a letter for the visa process. The fall program just sent me the acceptence letter a few weeks ago to take to the consulate but I was told I needed a minimum of 60 days for that. So, now I am in a bind and can't get the LA consulate to answer any questions. In addition I am touring most of Eastern Europe (21 days) and staying a week or so in London in August. How exactly do the 90 days work? -can they be split? any advice on how to get a visa or what I can do? thanks

Wow! Usually schools are great about these things. I am guessing the school assumes you will be in Spain on a tourist visa for the 90 days (that is exactly how many days you can be in Spain as a tourist without a visa). So - although, this isn't the official way of doing things - I would just enter as a tourist. I would talk to someone at your school to clarify. And, I would make sure you have your visa taken care of for Fall as they can be very strict (depends on what day and time it is!). If you have a difficult time getting a hold of the consulate, I would call the Embassy in DC and remember they might very well have Spanish hours!

As a resident of the US, you cannot apply for a visa anywhere but in the US, so arriving this summer on a tourist visa and trying to tack on a student visa without coming back to the US will not work. We needed visas on a pretty tight schedule and my husband had to make a trip to the consulate in LA to get it done. For our particular visas, they wanted to send our passports to Madrid for processing, which might have taken up to 6 weeks (if we were lucky). My husband travels a lot and there was no way that he could give up his passport.

Most of the people we spoke with in LA were pretty unhelpful. You will probably need to speak with someone higher up. Tell that person that you will come to LA to get everything done. With all the traveling you are about to do, what's a little trip to LA. You won't even have to spend the night. Good luck!

Thanks for the advice. Unfortunatly I will not be able to return inbetween the two programs to the US to obtain a visa. I will try keep contacting LA and maybe go fly over. Does anyone have any suggestions on a good person to contact about this?

Regarding the splitting of time, here are the particulars:
This website has other counsulate numbers and the Spanish Embassy number consulate list maybe another consular office would be more helpful.

If you are really desparate, contacting the local office of your congressional representative can sometimes be helpful. Sometimes being contacted by a Congressperson's or Senator's office can get things moving.

Good luck!

YES!!! Definitely Contact your local congressman(or woman) and let them help you. They actually LIKE when their constituents call them for help, its excellent PR for them plus they have some pull in getting official documents such as your student visa processed. Good Luck.