A few posts ago, we explored getting a long term student visa via a language school. If you don’t need to learn Spanish, there is another straightforward  residency visa you can apply for in Spain: The Non-Lucrative Residency Visa.

This is an option you may not have considered yet, especially if you aren’t familiar with business and work life in general over here. If you are quite entrepreneurial and not a worrier, then you’ll probably be just fine coming on over and figuring things out as you go (as I did). However, if you are uncomfortable with moving overseas with no work lined up, no visa and aren’t OK with just winging it, you might consider finding a position (or creating one) in the North America that will allow you to work remotely, so that your income is in dollars and paid into an American bank account.

In this scenario, you are eligible for a Non-Lucrative Residency visa that will allow you to stay long term as long as you are earning your money outside of Spain, can prove this income, can show that it is sufficient  to support yourself during your stay, and can fulfill all the other visa requirements. You can also apply for this visa if you have enough accessible in a savings account (I did this to obtain a long term visa in Australia years ago).

If you go for the remote job route, here are the advantages:

• US and Canadian salaries are about 3x higher than what any Spanish company will pay you, so you’ll be making a lot more than you would working here, even in a part time situation
• Spanish companies are extremely slow to hire and you cannot obtain a work visa while you are here anyway
• The cost of living is lower here even though taxes are much higher, mainly due to lifestyle and standards
• You will have a DNI immediately, which is a totally necessary item to do just about anything here
• You won’t be illegal
• You won’t have to leave every three months if you are worried about being illegal

The possible disadvantages are:

• You might have to match office hours in the part of North America the office is located, so you won’t have the same schedule as other workers here, which can be an issue for some (though for me it is perfect – My mornings are free and I work in the evenings and at night, which is my preference).
• You may have to be onsite occasionally for project kickoffs or meetings, which means expensive travel back to the US
• You won’t have the same holiday schedule as Spain, so when 4 and 5 day weekends come and everyone wants to leave, you might have to stay home and work (this will happen a lot because there are like 25 holidays a year here or something)
• You’ll need a decent home office with a good internet connection for meetings (trust me, this seems like it is an easy step but it isn’t) or you will have to rent a desk from a coworking space.

Along with you application form, photos, passport, application fee (which is $140 dollars at the time of writing), a medical certificate (which is only valid for 3 months), and:

Proof of Accommodation: You are required to submit the address of where you will live in Spain and the rental agreement or contract agreement if you are subletting a room. Obviously, this is tough to do when you are not yet in Spain, especially since any decent housing here goes quick and if you want to rent a room, you’d like as much information as possible. So other than renting through Air BnB, which is getting rather expensive though there are still deals to be found, you’ll want to find a place through sites that have verified rooms, apartments, and walk through videos if at all possible so you know what you are getting into! You can search for places via the map page of long term rentals in Barcelona.

Health Insurance: You’ll need to show proof of health/travel insurance for the duration of your stay. International or travel insurance should cover this just fine. You can get a quote from Travel Ex or find other international insurance companies and purchase for the correct length of time. I purchased World Nomads global insurance for one year, and it was accepted by the Los Angeles consulate when applying for a student visa. Some other long term international insurance options you can check out are: Travelguard.com and Allianz.com.

Proof of Sufficient Funds: If you are working for a US company, you just need to show that you earn enough to support yourself. This can be subjective but several consulate pages cite €2,130 a month as the required amount. You have to show three months of statements for this. If you are applying with savings, clearly you have to have enough to cover that amount for the number of months of visa you are applying for (e.g. €25,560 for a year visa).

FBI check: Yep, you need an FBI criminal record check, or a state criminal record check depending on your state. I had to do the FBI check coming from California. This is a huge pain in the ass as you have request your criminal record history from the FBI and then get fingerprinted and send everything along to the FBI for processing, which can take 30-60 days. You then need to get an Apostille stamp from a US Federal office.

While many of these steps are also needed for a student visa, you can see this option is a lot more expensive. But if you have the funds in the bank, a full time job at the time of application where you can work remotely, are a freelancer or own your own business and can work from anywhere, this is the easiest visa for you. Of course if you want to learn Spanish while you are here, a student visa is the way to go as it is cheaper and the schools will usually assist in the visa arrangements.

