Never Retire: Can I Get A Visa With My Cerveza?

The two-year plus plan you need when you're moving abroad

I first contacted the person who will assemble and submit our application for Spain’s Digital Nomad Visa (the DNV, which is actually a three-year residence permit) on March 5, 2024. Just a few days after we returned from Spain in February of this year.

I recall Melisse saying that the feeling of being happy you’re home after a trip wasn’t quite there. Sitting in traffic in LA’s car-dependent wasteland on the way from the airport made it clear: Not only do we not want to live here anymore, sino we want to live in Spain.

In June and July of 2023, I joined two Facebook groups about the DNV. Now—here we are—a year and a half later. And, in about two weeks, we’ll submit our application.

You might call my advance planning unnecessarily extreme. For reasons I’ll articulate in today’s installment, I might say you’re wrong!

Planning ahead like this has had meaningful intended and unintended consequences. Some have paid dividends. I hope that they—along with others—continue to do so.

On the other end of the spectrum, you see this type of stuff in the Facebook Groups all of the time:

Hola! We arrived in Spain yesterday and we want to apply for the visa. What are the documents we need to apply and can we just go straight to the office to do it? Gracias!