{"id":1484,"date":"2019-07-09T16:05:43","date_gmt":"2019-07-09T14:05:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/transitophile.com\/chango\/?p=1484"},"modified":"2021-09-01T15:23:55","modified_gmt":"2021-09-01T13:23:55","slug":"spain-non-lucrative-visa-renewal-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/transitophile.com\/chango\/spain-non-lucrative-visa-renewal-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Spain Non-Lucrative Visa Renewal: 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bad news. (Or good news, if you think Americans ought to live within broadcast range of Fox News, and want expats like me to suffer.) My second visa renewal was significantly tougher than the first in 2017. I had to visit three extranjer\u00edas four times before I even knew what steps to take, had to wait much longer for results, had little clue while waiting that my documents hadn’t been misplaced, and — as described in a separate post<\/a> — judge the optional electronic submission procedure to be only slightly less difficult than the hacking of my Android smartphone described last September.<\/p>\n

You may have an easier time of it, if your visa and personal circumstances are similar enough to mine to allow you to harvest usable tips from this post. If not, or if Spain changes renewal steps significantly, as it did after my first renewal in 2017, you’ll have to start from scratch.<\/p>\n

I’m sorry.<\/p>\n

On to nuts and bolts. Please note that I can share experiences only about the renewal of my non-lucrative visa. I know nothing about other visa types.<\/p>\n

WHEN CAN I START AND FINISH THE RENEWAL PROCESS?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Two<\/a> sites<\/a> agree that paperwork can be submitted up to sixty days before expiration, and finished up to ninety days after expiration.<\/p>\n

I found contradictory information online on other renewal steps, but not on on this one.<\/p>\n

WILL I GET A REMINDER LETTER?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I didn’t, and an extranjer\u00eda staffer told me that such letters aren’t sent. A fellow expat did get a letter in 2016.<\/p>\n

WHAT DO I NEED TO DO?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Good question.<\/p>\n

For reasons to be described, I chose to believe information received in the last of the above-mentioned four visits to three extranjer\u00edas. A funcionario at the Carabanchel office proffered an information sheet I came to think of as sacrosanct, as it told me everything I had been unable to find out elsewhere. With some reverence, I have copied its anointed prose to a .pdf of its own<\/a>, with comments in red font,\u00a0 and also uploaded the marked-up-by-the-funcionario original<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I assembled the documents that this magical page told me to assemble, paid the tax it told me to pay, and took the documents without an appointment to one of the places it said I could take them: the OAC-Moncloa government office where I had done my padr\u00f3n, (Plaza Moncloa, 1, 28008). I told an OAC-Moncloa staffer what I wanted to do, received a ticket, waited about a half hour, and then watched another funcionario attach an official sticker to the EX-01 page of my document stack before feeding the documents into a scanner. She returned the docs when done. I wish I’d asked then for a receipt, but was able to pick one up later on a subsequent OAC-Moncloa visit.<\/p>\n

A month later, while chewing anxious fingernails about the status of my renewal, I chose to re-submit all documents online<\/a>.<\/p>\n

WHY NOT FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS FOUND ELSEWHERE?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

This<\/a> Portal de Inmigraci\u00f3n<\/em> page should be the mother lode of information, as it stems from the Immigration Portal home page and offers 100+ tip sheets for non-citizens in Spain.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the page relevant to me — Renovaci\u00f3n de la autorizaci\u00f3n de residencia temporal no lucrativa<\/a> — is a dead end, as the web site listed under Lugar de presentaci\u00f3n<\/em> delivers a ‘site can’t be reached’ error. I can’t make much progress with my visa renewal application if I don’t know how to submit it.<\/p>\n

A help page<\/a> elsewhere offers no fewer than four alternatives for LUGARES DE PRESENTACI\u00d3N. Wow! Fat city, right?<\/p>\n

Don’t get your hopes up:<\/p>\n

Alternative 1:<\/strong> both listed links are dead.<\/p>\n

Alternative 2:<\/strong> I’m not taking my precious visa docs to the post office.<\/p>\n

Alternative 3:<\/strong> Kafkaesque. The link to make a personal appointment is functional, but offers no available appointment openings, even for information.<\/p>\n

Alternative 4:<\/strong> Online submission. This can be done<\/a>,\u00a0 but shouldn’t be attempted through the link offered. Only the Magic Page information told me what to do from beginning to end.<\/p>\n

WHAT IF I NEED TO TALK TO SOMEONE?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Prepare to suffer.<\/p>\n

To my knowledge, you can’t make an appointment from your home computer or smartphone for an information appointment at the Carabanchel extranjer\u00eda, which seems to field general information requests. (At least in 2019) What you can do is arrive at this extranjer\u00eda (Avenida Plaza de Toros, 14, 28025) in person twenty to thirty minutes before the 9:00 a.m. opening time, and wait to use one of their two internet-connected computers near the front entrance. These computers — and perhaps only these computers — will let you make an appointment at the same location for the next day.<\/p>\n

What if you’d rather visit later in the day to use a computer? You can, but probably will do so fruitlessly. A funcionario told me that appointment slots are gobbled up early.<\/p>\n

