Spring semester abroad

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. It is Spain. The agency who was suppose to complete the visa gave the option of going on a tourist visa. It was not her idea. She completed all the necessary paperwork in time. The consulate office is saying they cannot complete her visa (and others) in time.

All she needs to do is leave the country once before the 90 days is up and come back into Spain. Which she is guaranteed to do. She will travel while she is there. She will jump on a train to France Italy etc. That will reset her tourist visa timetable so she can wrap up the semester. She’d be fine doing this. It’s not like she is going for the purpose of trying to abuse or take advantage of the social services of the country or gain employment there which is what immigration and visa process is really about. Yes she is taking classes but for all intents and purposes she is a tourist.

She probably needs to leave the schengen, not just hop on a train to France.

[Anonymous]

She cannot come back into the country after 90 days. She would have to wait another 90 days to do so.

https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/schengen-borders-and-visa/schengen-visa_en

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She would not use the wrong visa. She would have a 90 days visitor visa and then leave the country to come home.

But she is there to attend school. So she’s violating the terms of the tourist visa.

What country is this? What’s the hold up? It’s late November. Why can’t she get the visa in time? Did she apply for it too late?

It’s. Odd to me that the embassy would need more than a month or two.

Your tone is so "judgey," rather than helpful. Do you walk around the world like that?

NP. I didn’t remotely get a judgey tone from that post. I did get that tone from your post.

[Anonymous]

Consulate webpage says it’s taking 8 weeks to turn around a student visa. They are also doing walk-ins again, 9-12 am mondays and Thursdays. I’d go in person with the forms filled out and inquire tomorrow.

http://www.exteriores.gob.es/Consulados/WASHINGTON/es/Consulado/Paginas/Requisitos%20y%20tramites%20consulares/Visados-y-NIEs.aspx

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Consulate webpage says it’s taking 8 weeks to turn around a student visa. They are also doing walk-ins again, 9-12 am mondays and Thursdays. I’d go in person with the forms filled out and inquire tomorrow.

http://www.exteriores.gob.es/Consulados/WASHINGTON/es/Consulado/Paginas/Requisitos%20y%20tramites%20consulares/Visados-y-NIEs.aspx

Unfortunately It says they won’t accept student visa in person. Only by mail.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. It is Spain. The agency who was suppose to complete the visa gave the option of going on a tourist visa. It was not her idea. She completed all the necessary paperwork in time. The consulate office is saying they cannot complete her visa (and others) in time.

All she needs to do is leave the country once before the 90 days is up and come back into Spain. Which she is guaranteed to do. She will travel while she is there. She will jump on a train to France Italy etc. That will reset her tourist visa timetable so she can wrap up the semester. She’d be fine doing this. It’s not like she is going for the purpose of trying to abuse or take advantage of the social services of the country or gain employment there which is what immigration and visa process is really about. Yes she is taking classes but for all intents and purposes she is a tourist.

This is terrible advice and totally incorrect. You cannot just roll a 90 visa with a break of a day or two.
I would wait until your child can get the right visa and be sure she will be there to sit her exams.
What happens if she does the 90 days on a tourist visa (already a questionable idea) and she can’t sit the exams? That is a real issue.
I have lived and travelled in Europe extensively and I would not recommend to go in on a tourist visa.
It’s a bad idea on almost every level

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. It is Spain. The agency who was suppose to complete the visa gave the option of going on a tourist visa. It was not her idea. She completed all the necessary paperwork in time. The consulate office is saying they cannot complete her visa (and others) in time.

All she needs to do is leave the country once before the 90 days is up and come back into Spain. Which she is guaranteed to do. She will travel while she is there. She will jump on a train to France Italy etc. That will reset her tourist visa timetable so she can wrap up the semester. She’d be fine doing this. It’s not like she is going for the purpose of trying to abuse or take advantage of the social services of the country or gain employment there which is what immigration and visa process is really about. Yes she is taking classes but for all intents and purposes she is a tourist.

This is terrible advice and totally incorrect. You cannot just roll a 90 visa with a break of a day or two.
I would wait until your child can get the right visa and be sure she will be there to sit her exams.
What happens if she does the 90 days on a tourist visa (already a questionable idea) and she can’t sit the exams? That is a real issue.
I have lived and travelled in Europe extensively and I would not recommend to go in on a tourist visa.
It’s a bad idea on almost every level

Op here. She is applying to get student visa. However the study abroad people say she can do the 90 day visa and take her exams remotely so that is still an option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Consulate webpage says it’s taking 8 weeks to turn around a student visa. They are also doing walk-ins again, 9-12 am mondays and Thursdays. I’d go in person with the forms filled out and inquire tomorrow.

http://www.exteriores.gob.es/Consulados/WASHINGTON/es/Consulado/Paginas/Requisitos%20y%20tramites%20consulares/Visados-y-NIEs.aspx

I’d actually ask at the consulate if she could somehow use the tourist visa as a temporary backup if the request for the student visa will take a long time. Maybe Spain would officially let a student do that and she wouldn’t have to lie.

But I think the real issue is that, for omicron lockdown purposes, Spain might treat visitors coming in on a student visa better than visitors coming in on a visitor’s visa.

If she can still go, things to think about:

- If she gets stuck for a year because of omicron, where would she rather get stuck?

- If she gets stuck in Spain for a year, how will her U.S. school respond?

- Does the organization arranging the study abroad opportunity have plugged-in people who’d really care about the well-being of your kid? How did it handle the kids it was serving in March 2020?

- Can your kid get travel insurance or student health insurance with medical evacuation coverage that would cover people with Covid? And how would the health coverage work if she got COVID in Spain?

- Can she afford to buy a big bag of lockdown food (say, cereal, tuna, cookies, peanut butter, etc.) and stick it in a closet or corner somewhere?

- Has she handled her own medical office visits at least once, and has she gotten herself on a commercial flight at least once?

If she looks at tips like those and thinks, “Wow, an adventure,” that’s a sign going to Spain would be fun. If she looks at the list and gets scared, maybe she should stay in the U.S. this year and go to Spain next year.