Hola Jer:
I was happy to hear from you. I decided to take your advice and post my message here. I will also be following up with the recommendation of that website you gave me to look up. It gives me some hope. I've tried talking with the Spanish Consulate here and they have been no help. It has been very frustrating to hear that my only option is to give-up my U.S. citenship. Its my mother who was born and raised in Spain. My father already had his U.S. citenzship. My mother turned over her Spanish citenzship and became a U.S. citizen. My mother is the only one living here from her family. Everyone else lives in Spain. What was my mother thinking, I don't know because I was too young at the time. I live in this city like a walking zombie. I 've come to realize that N.Y.C. is only a working atmosphere. For me, it has become hell. Jer, your status is a very fortunate one. I will continue to search about a legal status in Spain.

Now I most go since its time for me to get to work and meet up with those friendly New Yorkers. Yea right, ha ha!!!

Hasta Luego Jer y gracias por su contesta.

Isa

VIVA ESPANA!

Hi '
i am new at this so if i have alredy started this all wrong just let me know down the road ok.well what i wish to add or say is that my grand parents left Spain with my mom as a mew born.They went to Puerto rico and lived out the rest of their lives there.But ,my mom always spoke about spain in pits and pieces.My iner desire and hope would be to return to live and work in the country that they for reasons beyond their control were forced to leave.
Anyway,can someone give me some information as to how to go about working and living in spain .Que Viva Espania ..
Roxana

Hi Isa. Sorry for the late response, your message must have escaped me, I was in Mallorca on vacation when you posted it

I feel for you and I know exactly what you mean about NY and wanting to get out, out, out! As fro your mom, I am not sure she had to renounce her Spanish citizenship to make her life in the U.S.A. I think marrying your dad would have been enough. Oh well, I guess she was thinking with her heart and not her head at the time. That is all water under the bridge. Now you need to concentrate on getting back your Spanish residency (or at leats work permit). I hope the leads I gave you help and if I can do anything else on this end, please feel free to ask.

Saludos,
jer...

Hi Roxana, jer here. I have not forgotten about you.

First of all, welcome to the message boards! You did fine on posting your message, "�ANIMO!".

To answer your question about working in Spain, there are some other good and helpful posts (titled "Working legally in Spain", "Work AND residency in Spain", etc) on the same topic at http://www.multimadrid.com/cgi-bin/jersbbucgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=forum&f=14, please check them out. I am sure they will be of interest to you, Isa and anyone else interested in this topic as well.

Saludos,
jer...

p.d. The website that Isa refers to in her message at page top is www.spainexpat.com and is run by a Spanish woman (her name is Pura) married to an American man. She offers legal advice and such on settling in Spain.

Hola Jer !
i appreciate hearing your response. One thing i would like to know if i could still manage to get my Spanish citzenship, if i could show proof that my mother was born in Spain and so were both my grandparents. My mother's entire family live in Spain. My mother was the only unfortanate one who got to move here. Is it possible that my family in Spain could sponser me. The second question i have accompained by a statement is about buying a chalet and living outside of Madrid 6 months of the year. You see, since i work as an independent contractor, i have the opportunity to take time off when i want to. i would like to begin to by living 6 months of the year in Spain with my family, then return to N.Y. to work and then return again back to Madrid and live independently, minimizing the months that i am in N.Y. Eventually, making my home in Madrid permanent so mabe i should begin by searching to buy a chalet. How do i begin, what do you suggest??
My mother owns land in Salamanca. We are trying to figure out what to do or what we can do with it. She inherited this land from my grandparents.
i would like to work on this as soon as possible. Everyday, i dread this place. The atmosphere here is so superficial and people in New York have a bad attitude. The social atmosphere is not the same as in Spain. There are a lot of people here in N.Y.C. who tend to solve their social anxities through psychtropic meds. Americans are not my cup of tea. I have no interest in American culture (there really isn't any) and despite that i was born in the U.S., i don't feel American (what is that anyway) and prefer to give up my life here. i think if all as fails, i will renounce my American citzenship. I was raised like a Spainard and spent my years living my summers in Spain since i was 4 years old(during Franco's last years). Help i need to get out of this hellhole!!!!


Hasta Luego
y VIVA ESPANA

Hola Isa, pretty deep those emotions and feelings against NY, I aggree with you however.

I hope all works out for you, I will be rooting for ya all the way!

As for that land in Salamanca, you can always donate it to a worthy cause (ie. multimadrid :eek .

Per you Chalet, I have some apartment and house hunting resources for Madrid at ,www.multimadrid.com/mm_interactive/links/apts.htm, hope they help.

Your plan to start spending 6 months here and 6 there, slowly weeding out the time in NY sounds like a good one. I would also look more deeply into how your family here can sponsor you to come over.

