The non-lucrative visa, or NLV as it is often referred to, is an authorisation that allows non-EU foreigners to live in Spain without working or carrying out economic activities, by demonstrating that they have sufficient financial means for themselves and, if applicable, their families.
In Spanish it’s called a ‘non-lucrative residence visa‘ and is often referred to as a retirement visa, as this is the best option for retirees from non-EU countries who want to spend their golden years in Spain.
READ ALSO: What are the pros and cons of Spain’s non-lucrative visa?
However, those of any age can apply for the visa, as long as they meet the requirements such as having the correct amount of savings or passive income, having private health insurance, and not working while you’re in Spain.
It may take a while to get proof of all of this and get all your documents together, but how long will it take for your application to be processed and receive a response to say if you’ve been successful or not?
When they apply, many people may have already given up or are about to give up their job back home or made plans to rent or sell their house and are anxious about how long the application will take, wanting to begin their new adventure in Spain as soon as possible.
READ ALSO: What you need to know about applying for Spain’s non-lucrative visa
In theory it takes one month
According to article 48.4 of the Immigration Regulations, “the Government Delegation or Subdelegation must decide within a maximum period of 1 month from receipt of the request”.
This same law is echoed by several law firms in Spain when talking about the application time for non-lucrative visas, including Balcells Group in Barcelona, DEABOGA in Madrid and Sigma Six Lawyers in Valencia.
In reality, it can take longer
In reality, however, many applicants are finding that they’re having to wait a lot longer than one month in order to receive a response.
Backlogs are being blamed on the Covid-19 pandemic and strikes among staff at Spanish embassies and consulates, among others, but sometimes applications are just taking a lot longer because of the number of people applying and the number of staff available.
The amount of time you need to wait for your application to be processed seems to primarily depend on where you apply.
Waiting times for applying from the US
Those in certain US states seem to be waiting a particularly long time for their visas at the moment.
On the Facebook Group Spanish NLV one member said: “I applied April in San Francisco and they requested our passports 5 weeks ago. I went there in person yesterday and no visa. They didn’t even have time to see the documents or open the envelopes with our passports. They apologised and said that may take 6 more weeks”.
Another member also applying in San Francisco confirmed that they had been waiting five months for the consulate to process their visa.
While in Florida, another member said: “We are coming up on our 6-week mark since sending our NLV applications to the Miami consulate”.
But, as we said above, it seems to entirely depend on where you apply because some consulates are managing to process applications within the required time.
A member of the Facebook group who contacted the Chicago consulate said staff confirmed that the whole process would take exactly four weeks, while one in New York said that they had theirs processed in 2-3 weeks.
Waiting times applying from the UK
While processing times for Brits seem to be marginally quicker than those applying from the US, it seems that they are still having to wait more than a month.
One member of the NLV group said: “We are hoping to use Manchester and were told that the waiting time is 2 months roughly at the moment”.
While another applying through the London consulate explained: Just had our appointment today they said it could be up to 3 months as there is a backlog in Madrid”.
READ ALSO: How much money do Britons need to move to Spain in 2022?
Those applying from Scotland may also have to wait longer, as another member confirmed: “My partner had his appointment June 6th (has a very healthy bank balance) and STILL no visa, 12 weeks on Monday. I don’t know why it’s taking so long, you see people applying after you and they have their visas within 4 to 5 weeks”.
Our advice is to contact the consulate in your city or area of the country first to find out how long the processing might take, so you have an idea before you apply.
Waiting to get an appointment is also causing a delay
It’s not just the processing time, which is making the whole NLV application take longer, it can sometimes can a long time just to get an appointment to go to the consulate in the first place.
An applicant wrote on social media: “Shaking, finally got an appointment at the London Consulate for September 20th, been trying since August 16th”.
While another confirmed: “We got our appointments for the same date and have been trying since the end of July!”
This could add another two weeks or more to the process. But, it’s important to point out that some people get their appointments very quickly.
One reader said that they received their appointment at the Manchester consulate after only one week, while another said they got a response in just 24 hours, offering them an appointment for the following week.
The delay might be down to you
A delay, however, may not only be down to the staff at the consulate, it could also be down to you.
If you haven’t provided all the necessary documentation or sorted out everything you need to such as bank statements and proof of private medical insurance, then the consulate will need to come back to you, asking for more information and creating a setback.
It may also depend on the time of year you decide to apply for your NLV. If you apply in August for example, many staff may be on holiday. You may decide to apply in January because your new year’s resolution is to live in Spain for a year, but if many others have decided to do this at the same time, the processing time will take longer.
The best solution is to contact your local Spanish consulate several months ahead of time and ask them when the best time of year is to apply and when they receive the least amount of applications.
One reader pointed out that consulates are processing student visas throughout the summer, up until September, so those applying for the NLV, should try after that time instead.