Dealing with the Spanish Foreign Offices

FRUSTRATIONS – Procedures and appointments

Considering that behind each application for an NIE, Residence or VISA renewal, there is a life, a job, a family, a person. Is it fair that there are delays of months in applications to the immigration office? Procedures that, for example, should be resolved within 45 days, are now taking up to 7 months in some cities. These poor people who have applied for their residence, or renewal, are left in legal limbo and in a situation of complete uncertainty.

It is important to say they are not in an illegal situation while their file is being resolved, but there are many other procedures that they will not be able to carry out without their approved residency card.
Is it so complicated to increase the staff of the Foreign Offices considering the collapse that exists? We cannot allow this mess in such delicate matters in a first-world country like Spain and with so many foreigners arriving who want to establish their lives here.

In addition to this, we also have the impossible problem of getting an appointment in any office. Appointments are published and need applying for on the relevant website, to request for them online isn’t very easy and after only a few minutes of them being released they’ve all been taken! ☹

It seems that the high demand for these appointments and the complexity of booking one is becoming good business for the few.

We all know that there are people and/or companies, which are dedicated to booking as many available appointments as they can and then selling them to desperate people for incredible prices. These prices can range from €80 to €400. But of course, if you were desperate to regulate your situation in a country, you’d probably consider this option and buy your appointment.

Finally, we can also add the lack of information regarding the documents and the correct application process to this problem. The paperwork and the requirements of the procedures are just not clear enough. If we need any clarification, it is very difficult to get help or to ask for specific indications of how the process should be. If you need help, you have the option of making an appointment to gain information at the immigration offices, but of course, is it almost impossible to make an appointment?

Of course, as in every procedure and in every administration, there are ways to get your application submitted or your appointment faster than most. This is probably more to do with ‘who you know’! Obviously to publicly imply this directly could cause legal problems.

We have, as well as other administrative managers, advisers and lawyers denounced many administrations who have this lack of control in the immigration police offices, but at the moment it seems that nobody responds or is interested in being able to improve the situation. So we will have to continue fighting and in the meantime, try and make our clients aware and understand that the process is not in our hands, that we do our best but the system is not on our side and as yet doesn’t help us.