I worked as a U.S. consular officer, and I've also had to apply for a variety of non-tourist visas in multiple countries. Americans moving abroad often complain about other countries' burdensome visa processes, but the reality is that the U.S. process is no less burdensome (and sometimes more so) than many other countries' processes. It's just that Americans don't have to deal with U.S. visas, and if they're just tourists, often don't have to deal with foreign visas either.One thing to keep in mind as you try to determine what is needed, for both any visa and for rental contracts.
Each Spanish consulate in the US determines its own requirements, you can verify that by 1) looking at the website for each consulate (and no, you cannot shop around, you just go the consulate that covers the region where you live, they will ask for a driver's license) and 2) the unspoken right to ask for other materials as deemed necessary. When we protested that additional items were required beyond what was asked for on their website they replied in essence" it's our visa and we can ask for whatever we want", true enough.
As to rental contracts... each region can determine its own rules so the aforementioned information from Granada may or may not be relevant in Madrid.
It does give US-persons a little taste what others face when they seek US visas, consulate officials can be arbitrary,unhelpful, and often see themselves as rooting out miscreants.
The vast majority of issues can be avoided by carefully and accurately filling out all required forms, bringing all requested documentation (and being prepared to furnish additional information if requested), having a plan that makes sense (and resources to support your plan), and generally being patient and respectful. Consular officials sometimes deal with hundreds of cases a day, so what you perceive as unhelpful may just be due to the fact that they don't have time to offer special assistance to each applicant.
Things that seem arbitrary to you may very well have a good reason, but the official can't share the reason with you. I recently read a guest piece in the New York Times where a woman complained about being subject to the whims of the U.S. official, but what she didn't understand was 1) the official was applying the law; 2) she was asking for a discretionary exception that was unlikely to be granted; 3) if the official had pursued the exception, she likely would have spent 9 months just waiting to find out the result. Instead, the official did not request the exception, and required the woman to serve the remaining 3 months of her 10 year ban before applying for a visa again. The end result is that she got her visa in 3 months instead of 9 months.
As for rooting out miscreants, while the vast majority of applicants I dealt with were bona fide, we also generally ended up handing over around one person each day to the local police for presenting forged government documents, identity theft, or other crimes.
Statistics: Posted by langelgjm — Mon Mar 10, 2025 3:11 am