The second most common question I receive after the where should I live question is the “How Can I Stay Legally as an American?” question.

There are several ways to get residency in Spain–either for the short or long term. I have a long overdue interview I need to publish on this from someone who is taking a different route than what I am going to present here, but meanwhile, I want to share a relatively simple solution with my readers (Key word relatively. there are no simple solutions in reality)

Student Visa for Spain

Many Americans don’t know that you can get a student visa from language school. It’s true, you don’t need to attend a University to get a student visa. You just need an accredited language school where you attend classes for 20 hours a week or more. Now, there are a lot of language schools in Barcelona–I should know, I’ve attended no fewer than six seven of them–and each have their varying levels of cooperativeness in arranging the Spanish paperwork for a visa. I actually applied for a student visa in 2011 and received all the paperwork I needed from a school very quickly. Despite my level Spanish level being advanced intermediate at the time (B2 that would be called here), they enrolled me for a full year course, starting with the very beginning level and adding in study time for their level tests, in order to extend the length of the visa. Very helpful! I didn’t actually have to attend the beginning classes, and jumped into the program later at the advanced intermediate level, which I repeated, and then repeated the advanced level too.

Schools should work with you to arrange a 6 month, 9 month and 12 month visa if their class schedules coincide with those lengths – smart schools will have that figured out. (Some schools are better than others at this!) I would suggest a 9 month course, because that ensures that you get a visa that is over 180 days in length. Here is why you want a visa that is 180+ days: Because once it is up, you can renew it from Spain. No traveling back to the US and waiting around for another application to be processed.

You only need to be prepared to pay tuition up front, (and then of course fulfill the paperwork on the US side of the visa). Some schools are much more expensive than others, but all of them are a lot cheaper than a student visa from a University.

So if you looking for a way to extend your stay beyond the 30 day tourist visa, and are planning to learn Spanish while you are here anyway, a student visa could be a good solution for you.

Check the student visa requirements page for a detailed list of everything required (it’s long, but thorough).

Note: Apply for a student visa early. Getting all of the medical checks, FBI background check, paperwork and of course processing time can take up to three months!

A run-down of Barcelona barrios (neighborhoods)

One question I get a lot is “Where should I live in Barcelona?” to which my answer is: It depends. It depends on your lifestyle, what you are willing to pay, and which conveniences you need and the inconveniences you are willing to put up with. Do you want cheap rent? A swanky pad? To be in the middle of the action? peace and quiet? Barcelona offers everything you are looking for and they are all in different areas.

Note: If you are looking for short term accommodation–a couple of weeks to a couple of months–check the short term accommodation resources. If you’d like to look immediately for long term accommodation, including shared flats or student housing, check the long term rentals map page.

So let’s begin our tour with the city center, AKA Ciutat Vella, which is probably where your first place will be, and is comprised of four barrios:

Barrio Gotico

All the great history of Barcelona is right here, complete with Roman ruins glassed off in the middle of markets, banks, parks or just incorporated into the stone of newer (though still plenty old) buildings. Winding, ancient streets to get lost in and charming, modernist era bakeries and cafes, this is where all the tourists go to experience the history of the old Roman city or to get lost in the “European experience”.

Most expats choose to make this their first home in Barcelona, electing to move out after a year or two to get away from the noise of too-close neighbors, non-stop construction, vomiting tourists and the stench of pee. Still, it remains charming and exceptionally convenient, and if you can score decent terrace, you may choose to stay.

Barceloneta

View from Barceloneta flat

An old fishing village on the beach, constructed as seasonal housing for fisherman, so they are tiny, one room affairs stacked high and featuring the tiniest of balconies. Renovation, however, has created some real gems–full of light and with terraces to die for–but you’ll have to pay for these. Plenty of expats and immigrants live in these rows of simple flats and spend a lot of time in the shared community plazas, indeed, the smallness of these pisos require most ground floor residents to dry their laundry on the sidewalk. It’s generally a higher (organized) petty crime area, though primarily with drug dealing as there is a nearly 0% violent crime rate in all of Barcelona. Barceloneta is  a party place and is great for singles who want to be near the beach.

