How to prolong visa to stay longer in Spain ?

Question

Mongolian, currently living in Spain, would like to prolong my visa cos going to expire soon. And no idea how to, if there is anyone who know something please answer me. Thanks.

Answer 1

Hi venerable son of the noble land of the Golden Horde. What type of visa? This would help. Put it next time please in question. I will list some visas and possibilities:

1) Tourist visa,  if you have a tourist visa probably it expires in 3 to 6 months after arriving in Spain. So to update it and get a prolongation you only need to leave Spain for one day. Just travel to Portugal or Andorra or France, preferibly on a noe two or tweekend excursion, better if is is a charterd or grup excursion. It will automatically renovate itself if you get border officials to stamp your entry and/or exit, this will automatically grant you another 3-6 months, or whatever length your actual tourist visa has.

2) Student visa. This is easy. Just get good grades and ask for a visa exrtension to complete your studies. You can alos change from Visitor to Student visa, once accepted by a University /School /Whatever just need to ask for a visa status change presnting the documents of admission.

Maybe they will ask you to present the documents outside Spain. So again go to the nearest large city in Portugal, France or Andorra with a Spanish consulate or embassy and present your papers there. This might cost you something since travelling and staying some days for new visa costs money.

3) Work Visa

If you are already working just apply for an extension due to working demands. That is quite easy. You can also change from Visitor to Working visa by getting a job and presenting papers of visa status change. If you have friends they can even give you a "job" so you can apply for the Visa cha nge. Again maybe they make you leave the country temporarily to presnt papers outside spain, do the same as in 2 but working documentation.

4) Permanet Visa.

You marry a Spanish girl /guy and first they give you a temporary visa then they give you a 5 year visa then permanent visa. There are people who will do it for different reason, marrying I mean, money being one of them. If you get a job during that time better.

5) Nationality or Citizenship

Either you fullfill 2, 3, or 4 you can only get this definitive solution if you are a Politica refugee and hence are granted Political refugee status or Permission. Obvious and self exoplanatory you need to demonstrate that if you go back to mongolia they will kill you or inprisson you or whatever really bad. This is not easy.

If you speak spanish decently, and you have some schooling, you can try getting a translator job, with Spanish Government, which I am sure in Spain the government is running short on mongolian translators.

Also if you can take your documents and hire the services of a Gestoria. It is not that they will do something impossible but they have the resources so that you do not have to go in person to perform many bureaucratic matters.

Also they have the legal resources to inform you well about whatever you need and provide you the forms/applications required you need to fill. Just make sure you choose a good one,  however I have been now away from my country some time so dont know which one to recommend. Find a good one in Madrid, since there is where they cut the cheese.

Good Luck

San

PS: Also the last possibility is that you ignore the visa extinction and stay in Spain. You would not be the first one to do that. This is quite easy and do not need to worry since in general, asian specially Mongolia, Chinese or Japanese, are well tolerated in Spain since they are gernerally educated and onconspicuous. It is quite rare that you get a cop to ask you for your papers if you do not do something really unfortunate. So that will give you time to prepeare for one of the above. When you present the new papers you can always say that you did leave Spain when it expired but no-one stamped your passport in the border. Quite normal today with EU and all.

Answer 2

If you got a type C Schengen visa, option 1) Santiago F wrote about does not work.

Your stay is limited to 90 days out of 180 days in the Schengen area. Crossing the border into Portugal etc will not work to renew it because Portugal is part of the Schengen treaty. Visa-wise you are still in the same country.

You will have to leave Spain and go to Morocco and stay there for 90 days after your 90 days in the Schengen territory are over.

You will then have to apply for a new C-type tourist visa to Spain in Morocco. You can enter Spain again on the 181st day after the day of your first entry to Spain.

Alternatively try to apply for a residency permit / D-type Schengen visa. Good luck with it.  A tip: try to search for the text of the Spanish laws regarding foreigners in Spain. Read it, maybe it gives you some ideas. Sites that have these texts are usually also trying to help with visa problems.