Madrid, I have Arrived!

I officially arrived on Monday, May 12th to Madrid. I made it happen! From the last post, it has been a whirlwind. I pursued the non-lucrative visa and received approval mid-March. The only way I can explain the process was tedious, interesting, challenging but holy crap… it got me to today! For anyone wanting to pursue either a NLV or Digital Nomad visa, the only advice I have is to be patient, join Facebook groups for others going through and having gone through the process, and make sure to check out the requirements from your specific consulate. I went through LA’s Spanish Consulate and the requirements are different here vs other consulates. AND, once you identify where you will be living in Spain (or other country) make sure to check out the visa requirements once you arrive. For example, I originally planned on spending time in different areas of Spain and Schengen countries once I had my visa, but in order to validate my visa once in Spain, I would need to show a minimum 6-month lease upon arrival for something called my padron. This is specific for Madrid and many of the other more popular cities, if not all, that a lease is required since the NLV is a residency visa. There are many, many requirements on both sides - to get the initial approval while in the states and then once arriving in Spain. Thank God I had booked Airbnb’s that were refundable when I found out I needed to show a lease once I arrived! Attention to all details is so important and even when doing that, consulates are notorious for changing documents needed at the last minute, or you show up to the appointment with a complete list of ALL requirements listed on their website and they surprise you with something needed that was not listed. But… it all worked out and now I am here! My apartment in LA is sublet, my tenant in the condo I own in Santa Monica agreed to extend her original lease, sweetie pie Lola is at Mom’s in Ohio living the good life and my clothes/belongings are in boxes in my garage. My last day at work was May 2nd, the day before I flew to Ohio for a week, and then on the Spain I went. Let’s gooooo!

I took a red-eye from Ohio to Madrid and landed in MAD at 8am Monday, May 12th. Normally I am able to sleep on planes but not this time. I grabbed my suitcases - had one checked back, one carry-on and one backpack - and Ubered to my apartment in the Salamanca area of Madrid. Finding my place was a whole project in itself, as a short-term lease of 6 months requires full payment upfront and also meant I woul be paying an agency fee of one months rent + 21% VAT in addition to the monthly rent. Owners are entitled to charge this agency fee + tax on any rental under a year and it is the norm. Turns out, owners are taxed differently if they have a short-term rental vs a rental of over a year and this is why they are allowed to charge the additional fee. Additionally, I hired a relocation specialist to help me find a place. Angelica - who was an absolute angel - would go look at the places for me and video call me so I could also meet the owner and see the space from California. She was instrumental in communicating with the owners, translating any documents in Spanish and then met me Monday morning to welcome me to my place. Basically, she held my hand through the entire process. When I was getting ready to send over payment in full and felt a little apprehensive about doing so, she called me and said we could do a check on the ownership of the flat to verify the property was indeed owned by the person who was listed as the owner of the contract. This made me feel 100% comfortable prior to sending payment, not having seen the place in person and in a way, trusting the entire process was going to be okay. The added expenses were a bummer but I felt they were necessary to make sure I found a good place and avoided any potential issues. And here I am =)