File this one under "I learned the hard way so you don't have to..."

I went to good old General Pardiñas to renew my student residency for the fourth time. I got there at 6:00am and by 9:00am I was close enough to the front of the line that I would have gotten in by 9:30-10:00am or so.

A guy comes around asking for people renewing to pull them out of line and let them in. Great--I think--that's me. When I show him my papers he told me that student paperwork is now filed at the Puerta de Toledo office and pointed me to a small piece of paper taped up on a pillar by the front door. The same thing happens to a bunch of other people who also can no longer renew at Pardiñas (which only handles Bulgarians and Romanians and, it seems, non-Euros getting non-student residency).

The paper gave the address of the new place and said to call for an appointment:

Plaza del Campillo del Mundo Nuevo nº 3
913226919

So I call and call and of course no one answers. After staying up all night, I head down to Puerta de Toledo and talk to a bunch of people in line and the guy in charge at the door. He laughs ironically when I ask if anyone will ever answer the phone and asks me how long I've been living in Spain. When I tell him, he scoffs that by now I should know better.

The people in line tell me that they got there at 4:00am-5:00am to wait to get a cita. Then came back two weeks later at the assigned date and time to wait some more. So that's probably where I'll be tonight after 5:00am or so. I may also contact a lawyer to see what it would take for them to get the paperwork started for me (but I'm pretty sure there won't be anyone in the office given that it's August).

Just wanted to post this to prevent anyone from waiting unnecessarily at General Pardiñas. That wasn't fun, but I've put it behind me like a bad dream and am looking forward to some post-Paloma bonding with fellow immigrants in the wee hours of the morning tonight... Will report back.

Patience, Tolerance, and Determination, admirable qualities Indeed.

Good luck later.....

Saludos

Oh, god...Roland and I are sorry to hear about it. I am SO SO SO not looking forward to trying to renew my residency next year; the office here in Barcelona looks just as awful as the rest.

I hope you get your renewal sorted and in your distant memory soon.

Hugs!

Just a quick update--I decided to ask my media naranja's lawyer to do the first step this year (yes, someone does work in August!). He took copies of all of my papers and will (crossing fingers) get the first appointment for me... I'll post back on how long it takes, what it ends up costing, etc.

When my better half did this last year, it seemed to take a lot less time than it did when I renewed myself. He also had a pretty weird case that I'm almost certain would have gotten rejected had he not gone through a lawyer. He paid around 75 euros, I think.

So the lawyer was able to get my appointment at the comisaría so that I can present my renewal papers (which saved me from having to wait all night at the Puerta de Toledo comisaría to get the appointment). It's in five weeks (the first week of October)! He says I won't have to wait in line that day, but will just go in with him and drop off my photos, do the fingerprints, etc. We'll see about that. I'll report back.

So, for anyone who is applying for student residency--disregard the previous info about them on this board. The process is different now! In fact, while the paperwork necessary is more or less the same, anyone applying for any kind of residency shouldn't count on the info that is in past threads... the offices, processes, wait times, etc. have changed (and probably will change) a lot in Madrid.

Thanks for the information. Luckily, the program that I am doing takes care of all of the paperwork for us. I have extra photos and everything, just in case. Even have extra copies of the forms, already filled out.

Shawn

quote:

Luckily, the program that I am doing takes care of all of the paperwork for us.

Oh, that IS lucky. It looks like the worst part is getting the appointment to present the paperwork. But I'll report back on how it goes.

I heard that as well. General Pardiñas is now only for Romanians and Bulgarians. I also I know the feeling of waiting, done it 3 times. Finally gave up and the Wife asked her company to provide a lawyer to expite the process. Problem was we were given wrong information. Anyways the nice thing is they can get appointments so there is no waiting. They will also legalized our Marriage Certificate which saves me some more waiting. So I expect 18 months after arrving in Spain I will have everything done.

I'm not clear on what exactly they are doing at the General Pardiñas branch now... there were other non-Romanian/Bulgarian people in line (Chinese, Latin American, Swiss...) getting something processed. I do think they diverted all of the other EU folks applying to a different office. And, of course, those like me who are applying for/renewing student residency.