El Borne

AKA The Born. This used to be everyone’s second favorite barrio because of the many bars, good restaurants, high end fashion bargains, chill cafes and indie atmosphere. But tourism and crime is making its mark and expats are moving out. It’s part of the ancient city, and still very vibrant.

El Raval

A seedy, though relatively safe, barrio in the shadow of Montjuic, Raval is the home of many middle Asian immigrants which makes it the best place in Barcelona to find delicious, cheap Middle Eastern food. Musicians love Raval, it is jammed with bars and music venues, mostly smaller in size, but all of them feel like you have discovered a new treasure when you wander into a new place you never noticed before. The neighborhood has hundreds of years of history with gangs, drugs and prostitution. Within the last decade or so, Raval has (to the dismay of some) cleaned itself up though but it still isn’t a tourist area, though the city is trying to promote it as such. The prostitutes at every crossroads (most of which cars cannot fit through) still scare the tourists away.

L’Eixample

The Expansion of Barcelona, known more commonly as L’Eixample in Catalan. Pronounced, “ey-sham-pla”, it’s a massive grid of a city enlargement carried out in the1890s, connecting the Gotic area to the nearby pueblo of Gracia. It has a downtown metropolitan feel as opposed to an ancient Roman city feel…because it was designed to be a modern neighborhood. This higher end area was built in the industrial revolution and the start of the Modernist era, so there are many beautiful, Art Nouveau doorways and façades. It is somewhat lacks a community feel that the much more intimate (sometimes too intimate) closeness of the older parts of the old city offer, and also lacks the great plazas and open areas that the rest of Barcelona has, but it does host some good shopping, upscale bars and great restaurants. Eixample is divided into the izquierda (left) and derecha (right), with izquierda considered the higher (and therefore more expensive) end.

Gracia

This tends to be everyone’s favorite barrio. It’s full of hipsters, chic expats, artists, minimalists and even okupantes-the separatist squatters who sport dreadlocked mullets (girls included) and live off the government (or their parents). Originally a totally separate city from Barcelona until the Eixample connected the two cities, this ancient town has all the charm of the center without the smell. While you won’t find many ascensors (elevators/lifts) in any apartment block (there just isn’t space), the buildings rarely rise above three stories and many of them have been renovated or even made into lofts. It is relatively confusing for tourists to get to—the two metro stops are on the very outskirts of the barrio—but this helps Gracia remain unjaded and very much a locals haunt. Its main pedestrian street hosts a version original (original language version) cinema for those who can’t tolerate movies dubbed into Spanish (like me!) and the surrounding streets are full of quirky boutiques, ecological bakeries, cool cafes in beautiful plazas, wine bars and modern restaurants. The one and only drawback is its distance to the beaches, but the place is so charming you won’t care. And Barcelona is so small anyway, you can ride Bicing to the beach from there (it’s all downhill). This is the second place you will live, and when you move on to your third, you will think back on your year in Gracia with fondness.

Plaça del Sol in Gracia

Poble Sec

Butting up against Montjuic, and actually partially up the mountain, is the barrio of Poble Sec, Raval’s next door neighbor. This is a well connected area via metro and roads that you can actually drive on, right in the Montjuic area which is great for jogging, museum visiting, events and all kinds of outdoor things. I love climbing up it with my mountain bike and then riding around the trails at the top. In recent years, this barrio is the new hot spot and now offers plenty of worthwhile restaurants and bars of all types. Just have a look at Yelp and make a decision. Poble Sec has plenty of green areas and is a quieter neighborhood than most city center barrios. It’s also a very “Spanish” barrio, in that there is plenty of chatting with the lady at the bakery, the man who runs the liquor store and the sellers at the market.

