Shawn
@CooleyCasa
American expat in Spain
Forum posts
38
Contacts
5
About me
American
Lives in Sitges, Catalonia
Speaks English, learning Spanish
Registration: 31 July 2015
Cashing a US drawn check in Spain... by sherri
My US bank closed my account for no actively(not very nice of them, since there were charging me service fees) Now I have my USA federal tax return check and I need to deposit it. Has anyone had to deposit a US drawn check into a Spanish bank ...
We brought a money order over from the US to deposit into our Spanish bank account when we moved here. After almost two months of the deposit not showing in our account we questioned the Spanish bank (Sab****) and the representative said they had ... Read More
Rental property searches
Hi everyone! My husband and I are considering a move to Northern Ireland some time next year. We'd like to get an idea of the housing market, but we haven't settled on a specific location. Can anyone recommend websites or apps that we can ... Read More
Rental property searches
Hi everyone! My husband and I are considering a move to Ireland some time next year. We'd like to get an idea of the housing market, but we haven't settled on a specific location. Can anyone recommend websites or apps that we can use for ... Read More
Train travel
Hi everyone! Does anyone have suggestions for how to research prices for train travel? My husband uses the Renfe website, but it won't let you search out more than a few weeks and we like to plan months in advance. We took the train last ... Read More
Spain Non Lucrative Visa by jjmcmillin35
Hello! I am contemplating applying for the Spanish non-lucrative Visa and I have a few questions about this process so hoping someone else has done it and can help me out! 1 I work remotely for a US company. Would this be a permissible source of ...
Since we have no earnings in Spain, we were told there was nothing to report. Read More
Spain Non Lucrative Visa by jjmcmillin35
Hello! I am contemplating applying for the Spanish non-lucrative Visa and I have a few questions about this process so hoping someone else has done it and can help me out! 1 I work remotely for a US company. Would this be a permissible source of ...
My husband and I are currently living in Spain under a non-lucrative visa. We are from Florida, so our Spanish Consulate was the one out of Miami and we only went to them for answers as that would be where we would submit our application. I work ... Read More
Health insurance - pre-existing conditions by CooleyCasa
Hi everyone! My husband and I just had our visas approved and will be moving to Spain on Sept. 17. We currently have travel insurance to satisfy our visa requirements, but we would like to find more comprehensive coverage. Can anyone recommend ...
Inge Kol, As Americans, we purchased Patriot Travel Medical Insurance thru the agency my employer uses. It cost $1,500 per year (2 year limit) for both of us with a maximum coverage of $50,000 (the minimum coverage required for visa) and no ... Read More
which language
I would start with Spanish as Catalan is a regional language and might not be useful if you visited Madrid (for example). Read More
Health insurance - pre-existing conditions by CooleyCasa
Hi everyone! My husband and I just had our visas approved and will be moving to Spain on Sept. 17. We currently have travel insurance to satisfy our visa requirements, but we would like to find more comprehensive coverage. Can anyone recommend ...
Mike, We were just approved for health insurance through DKV! It was a lengthy application to list all of our pre-existing conditions, but they did approve us. You should look into the company if you haven't already. Good luck. Shawn Read More
U.S. Citizens and Visas by cshelly12
Hi! I am very interested in living in Spain, either short-term or long-term. I am an experienced bilingual (Spanish/English) and ESL teacher and am considering the following options: 1) Looking for a teaching job in Spain 2) Continuing to ...
We had three different appointments with three different departments before we were issued our cards. Unfortunately, I don't remember who they were with or where we went. Try the website Como consulting . com, it has a lot of helpful ... Read More
U.S. Citizens and Visas by cshelly12
Hi! I am very interested in living in Spain, either short-term or long-term. I am an experienced bilingual (Spanish/English) and ESL teacher and am considering the following options: 1) Looking for a teaching job in Spain 2) Continuing to ...
My understanding is that the 90 days on the visa sticker in your passport is the amount of time you have to enter the country and start the paperwork for residence. You have to make several appointments to complete the paperwork to obtain your NIE ... Read More
Health insurance - pre-existing conditions by CooleyCasa
Hi everyone! My husband and I just had our visas approved and will be moving to Spain on Sept. 17. We currently have travel insurance to satisfy our visa requirements, but we would like to find more comprehensive coverage. Can anyone recommend ...
We may be discussing two separate issues. The original topic was about needing insurance coverage for a non-lucrative visa which allows for residency, but only for a year. Maybe you are referring to permanent residency which I am not privy to the ... Read More
Health insurance - pre-existing conditions by CooleyCasa
Hi everyone! My husband and I just had our visas approved and will be moving to Spain on Sept. 17. We currently have travel insurance to satisfy our visa requirements, but we would like to find more comprehensive coverage. Can anyone recommend ...
Sadly, as I mentioned having our NIE I undervalued its significance. Our NIE card states Permiso de Residencia. Therefore, we do have our residency cards. I believe that the insurance requirement is so that we do not burden the Spanish system by ... Read More
Health insurance - pre-existing conditions by CooleyCasa
Hi everyone! My husband and I just had our visas approved and will be moving to Spain on Sept. 17. We currently have travel insurance to satisfy our visa requirements, but we would like to find more comprehensive coverage. Can anyone recommend ...
Johncar, I'm not here to argue with anyone, but Spain is allowing us to live here (we have our NIEs and everything) using the travel insurance. I'll keep you posted when we renew our visas next month using the same insurance. Have a great ... Read More
Health insurance - pre-existing conditions by CooleyCasa
Hi everyone! My husband and I just had our visas approved and will be moving to Spain on Sept. 17. We currently have travel insurance to satisfy our visa requirements, but we would like to find more comprehensive coverage. Can anyone recommend ...