After several years of being relatively predictable, it's really confusing now... the best way I've found to figure out what is happening is to look on the official site and search the Argentine/Colombian/Ecuadorian forums (these tend to have the best, most-up-to-date info for non-EU people braving the bureaucracy). From what I've learned, it's 10 times worse in Madrid than anywhere else because the system is just completely overloaded.

Good luck with your papers.

Well, today I had my appointment at the comisaría. To recap, I decided to use a lawyer to get the appointment. She requested it in mid-August and I got the appointment for October 1. The lawyer met me there. We went right in at the time of the appointment (no waiting in line) and straight to the person who handles the paperwork (again no line). I gave them everything I usually give them:

--two copies of the form filled out
--my current residency card
--my bank statement showing funds in a Spanish bank
--my passport
--a full copy of every page of my passport
--proof of health insurance
--three passport photos
--my grades from last year
--my registration from this year
--my tuition receipt from this year

Actually, I haven't always had those last three, but this year I did, since it took so long to get the appointment. I showed them the originals, then they stamped and kept the copies.

I was in and out in ten minutes. The lady who took my papers said I should expect it to take at least three months to process the renewal, which is about what it took last year.

The lawyer will cost me about 75 euros, I believe (maybe we are getting some kind of volume discount at this point... ).

Congratulations! What a relief to get done so fast.
Can you ask the lawyer if it's ok to post their info here in case anybody else wants to use their services? In that case they would have to give you a discount next time because of all the business they would get

It was a huge relief--I'll definitely do it this way from here on out. I'll have Christian ask the lawyers whether they mind getting publicized here. And I'm happy to send anyone their info via PM in the meantime.

I know they do a lot of work with immigrants, work permits, etc. I also know that they are absolutely swamped and you have to go to talk to them in person--no one ever answers the phone over there.

But they have always been great about answering our questions and are usually spot-on about how long things are going to take. We're going through a whole different legal process with them that (¡toca madera!) I'll be able to report back (favorably?) about in the next month of so.

I just wanted to post my experience applying recently for the first time for my student residency. I too wasted many hours in the General Pardiñas line before discovering they no longer were processing student (or EU) residency applications there. Since I too could not get through to the phone numbers listed for setting appointments, I went really early in the morning and stood in line at Plaza del Campillo del Mundo Nuevo and (as one of the first 60 in line at 9 a.m.) I was given an appt. for a few weeks out (20 Sept.) to return.

On Sept. 20, the application process was quick and involved turning in the documents they requested from me, getting them stamped (for whatever reason for me, they asked for less than those mariposita listed). I was given my receipt with my newly minted NIE on it and told it would take one month to process my card, at which point I should pick it up at General Pardiñas. nd I´m really hoping I can bypass the line when I show my receipt.

It seems that because of the Romanian and Bulgarian situation, the specific office that processes the application could change, but as of early October, it seems that Plaza Campillo del Mundo is where it´s at. A list of all the Oficinas de extranjeros in Spain, along with what types of applications they are supposed to process is available here: http://www.mir.es/SGACAVT/extranje/directorio.html

I don't think the process is really all that bad, provided (big if), you have the correct forms, documents, and are queued up at the correct place. It can be done without a lawyer's help but perhaps I would have saved time with some outside help. Avoiding standing in the wrong line is the essential thing, and easier said than done.

Hey Julie--
You're right, you can absolutely do it without the help of a lawyer. In fact I have done it the past four years that way with no problems whatsoever. But after wasting my time in line at General Pardiñas, I couldn't really (logistically or emotionally) wait all night again and in the meantime my card was going to expire, so I decided it was safest to go through the lawyer to make sure there were no hang-ups.

The reason that I had to provide more documentation is because I am renewing, not applying for the first time. I have to (in theory) prove that I was studying last year.

The ironic thing is that the process--PROVIDED THAT YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS AND IT STAYS THE SAME--is actually easier and more humane now than it ever was in the past. I hope they keep it the way that it is, but I've certainly learned my lesson and will always check the day before I do any major line-waiting.

I know this thread is about renewing residency cards, but how do you apply the first time? Can I just go to any police station? And what documents do I need?

I can´t seem to get a definite answer on this.