What if the Carabanchel extranjer\u00eda ceases to be the “Oficina de Informaci\u00f3n General?” You can visit the ‘list of extranjer\u00edas’ page<\/a> to see if\u00a0Spain has chosen a substitute. If all else fails, you can drop by the information desk at the Avenida Poblados immigration center. (At the corner of Calle Erica, a short, all-too-familiar-to-me stroll from the Aluche station.) You won’t get a meaningful conversation there, but probably won’t wait more than a few minutes for a face-to-face chat with a real human who will tell you what steps to try next.<\/p>\n

How about carting your documents directly to the extranjer\u00eda listed as handling your type of visa? That very hunch cost me a fruitless visit to the Garcia de Paredes office. A funcionario there told me that I’d come in vain.<\/p>\n

HOW CAN I CHECK THE STATUS OF MY SUBMISSION?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

By text message, web link or by phone recording. I used the first two, never bothered with the third.<\/p>\n

Text message:<\/strong> Let’s say your NIE number is A1234567B. You would check visa status by texting<\/p>\n

NIE A1234567B<\/p>\n

to the extranjer\u00eda’s text number: 638 444 386.<\/p>\n

(Please mind the space between “NIE” and “A1234567B”)<\/p>\n

If you’ve already renewed once, the system will respond with something like:<\/p>\n

RESIDENCIA TEMPORAL NO LUCRATIVA 1 RENOVACION#RESUELTO OK,PTE.NOTIFICACION#DATOS DE CARACTER INFORMATIVO<\/pre>\n
The “NO LUCRATIVA 1” tells you that the system knows about your first renewal, and nothing more. Have your second renewal docs been received? Are they in a queue? It doesn’t say.<\/p>\n
Web link:<\/strong><\/p>\n
https:\/\/sede.administracionespublicas.gob.es\/pagina\/index\/directorio\/infoext2\/<\/a><\/p>\n
also won’t tell you if your renewal docs have been received, or are in a queue, and it’s not interested in reminding you that your first renewal was successful, either.<\/p>\n
NO SE HA ENCONTRADO LA INFORMACI\u00d3N SOLICITADA<\/p>\n
was all it told me, for weeks and weeks and weeks.<\/p>\n
HOW LONG DID YOU HAVE TO WAIT?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n
In late June, forty-five days after I had submitted my documents at OAC-Moncloa, the text service suddenly disgorged a slightly different response:<\/p>\n
RESIDENCIA TEMPORAL NO LUCRATIVA 2 RENOVACION#EN TRAMITE#DATOS DE CARACTER INFORMATIVO<\/pre>\n
Please note the “2” in the message above. Not renovaci\u00f3n 1, completed in 2017; renovaci\u00f3n 2. Second renewal. Finally! EN TRAMITE meant “in process.”<\/p>\n
Mere hours after the NO LUCRATIVA 2 RENOVACION#EN TRAMITE# business above, I received a second, unsolicited text message:<\/p>\n
Documento DISPONIBLE en HTTPS:\/\/SEDE.ADMINISTRACIONESPUBLICAS.GOB.ES Expediente 123456789123456. NIF\/CIF\/NIE A1234567B, (1234567)<\/pre>\n
and, simultaneously, an identical email.<\/p>\n
Off to https:\/\/sede.administracionespublicas.gob.es\/<\/a> went I in my web browser. I clicked ‘Mis expedientes’ at top right, and encountered a major potential “gotcha.”<\/p>\n
I could access the document, but only through a web browser equipped with the gear I’d installed for my ‘telematic<\/a>‘ submission. Most expats aren’t so equipped, and face frustration: the extranjer\u00eda has sent a message that can’t be viewed.<\/p>\n
The document turned out to be my official renewed visa, good through 2021, complete with a C\u00d3DIGO SEGURO DE VERIFICACI\u00d3N and a web address where said C\u00d3DIGO can be checked. I expect to wait months more for my new ID card, but can carry a copy of the renewed visa in the meantime.<\/p>\n
So are you lost without the software tools to access ‘Mis Expedientes?’ I don’t think so. The web link did continue to report NO SE HA ENCONTRADO LA INFORMACI\u00d3N SOLICITADA for several more days, but then suddenly morphed into a detailed ‘favorable result’ screen. This screen is all visa renewing expats need to proceed to the ‘Toma de Huellas’ appointment (described below) to nab a new ID card.<\/p>\n
I also may eventually receive a postal mail copy of my renewed visa, as I did in 2017.<\/p>\n
WHAT’S NEXT?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n
I still have to pick up a renewed ID card.<\/p>\n
The steps to get it don’t seem to have changed since 2017. If I encounter problems, I’ll update this post.<\/p>\n
(♦<\/span>) After receiving the visa renewal, I pointed my web browser to:<\/p>\n
https:\/\/sede.administracionespublicas.gob.es\/icpplus\/index.html<\/a><\/p>\n
and selected:<\/p>\n
Toma de Huellas (Expedici\u00f3n de Tarjeta y Renovaci\u00f3n de tarjeta de Larga Duraci\u00f3n)<\/em><\/p>\n
to make an appointment for the processing of my new identification card at the familiar Avenida de los Poblados DNI center. No appointments were available in July; I’ll have to wait until early August. Shucks.<\/p>\n
Selecting ‘Toma de Huellas’ presented me with a nice list of materials to bring with me on appointment day:<\/p>\n