So, I had my "Solicitud de Tarjeta de Residencia" stamped when I turned it all in on 26 October 2006. They told me two months and I'd get the letter in the mail saying to go back and get the card. It's now been 3 and a half months...do I wait it out?

I'm not worried about the Spanish officials checking, more when I travel to other European countries. If they do the math, I'm past my "3 months out of 6." What would you guys recommend I do? Wait it out? Go down to the Comisaria unbidden and see if it's there? Say screw it and just be illegal and not worry about all the traveling I'll be doing in the next few months?

Thanks once again,
Ryan

hey Ryan.

quote:

do I wait it out?

NO!

quote:

Go down to the Comisaria unbidden and see if it's there?

YES! go check personally. when i applied for my residency card years ago i was told the same thing, that they would send me a letter in 2 months telling me it was ready to pick up.

when 3 months went by (i waited an extra month since this is spain) and i received no such letter, i called them and they said it was still not ready.

4 more calls every 2 months, still not ready they told me and then more calls, calls, calls...

i finally got fed up and went to the comisaria to see what was going on.

to my bewilderment, when i got to the counter they looked me up in a file and pulled out the residency card, EXPIRED!!! i shit you not! it had been sitting there for over a year (inital card was good for a year) even when they had told me over and over on the phone that it was not in yet.

so, i had to re-apply and the second time i really kept on top of it so i got it in 2 months. i simply went 10 weeks after i applied and it was there despite the fact that no letter arrived (once again ).

saludos,
jer...

Holy crap! I figured the same thing, "Well, this is Spain......"

I'll try going down there then. I think I have to have some sort of payment receipt though, and I don't. I'll just check if it's there I guess and see what they say.

Thanks!

umm, you don't need a visa to get the residency card?

btw folks, my official visa just got approved... will post more soon.

I think mine took around 3 1/2 months this year (used to take around 2 1/2). I went in to check at around 3 months and they told me to keep waiting for the letter (I've always gotten a letter...). Eventually the letter came.

So, if I were you, I would probably wait until it's been four months and then go down there.

Mariposita - do you still have to go to the bank for an ingreso that you then take there to pick it up? I think I'll wait till the end of the month, as you said, but when I do go down there, it'd be nice to have whatever I need to get it in case it's there. I'd prefer not to go more than once. =)

quote:

umm, you don't need a visa to get the residency card?

Well, I'm getting the student residency card, but I already have a visa, it just expired. They gave me the visa to start 1 October and end 1 January.

I never got my letter either. Most people I know never got their letter. I applied for my card two years ago but only bothered to get it last month.

The queue (line for you yanks) has become obscene in recent months as the Bulgarians and Romanians all want their cards. I arrived at 9am (the earliest I could do it as I had to take the train from Salamanca) and had to queue for 3 hours. There was an official coming out telling certain people to jump the queue, but I wasn't allowed. I don't know how he decides.

Once I got to the front of the queue, the girl told me to go pay the 6.55€ or whatever it was at a bank and come back. I dreaded another queue, but I just had to tell the guy on the door I had gone out to pay and he let me pass.

Now, if you can get the form from somewhere else and pay it, you MIGHT be able to convince the guy on the door that you've just popped out after already having queued for three hours and jump the queue. I just don't know where to get the form from.

Damian

Damian

You can download all of the forms online. If you search on this site under "cheapest way to study" I think the links to the "modelos" are there. You can also get the forms from the people who stand at the gate and won't let you in.

If you go in the morning and they give you the form for the ingreso (a long shot, since your card would have to be ready), you could also run out and make the payment and come back if you had to. Once you wait in line and go in, they will let you back in without having to wait in line again.

Oh, and make sure to bring a copy of every page in your passport that has a stamp. That's a new rule that they instated this year. If you need to make copies, there's a copy shop one block away in the basement of the apartment building in the block just south of the comisaría (on the left side of Pardiñas).

Yes, Ryan, as I remember, the letter comes with the form that you take to the bank to pay the 5,30 Euros (I think that's the amount), so it's better to wait for the letter, if you can. I would only give it another week or two, though. Also, you are perfectly legal while all of this is "en trámite."

Damian--I think you are referring to a different kind of residency card. Non-"comunitario" students go through an entirely different process, so they aren't really affected by the whole amplification-of-the-EU thing. We have always gotten our letters for the student residency/estancia--a total of 7 or 8 letters by now--usually about two weeks before the actual day when you are allowed to pick up the card.

Ryan's case is probably taking so long because of the Christmas holidays and also because it is his first application (it's a bit simpler to renew). Mine took extra long because I applied for it before August this year.

Damian,

Why (as an UK citizen) would you need your tarjeta de residencia?

I applied for it because I was sick of numpties in Video Clubs etc saying that i need a DNI and that my passport "no vale".

The reason I had to get it was that I applied for a bank account without a DNI. Now, apparently (according to Santander) if you have a 'no residente' account but you have a DNI (whether you are in possession of it or not) you are classed as 'residente'. And they block your account. Bam! No warning, no explanation. Santander hasn't heard of a "computer network" yet and as I am in Salamanca but opened my account in San Pedro, my bank here had no idea why my account was closed and couldn't get hold of San Pedro (the number on their system was out of date).

When I finally got hold of San Pedro, I discovered that the only way to unblock my account was to get my DNI.

I said "apparently" because I have a friend in exactly the same situation as me (DNI waiting for them in Madrid, opened a "no residente" account years ago) and her account hasn't been blocked. But Santander say it's a police matter and they can't do anything about it.

To top it all off, they lost one of the two cheques I was cashing.

Santander = bad in my opinion. I mean really, in this day and age, why aren't they hooked up to a central computer?

Damian

Just a little update: it has been 4 months and 2 weeks since I applied for my "foreigner" card and still nothing. I'd go down there to get it but I really don't think it matters. When I travel out of the country I take the paperwork with me that says I applied and am waiting for the card. I may go get it at some point because I kinda want it as a souvenir though before I leave in 3 months.

Just an FYI, Christian received his letter for his student "estancia" a month ago and went to pick up his card today from the comisaría on General Pardiñas and waited in line for three hours (from 8-11)... As it was the last time, people came around sporadically and pulled people out of the big line to go to the various lines inside. Finally someone came around asking for "estudiantes" and he got to go in (otherwise he would have been waiting another hour for sure). Once inside it took about 15 minutes.

I just have a question about this process. After reading the insightful posts, my question is the following: Which is worse, lack of information (or in other words conflicting information) or standing line, or both?

Thanks,

Shawn

quote:

Which is worse, lack of information (or in other words conflicting information) or standing line, or both?

all of the above.

saludos,
jer...

I think I may try to go Wednesday morning. Instead of waiting in line, I'm thinking of going straight up to the front of the line to that officer and the woman standing there and telling them that I'm a student and was there on Monday and was told to return today to pick up my card. Maybe they'll let me in. The line to pick up cards is always shorter than the others. Yeah, I'll have to get the ingreso paper and I'll have to leave and come back, but still, if they let me through, it'll be much better than waiting for 3+ hours.

And I agree with Jer....it's all bad.