<p>I have a question about getting visas for Spain. I am a U.S. citizen that will hopefully be spending about 7 months in Spain later this year. I will be an au pair in Northern Spain during June, July, and August. Then, from September to December, I will be participating in the ISA Sevilla study abroad program. I am not allowed to get my study abroad visa until 90 days before the program, but by then I will already be in Spain. So I am not sure how that is supposed to work. I keep trying to call/email the consulate, but they haven't responded or I just get their answering machine and I am getting really frustrated. I was wondering if anyone else had similar problems and what they had to do.</p>
<p>I'm studying in France and have had the same consulate issues...they tend to only be responsive if you go to the physical office, dress up and politely ask your question.</p>
<p>Anyways, at least for France (which is probably similar in terms of visa requirements) you MUST get your student visa while you are in the states, and you have to appear in person to get the visa. But, I just went to the website for the spanish consulate and it says that long stay student visas (which you will need as you are staying more than 3 months) can be applied for "as early as three months in advance or earlier." Is it the exchange organization that says you can only get the visa 90 days before the program? Or will the consulate accept visa applications more than 3 months in advance, but not issue visas until the 90-day-or-less period? If this is the case, would it be possible to delay your departure for a week or so (you said that you wanted to be an au pair for June, July, August, barely over 90 days)? Otherwise, the only option I could see would be to return to the states to get your visa.</p>
<p>Could a representative from your study abroad organization help you?</p>
<p>Edited to add: also, when I showed up at the consulate for my visa application, it turned out that basically all of the information on the website was outdated, and that I had hundreds of pages of documents that were no longer required and was missing some new key forms. So basically, the visa process sucks, and the best way to straighten the whole thing out is to go in person.</p>