Hi folks:

Anyone applied to renew their student visa without being a university student?

I was hired last year to work as an English teacher- instead of getting me a work visa (I was still in the US) the school gave me a letter saying I was enrolling as a student and I ended up with a student visa (then they gave me a weird contract saying I was their “intern” instead of employee)....for this and other sketchiness, I am no longer working there.

A year later, I need to renew my student visa so I can continue to live here and work without worrying about being totally illegal.

I am concerned mainly about one thing: the requirements for renewal say that I need to present a letter from my “university” saying I have passing grades. However, since I am not actually a student, and because I no longer have a good relationship with this school, I do not have such a letter.

What I do have is another letter, from the academy where I now work, saying that I have registered as a full-time student of spanish and TESL methodology, so that fullfills at least the “being a student” requirement.

Any ideas? Am I screwed?

orangemacaroni,
did you apply for a student card when you arrive? what is the expiry date of your visa?

I have a student card, yes. The expiry date is July 27th. I am going back to the states from the 1st of July to August 15, and am staying in Madrid definitely until December 20th of the same year- which is just over 4 months, which means I would (I think?) be just about within the bounds of a tourist visa (uh, except for the working thing) and I assume that probably no one would bother me? Still though, I am not sure if I will be leaving in December, and would like the option to stay longer without being totally illegal.

I suppose now that I think of it, I could also apply for a new student card and student number while in the States, and then it would not be a problem that I don’t have the correct letter to renew? That seems like extra hassle though….

Advice?

orangemacaroni,
since you have a student card, the best thing would be to renew it.
you can enrol at the escuela oficial de idiomas in spanish to justify the renewal.
send the the required amount of money from the usa to your bank account in spain.
and submit all the requirements for renewal before the card expires.

orangemacaroni - 16 June 2010 11:06 PM

I have a student card, yes. The expiry date is July 27th. I am going back to the states from the 1st of July to August 15, and am staying in Madrid definitely until December 20th of the same year- which is just over 4 months, which means I would (I think?) be just about within the bounds of a tourist visa (uh, except for the working thing) and I assume that probably no one would bother me? Still though, I am not sure if I will be leaving in December, and would like the option to stay longer without being totally illegal.

I suppose now that I think of it, I could also apply for a new student card and student number while in the States, and then it would not be a problem that I don’t have the correct letter to renew? That seems like extra hassle though….

Advice?

Oh, oh dear. Get to extranjeria if you can before you leave for the States. As I understood it, if the card expires you have to go through the student visa process all over again from the States. I do not think you can renew the NIE from the US.

Good luck, but I think you’re running a really fine line. Cuidado, and if you’re looking to keep your current NIE, TRY to get it renewed in some way before you head home.

Orange…
What sort of contract did your first job offer you that made it work on student terms? I am trying to extend my student residency one more year but I didn’t know a language academy could offer you a contract that fit student residency requirements…

For orangemacaroni (or anyone else who has a student visa and has been to the Comisaria recently):

I have a student visa and have an appointment this month to ‘register’ it at the Comisaria in order to get my ‘tarjeta de estudiante.’  Is it okay to change where you are taking classes?  When I applied for my student visa I registered and paid for courses at one location, but now I would like to study somewhere else.  I can still get a refund on the course if I cancel soon (but before my appointment at the Comisaria).  Has anyone else done this?  Does the Comisaria verify where you are studying?  Do you have to show any other documents besides the ‘carta de invitacion’ that you needed for the visa application?  Do you get your student card right away or do you have to pick it up later?  Thanks in advance for any help!

Honestly, I suggest that you call the Comisaria and ask them- I don’t think they verify where you are taking classes though, and you already have a letter from the original school so you should be fine…you pick your student card up a few weeks (I think) later. But really, call them!

thanks for the quick reply, orangemacaroni!  I’ve been stressing about this, but feel better now.  I will try giving the comisaria a call.  I was thinking of pushing back my start dates for the course so that I could cancel after my visit to the comisaria, but it just feels a little weird to me.  I’d rather just cancel the course outright and be done with it.  That said, I don’t want to do anything to jeopardize my student visa because it was a hassle to get it in the first place!