Non-Lucrative Resident Visa Process - Toronto Consulate

1- The issue with the address continually appears. The answer seems to vary by consulate, which is ridiculous and shouldn't happen, but it does. In my case, when I applied at the San Francisco consulate, they only wanted us to write down what city we were planning on living in- no address needed.

The guy processing us asked about it. We had booked an Airbnb for a month, to use while we looked for a long-term lease, and that was good enough for him.

Other consulates (notoriously Houston, Texas) are apparently much more difficult about it. I'm afraid you'll have to poke around (Facebook has a number of expats-in-Spain groups, you could search there for Canadians in Spain or other keywords) to see what Toronto's specific situation is.

2- The income requirement is (all in euros) 25,816 for the first person, and an additional 6454 euros for each additional person in a family. A couple, then, is 32,270 euros/year, or the equivalent in the foreign currency.

3- In theory, if you meet the income, there's no need to have savings in the bank. However, if you're really close on the income, then it will probably make them happier if you have some savings or investment accounts backing you up; in fact, some people have been approved with less than the required income if they had enough saved. 

My advice is that if you're close but over, just apply; if you're pretty sure you're under, save yourself the money and don't apply.  If you're right there depending on that day's exchange rate... roll the dice if you want! 

4- In most of the consulates in the US they require us to apply in person. My mother in law just applied in early July and had an answer about 4 weeks later, so the restrictions on your travel won't be that bad; but this is a good question for the consulate itself. They usually offer an email address where you can ask basic questions; response time and quality varies, though, so be ready to not get any help via email.

Calling is often useless, many consulates are chronically understaffed and they (naturally) serve Spanish citizens in need of services first.

Good luck. I highly recommend the Wagoners Abroad web site and e-book for the non-lucrative visa, it really helped us work through the process.

PapaLima,
Thank you so much for your prompt, very informative and well-considered answer. Your generosity with sharing your experience and helping to point me in the right direction is much appreciated.
I will check out the leads you have suggested, and, who knows, there may be a Canadian out there equally generous to share their experience and to offer advice related to the Toronto Consulate . Apart from the variation in address requirement between Consulates, the amount expected in bank savings and the question of how to submit the application are issues that remain unclear until someone can share their Toronto experience. Fortunately, we can meet the income amount specified (32,270 Euros) with something to spare.
As I study the material it is likely I will have further questions for you, PapaLima!!
Thank you very much and have a great day!  Many regards,   -nowretired

Honestly, if you are comfortably over the minimum income, I wouldn't worry about the savings part. Providing them with a full financial picture will help, but if you've got a solid income stream that's established for several months or a year, in theory you should be fine.

The various blogs online give lots of info. We applied a few years ago now, but it's basically all still the same. I don't know if Canada has a deal with Spain for health insurance, so that'll probably be the next biggest issue, but it's very reasonably priced for private insurance in Spain. (well, reasonably priced by US standards.)

Well, about three days after posting this, I just saw an American who was denied the non-lucrative visa because she did not have enough savings!

She showed enough income for the visa, but basically has very little savings or investment accounts. They denied her and explicitly said that it's because she didn't have enough savings.

That said, I'm not sure how she presented her income. I've read many places that if you work a remote job, the authorities will frown on it if it's presented to them that you're actively working- but if you present as though you have "passive" income, like from a business you own, and you're not saying you're working, they'll more likely accept you.

All that said, the savings amount isn't too terribly high- 30K or so for one person, probably around 35K for a couple.

There seem to be more stories of rejections lately on the "edge" cases for the non-lucrative visa. Speculation is that the new central government is getting tighter on the rules, particularly for younger folks who they suspect might be working jobs.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Best of luck in the process.

Hi PapaLima,

I am grateful for your input. I am particularly impressed by your generosity in sharing your experience and your desire to provide a fuller picture that includes latest developments.

I am sorry to hear that the American woman was not successful in getting the visa, and that there have been more rejections lately. Apart from the lack of savings, I wonder about her age. Is it possible that the authorities were concerned because she was young? If so, then perhaps a senior like me would not send up a red flag about taking a job away from a Spaniard? Also, was there something unclear or insecure about her annual income that might have prompted them to insist on savings?

Several forum contributors suggest that Spanish embassies/consulates in different U.S. cities interpret the requirements differently.  As we will be applying in Toronto, it would therefore be really nice to know what the experience has been at the Toronto consulate with regard to savings.

Would you agree that to be on the safe side, at least on the financial requirements, it may be best to show the required annual income AND savings? We will try to do that. The big question is the amount because we are not loaded. Thank you for taking a stab at this by suggesting an amount of 30-35k. Is that in USD? Also, any rationale for this figure will be very much appreciated.

With many regards,  -nowretired

The rationale for the figure is that the IPREM is what is used for income requirements. They require 400% of the IPREM for non-EU people on the non-lucrative visa.

It's 25,800 or so in Euros; that's 29,400ish US dollars. (Looks like the Canadian dollar isn't doing well, so 39,100 Canadian dollars.) So that's where I came up with the 30K figure.

That's for the first person in a household. After that, it's an additional 6454 euros per person, so for a couple it would be 32,270 euros = 36,700 USD = 48,800 CAN. (6454 is the 100% of the IPREM level.)

That's the income level. I'd assume that the level in the bank that they're looking for is at least one years' worth of living expenses, so my assumption is that's why they told the gal they denied that she needed 30,000 USD in the bank.

My suggestion is just tell them everything. It can't hurt, after all. If you've got a hundred grand in some kind of tax-advantaged retirement account, but it's not really money you can get easily, show it anyway- it's yours, after all. Same with income and so forth.

As for your speculation about age... beats me. I don't think the law differentiates for age, other than at some consulates or web pages you can read about "retiree" visa as as well as "non-lucrative" visa... but the requirements of the two are identical! So maybe the non-lucrative is aimed at people under 65? I don't know.

The actual web page for the law/regulations is found here: http://extranjeros.mitramiss.gob.es/es/ … index.html
including the references to the IPREM amount.

Good luck!

Good afternoon,

We are a retired couple from Ontario. We love Spain! We have been spending 3 months in the winter on the Costa Del Sol for 5 years. However, we would love to stay 6 months. We are considering getting our non-lucrative visa from the Embassy of Spain ( in Toronto). One of our concerns is that we cannot have a 6 month contract for an apartment unless we know we will be getting our non-lucrative visa. When I asked at the City hall in Spain, they did say a 6 month contract. We already have a 3 month contract for next winter but we cannot get this apartment afterwards.

I thought you might be interested in the following website for some of your answers tapasforever.com. This man has written all his steps to get his non-lucrative visa in Toronto.

Cheers,
Gr

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It looks like the website was not included. Just research tapas forever. You will be interested in what this man listed.

I meant the City Hall. They said 6 months.

When we arrive in Spain, we must go to the City to get our Padrón. This meant that we must prove that we have an apartment contract for 6 months or more. Before leaving Fuengirola this Spring, we went to the City Hall and we spoke to them. They said that they require 6 months or more ( apartment contract).

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