Saludos,
jer...

Isa and Roxanne

What opportunities you have! Your chances of becoming a citizen is sooooo great that you can take it without really loosing your US Citizenship.

As to ISA�s mom she can just go over to the Spanish embassy and ask it back. In this case if you personally say that your grandparents where Spanish and your mom was too then you�re on your way to your Spanish nationality. All you need is a year of Residency in Spain.

If you became a Spanish Citizen then Spain will consider you as a Spaniard and you will have to renounce your US citizenship. But back in the US babes they will always consider you an american. Take a look at a thread written by a fella who took in his Spanish Citizenship. Type in search in any search engine and write taking out a Spanish nationality.

As to Pura Strong and his husband they are the best resource or people with authority to consult about Spain.

Finally return back to jer�s multimardrid because it is the only source that has the wealth of information in any thread.

Yes!! Citizenship here you come.

Thanks.

BAS

Hey BAS, wow! I just remembered that Isa was living and working in NYC when she began this thread. I hope you are OK Isa! Please check in and let us know how things are going.

Thanks for the encouragement for Isa and Roxanna BAS, I am sure they will appreciate it. BAS comes through once again

Saludos,
jer...

Bas thankyou for your assistance in providing this information. At one point,i felt like giving up. There is to much red tape. I will continue to search until i am successful. Anyway, i will also be staying with my family in Madrid over the next summer and i will have them helping me. As far as my mother going to the Spanish consulate, they were upset that she became an American citizen. At this point, i don't think she will revert back. Other countries have dual citzenship, i don't think Spain recognizes it. Thanks Bas and i will be in touch as soon as i have new information about my status.

Hi Jer!!
Its been awhile. I'm doing fine thanks for asking. I' have plans visiting my family next summer in Madrid. There are also some projects that i have been working on and it has kept me very busy. Please keep me updated with your wedsite. I will also be having a new E-mail account next month. I will no longer be @ aol. When i receive my new e-mail will be sending you the information. Today is my last day @ aol. I will be in touch very soon.

VIVA ESPANA Isa

Glad to hear you are OK Isa

Thanks for checking in and I am glad BAS has given you a breath of hope for your future life in sunny Spain

I await your new e-mail address. Congratsa on leaving AOL, I totally hate it nyself ever since it came out on the e-market.

Please look me up when in Madrid (drop me an e-mail before you come), maybe we can get together for a "tapita" and a "ca�ita".

Saludos,
jer...

Jer!

When are we having that �tapita�? I�m sorry i don�t drink alcohol. Well maybe a cerveza sin alcohol will do.

Regards,

BAS

That's cool BAS, I am no big drinker myself, a few "ca�as" here and there but no more.

I anxiously await you phone call.

Saludos,
jer...

Hello,
I'm not sure or exactly to whom i should address this message to but one things for sure its a miserable dilema trying to become a let alone resident of spain. And forget about a short term struggle in trying to acheive citizinship.I'm from parents whos parents were from europe and I don't stand a chance of ever living in spain.I have'nt posted a message in a while so if I sound a little down-hearted or disappionted your right on the targit.No mater I will still keep trying to find some new contact or help with the wonderful eventualality of living someday in spain even in my old age..My parents and their parents never made it back
does anyone need help with some office work...hellooooo.
the worrior women lives on..jejejeje :) crystal_pr@escapeartist.com

hi Roxana,

I would not say it is impossible for you to ever live in Spain. If your deepest desire is just to live in Spain, you can do so illegally. I don't recommend this, nor do I say it is the right thing, but you could probably live there without many problems (with a bit of hard work and luck you can even get covered under Insalud, the national health system)

I know BAS and some others might jump into this discussion and accuse me of something close to blasphemy (actually I'm looking forward to it, ha ha!), but the fact remains that there are many many people living in Spain illegally.

Now, if you want to live there legally (which I think is the case), the single best way is to go there and marry a Spaniard. I'm sure that you could easily find a Spanish guy who would do this (it is more difficult for foreigner men to marry Spanish women but this is another story...)

If you don't want to do this, there are still many other options. You can first try to get a work visa by having an employer sponsor you or apply to the Ley de Cupos, which employs people in industries with little or no unemployment

Another option is to time your visit along with the amnesty programme (which is offered every 30 months or so) and then apply through that. A Canadian friend of mine applied to that amnesty programme and now is a resident of Spain.

There are many ways Roxana....if you want to know more, I have written an Expat's guide to living in Spain eBook, which coincidentally will be published on EscapeArtist.com. It should be online any day now

Of course, it is not "easy" to gain Spanish residency but it is certainly not impossible. Especially not for a European

Hope this helps