Sants

A slightly cheaper area that has an “industrial park” with a green concrete lake, though the park is used as a park, with people playing sports and old people sitting around on the benches. The main train station is also here, which does mean traffic. However, down the smaller streets you’ll find lovely plazas, older buildings and a community feel. This area has everything, and while in the past it fell into disrepair, the city seems to be dedicating more money and effort to parks and community areas. This has also recently become the new gay area, so it is slowly getting beautified. It sits right above Plaza España, which offers Fira Convention center in and the new 5 level shopping center that was once Barcelona’s bullring (bull fighting is illegal in Catalunya, hence their symbol is the donkey, not the bull like the rest of Spain).

Les Corts 

Just about Sant is les Corts. This is where the famous FGC Barcelona stadium, Camp Nou, is. This is a newer area, and thus has more car traffic than older areas: streets are wider, parking is more plentiful (though never outright plentiful) but lacking somewhat in charm in my opinion. This is one of the areas where wealthy Catalans come from their homes outside the city to shop. This also hosts the Polytechnic University just above a nice park, Parc de Pedralbes, which contains the former residence of the Spanish royal family.

Sarriá and Sant Gervasi

Sarriá and Sant Gervasi are wealthy barrios heading up the hill from L’Eixample. There are plenty of green areas, wide streets, trees and parks and wide walking ramblas (the Spanish love their ramblas). Sarriá used to be its own barrio, though not as old as Gracia, so it’s got a cool pueblo feel to it. They are both devoid of tourism as they are just nice, expensive, quiet areas. They do have the Ferro Carrils which are short distance trains that go downtown and connect to the metros. It is interesting to note that the further you get from the beach, the more expensive the areas get.

Poble Nou

All the way on the other side of town is Poble Nou, ‘new town’ in Catalan and pronounced “pob-la no,” is a study in contrasts. This is an old industrial district with brick warehouses and factories that have either been turned into trendy lofts, or left to crumble. Many an old factory are still waiting for reconstruction and plenty of gitanos (gypsies) make their homes in them, or in the places they used to stand- there are a grip of vacant lots around with a old brick wall left alone in the middle of them, next to a beautiful new construction of desirable flats. Smoke stacks, with the buildings they once supported completely torn down, stand alone in the middle of parks or plazas. Poble Nou has seen the most new construction of any barrio in Barcelona. The barrio is the hot new trendy place to live, with a great main street that goes from Diagonal directly to the beach, plenty of decent restaurants and zero tourism.

Horta-Giunardó

In the North-Eastern corner of Barcelona is the Horta-Guinardo district. Not a popular place for expats, because it is far from the beach and is extremely hilly. Until the last decades of the last century the area was occupied by fields, quarries, pastures and farmhouses, including Mas Guinardó which gave the neighborhood its name. Housing on the hillsides was mostly built in the 1960s and 70s, when immigrant workers were encouraged to move to Spain by Franco. Rents are cheap, though there isn’t exactly a bustling nightlife as the population seems to still be those immigrants that moved there in the 60s and 70s. But I like this area for its old charm and total lack of tourism. There are several remarkable things in this area, including a velodrome and a hilltop that features a lookout where the remains of an anti-aircraft lookout (complete with gun) from the Spanish civil war sits on a site where a shanty village was later constructed and only recently razed. 

Outside Barcelona

The outskirts of Barcelona offers cities such as Sitges, a favorite for retired European gay couples with money and British families. Go figure. It’s a cute little beach town that was formerly a fishing village. It became a trendy place to live when the Catalan bourgeoisie began building their summer homes in Sitges in the 19th century. Great nightlife (though most of the clubs and bars are gay). As you can imagine, there is an amazing Mardi Gras parade here every year.

Finally, back to the other side of Barcelona, where the outskirts are Besos and further north, Badalona. This is where the Andalusian-Galician Spaniard immigrated in the 1960s and 70s: Now it’s a mix of Latin American, Pakistani, Chinese and Eastern Europe immigrants living alongside the adult children of the Southern Spanish immigrants. Badalona has also undergone a recent gentrification, on the beach fronts anyway, and you will generally fine cleaner, less crowded beaches that are still plenty lively. Everything is cheaper too: rent, restaurants, services. The major deterrent from living here–and most points north up to nearly Girona–are the train tracks that split the beach from the beach front property in most areas.

