# moving to spain for 6 months



## rogerjsy (Aug 22, 2015)

hi chaps/girlies
im a 47yr old british guy who is married to a filipina and we are currently living in the philippines with our 8 month old daughter, my wife has never left the country where as i of course am an EU citizen im from jersey channel islands and intend to return there with my wife and sprog however ive heard so many horror stories about the uk embassy taking your money and still refusing visa's that im very sceptical about blowing almost a grand on a visa application and its turned down for whatever reason they can think up ive heard that i can move to an EU country for 3 months or so and apply for a residents permit for myself and said wife that would make her an EU citizen then we could travel back to the uk/channel islands without her applying for a visa is this true? or does anyone know a way i could do it? i have a british born cousin who been living in spain for over 30 years and is of course fluent in spanish and can provide us with accomodation etc and ive asked for her help but if anyone who knows spanish law/immigration matters on this subject could help id be most gratefull
thanks all!


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## brocher (Mar 21, 2011)

rogerjsy said:


> hi chaps/girlies
> im a 47yr old british guy who is married to a filipina and we are currently living in the philippines with our 8 month old daughter, my wife has never left the country where as i of course am an EU citizen im from jersey channel islands and intend to return there with my wife and sprog however ive heard so many horror stories about the uk embassy taking your money and still refusing visa's that im very sceptical about blowing almost a grand on a visa application and its turned down for whatever reason they can think up ive heard that i can move to an EU country for 3 months or so and apply for a residents permit for myself and said wife that would make her an EU citizen then we could travel back to the uk/channel islands without her applying for a visa is this true? or does anyone know a way i could do it? i have a british born cousin who been living in spain for over 30 years and is of course fluent in spanish and can provide us with accomodation etc and ive asked for her help but if anyone who knows spanish law/immigration matters on this subject could help id be most gratefull
> thanks all!


I think you have got a bit muddled up there. 

As an EU citizen you can go to Spain, and within 90 days you must apply for residence. To do so you must fulfil certain financial and healthcare criteria. Then you can apply for your wife's residence, proving again that you can meet further financial and healthcare criteria to support her, but that does not make her an EU citizen, nor does it give her the right to travel around as an EU citizen. 

She will probably need a visa to go to Spain in the first place - someone else will confirm that.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

rogerjsy said:


> hi chaps/girlies
> im a 47yr old british guy who is married to a filipina and we are currently living in the philippines with our 8 month old daughter, my wife has never left the country where as i of course am an EU citizen im from jersey channel islands and intend to return there with my wife and sprog however ive heard so many horror stories about the uk embassy taking your money and still refusing visa's that im very sceptical about blowing almost a grand on a visa application and its turned down for whatever reason they can think up ive heard that i can move to an EU country for 3 months or so and apply for a residents permit for myself and said wife that would make her an EU citizen then we could travel back to the uk/channel islands without her applying for a visa is this true? or does anyone know a way i could do it? i have a british born cousin who been living in spain for over 30 years and is of course fluent in spanish and can provide us with accomodation etc and ive asked for her help but if anyone who knows spanish law/immigration matters on this subject could help id be most gratefull
> thanks all!


There is no residency permit for a EU citizen to come to Spain. All you have to do is register and to be able to do that you need to, as Brocher says, fulfil certain financial and healthcare criteria.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

rogerjsy said:


> hi chaps/girlies
> im a 47yr old british guy who is married to a filipina and we are currently living in the philippines with our 8 month old daughter, my wife has never left the country where as i of course am an EU citizen im from jersey channel islands and intend to return there with my wife and sprog however ive heard so many horror stories about the uk embassy taking your money and still refusing visa's that im very sceptical about blowing almost a grand on a visa application and its turned down for whatever reason they can think up ive heard that i can move to an EU country for 3 months or so and apply for a residents permit for myself and said wife that would make her an EU citizen then we could travel back to the uk/channel islands without her applying for a visa is this true? or does anyone know a way i could do it? i have a british born cousin who been living in spain for over 30 years and is of course fluent in spanish and can provide us with accomodation etc and ive asked for her help but if anyone who knows spanish law/immigration matters on this subject could help id be most gratefull
> thanks all!


:welcome:
yes she'll need a visa from the Spanish consulate to enter Spain, as will your daughter if she doesn't have an EU passport

once here, as Brocher says, you will have to register as resident - there's info about that in our http://www.expatforum.com/expats/sp...-living-spain/2725-faqs-lots-useful-info.html 

once you have registered, your wife (& child if no EU passport) can apply for *residency* as _family of an EU citizen exercising treaty rights, _again, as said, satisfying financial & other requirements - & it isn't automatically granted

residency & citizenship are totally different - but your wife as a filipina can apply for Spanish citizenship after two years as a legal resident of Spain - only then would she be able to travel freely within the EU

however, the citizenship process can take a couple of years - so you could be looking at living here 4 years if the end plan is to get your wife an EU passport

if she came from almost anywhere else she wouldn't be able to apply for citizenship until she'd been legally resident here for ten years - so she's lucky


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