# How long does it take to get a work Visa coming from the US??



## JennJ35 (Jan 16, 2012)

My husband is considering a job offer in Spain.
We are from the US

I am just doing a little research on obtaining our visas.
His prospective employer says they will handle everything 
but I am just trying to plan for our families future as far as when he will be leaving.
Because I need to stay here until the kids are out of school in May.

I have been scouring the consulate/embassy websites and can't find out any info as far as how long it takes to get one>???

We would be getting ours from the Chicago office.

Any stories good or bad would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks as always for all your help!

Jenn


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## Brangus (May 1, 2010)

JennJ35 said:


> I have been scouring the consulate/embassy websites and can't find out any info as far as how long it takes to get one>???
> 
> We would be getting ours from the Chicago office.


From what I understand, all of the consulates send the paperwork to Madrid for processing.

Two years ago, at this time of year, my husband applied at a Spanish consulate here in Europe and received his visa in 1.5 months. It took a bit longer for my son and me -- about 3 months.

My husband had asked how long it would take to get the visa and they didn't want to provide an estimate. He, too, scoured the internet and was able to glean from the website of the Mexico City consulate that it would be about 3 months.


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## JennJ35 (Jan 16, 2012)

Brangus said:


> From what I understand, all of the consulates send the paperwork to Madrid for processing.
> 
> Two years ago, at this time of year, my husband applied at a Spanish consulate here in Europe and received his visa in 1.5 months. It took a bit longer for my son and me -- about 3 months.
> 
> My husband had asked how long it would take to get the visa and they didn't want to provide an estimate. He, too, scoured the internet and was able to glean from the website of the Mexico City consulate that it would be about 3 months.


Thanks so much for sharing your experience.
Was your husband able to work in Spain before he got his visa?
Or did he wait until he received it to go over?

Jenn


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## Brangus (May 1, 2010)

JennJ35 said:


> Was your husband able to work in Spain before he got his visa?
> Or did he wait until he received it to go over?


You can't work without proper documentation. You have to wait for the visa.

A bit of a tangent, but I know an American freelance photographer who was hired last summer by a U.S. corporation to fly up to Canada and shoot a few photos of a wheat field. Canadian immigration demanded to see his Canadian work permit, which he hadn't realized he needed, so they denied entry. It got pretty tense at one point, and the immigration agent even pulled out his handgun! All for a li'l piece of paper, eh?


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