You likely won’t be looking to live beyond the metropolitan area, unless you want some land for animals, grapes, or an otherwise quiet rural life, which is likely not the reason you are moving here in the first place, though it may be where you end up ten years from now.

As I recommend in my upon arriving to Barcelona post, the very first thing to do is get a Spanish phone number! The easiest and fastest way is to buy a cheap, pre-paid phone when you get there.

Contracts are totally different than in the US, all phones are unlocked and they are not contracted to be sold only with certain phone service companies. It is a better and cheaper system.

If you wanted to run you US phone number and your Spanish phone number in the same phone, you can do that too! I had one for a few years – it was very handy to not have to cart and charge two separate phones. Here are just a couple examples of unlocked dual SIM phones:

I’ll stop with the phone promos, there are tons on Amazon I have just discovered. You can also find some on eBay, but a lot of those are pretty low quality phones and imitations. I am speaking from experience here…. I bought one on eBay a couple years ago which worked great, but it was a no-name Chinese model, and thinking about it now reminds me to recommend staying away from the no-name Chinese phones. Not only are they are impossible to navigate, they come with strange videos, weird and useless features like UHF Television functions and of course, awful ringtones.

 First things first

Assuming that you have arrived and settled into your short term accommodations, your first or second full day in your new home Barcelona should look something like this.

1. Get a pay-as-you-go Spanish SIM card. 

This is absolutely your number one priority. Don’t worry, it’s easy and it’s cheap. You don’t have to bother with a contract right now, but you need a local phone number, as it will be your most used tool in settling yourself in and meeting new friends. Trust me on this.

2. Take a bus tour of the entire city.

Barcelona Bus Turistic

No really, I’m serious.

The big red double decker Bus Turistic right at Plaça Catalunya will take you all over the city with an audio accompaniment in your language of choice. I don’t recommend jumping off at the tourist spots—save those for when you have visiting family or friends—but use it to learn about all the neighborhoods in the city. This will likely take you all day, but you will learn some history and you will be miles ahead of those (like me) who failed to do this and struggled for months trying to find which barrio was right for me. This is a bigger deal than it sounds – see why in this post.

3. Start your house search

Take your computer to a café or free WiFi area and go to idealista.com or Pisocompartido.com and begin your search for a place to live.

Even if you have rented a place for a month, start your search now. It is tedious and you need to get a feel for each area and what you are up against as far as finding a decent place to live goes. Open the site and peruse the photos, prices and areas and make some notes about which ones interest you. There are some listings in English but those will likely be the more expensive and agency placed ads. So use an online translator in a new tab and copy and paste the text to get the gist of what each place is like. If you are feeling bold, email a few of the best ones on your list with your name, phone number, a little bit about yourself and a suggested date to see the apartment.

Note: Beware of ridiculously low priced nice, furnished two or more bedroom apartments. These are scams. They will ask you to deposit money into a bank account and pick up a key without ever meeting anyone in person. You will never find the key, nor hear from the thieves again.

4. Sign up with Meetup and Internations

Meetup: There are tons of groups in Barcelona. Join a few and get out and meet some like minded people. There are plenty of expat groups, Spanish/English intercambios (language practice and exchange), various activities like yoga, networking, eating, drinking, photography, volleyball, hiking and activities you otherwise do not need to bring your own special equipment nor transportation for. You will likely meet your very first friends this way.

For networking and socializing with professional minded people, you’ll want to sign up for an Internations account. This is a great group that throws monthly networking events in fabulous locations. I’ve met many interesting professionals from these events.

5. Sign up for a Spanish course.

There are so many in Barcelona, most of which are very good, and you need to learn Spanish as well as meet more people in the area. The classroom is a great way to do it, plus your new friends can also help you with your house hunt. You can even get a year long student visa from certain Spanish schools.

I have been to four six seven different language schools in Barcelona and there is only one I recommend staying away from, and I can’t for the life of me remember the name. It is the one at the end of La Rambla (as in closest to the sea). In fact, I recommend staying away from anything on or near La Rambla unless you want to mingle with tourists, thieves, jaded workers and terrible food.

Your first day is complete, good job.