Johncar - I'm unsure of most of the information in your post, but I do know that the travel insurance we purchased was sufficient for our non-lucrative visa. Else, they wouldn't have approved our visa. I suggest to anyone wanting to move ... Read More
Health insurance - pre-existing conditions by CooleyCasa
Hi everyone! My husband and I just had our visas approved and will be moving to Spain on Sept. 17. We currently have travel insurance to satisfy our visa requirements, but we would like to find more comprehensive coverage. Can anyone recommend ...
I'm not sure if the convenio especial is available in Barcelona. Our travel insurance only covers health issues that result from an accident incurred while traveling abroad. For our visas, it only stated that we needed to have minimum coverage ... Read More
Health insurance - pre-existing conditions by CooleyCasa
Hi everyone! My husband and I just had our visas approved and will be moving to Spain on Sept. 17. We currently have travel insurance to satisfy our visa requirements, but we would like to find more comprehensive coverage. Can anyone recommend ...
We're still using travel insurance until we find something else. Insurance is not as easy as I'd hoped. Read More
U.S. Citizens and Visas by cshelly12
Hi! I am very interested in living in Spain, either short-term or long-term. I am an experienced bilingual (Spanish/English) and ESL teacher and am considering the following options: 1) Looking for a teaching job in Spain 2) Continuing to ...
Hi Armanda. On our application we had to submit a letter stating why we wanted visas. We mentioned visiting the country very briefly but were intrigued to see more. We told them that we wanted to learn more about the culture and travel to the ... Read More
U.S. Citizens and Visas by cshelly12
Hi! I am very interested in living in Spain, either short-term or long-term. I am an experienced bilingual (Spanish/English) and ESL teacher and am considering the following options: 1) Looking for a teaching job in Spain 2) Continuing to ...
My husband and I have non-lucrative visas that allow us to live in Spain for a year at a time. It was a straight forward process tho it took time and planning. Under this visa we are not permitted to work for a Spanish company but I work remotely ... Read More
Banco de *** - worst customer service ever!
Hi All, My husband and I have been in Barcelona almost 2 months now. Before we arrived we contacted *** to find the best way to bring money over from the US. The agent stated a cashier's check would work fine. So, we brought a check over and ... Read More
Pets in Spain by Priscilla
Hello everyone, Many of us in Spain have four-legged friends. What about you? Do you have one or more pets? Share your experience with us! What are the formalities to import pets in Spain? What about pet adoption procedures in the country? Did ...
We moved to Spain about 2 months ago and brought our 3 cats with us. They needed to have up-to-date rabies shots, a very specific ID chip, as well as a "pet passport" (fancy paperwork completed by certain vets and approved by a government ... Read More
health care by CooleyCasa
Hi everyone! My husband and I will be arriving in Barcelona in 4.5 weeks and we're super excited. We currently have travel insurance to cover any medical emergencies, but we've been actively trying to get more comprehensive health ...
I'm curious to know why you think we will be able to get coverage once we're in Spain? We've already been turned down by Sanitas as well as a few other Spanish companies. I'm figuring no one will cover us based on our medical ... Read More
health care
Hi everyone! My husband and I will be arriving in Barcelona in 4.5 weeks and we're super excited. We currently have travel insurance to cover any medical emergencies, but we've been actively trying to get more comprehensive health ... Read More
Health insurance - pre-existing conditions
Hi everyone! My husband and I just had our visas approved and will be moving to Spain on Sept. 17. We currently have travel insurance to satisfy our visa requirements, but we would like to find more comprehensive coverage. Can anyone recommend ... Read More
Payments for services
My husband and I are planning our move to Barcelona and we are researching transferring money from the US to Spain. My question is how do most vendors like to be paid? Check, cash, credit card, etc. It might be easier for us to pay for items ... Read More
Pets relocation to Spain for non EU citizen
Claus, My husband and I are in the process of submitting our visa applications to the Spanish Consulate. As part of our research, we found information for traveling with our 3 cats. We were informed that we would need to have all of them ... Read More
Sanitas Health Insurance Company
I'd like to hear anyone's experience with Sanitas Health Insurance, good or bad. Thanks, Shawn Read More
Insurance and medical costs by CooleyCasa
Hello everyone, I am in the process of researching international health insurance in preparation for my family's move to Barcelona. Can anyone tell me the various costs for doctor visits, prescriptions, etc. as they relate to ex-pats? I'm ...
We are Americans and will not be working in Spain, so we are not eligible for the Spanish health care system. Read More
Insurance and medical costs
Hello everyone, I am in the process of researching international health insurance in preparation for my family's move to Barcelona. Can anyone tell me the various costs for doctor visits, prescriptions, etc. as they relate to ex-pats? I'm ... Read More
Websites to find Houses for rent around Barcelona
Hi everyone! As my husband and I prepare for our move to Barcelona, we are researching places to live. There are numerous websites to search for flats, but we'd like to live in a house. Is this a realistic possibility in Barcelona and/or the ... Read More
Barcelona internet by CooleyCasa
Hi All! Can anyone tell me what the options are for internet service in Barcelona? I'll be working from home for my U.S. employer, so I'll need service with decent speed. Thanks!!
I'm not here to argue with anyone. I will say that the link you sent will be very helpful for individuals who live in states where the Washington Consulate has jurisdiction. The best advice I have received on this forum is to always check with ... Read More
Barcelona internet by CooleyCasa
Hi All! Can anyone tell me what the options are for internet service in Barcelona? I'll be working from home for my U.S. employer, so I'll need service with decent speed. Thanks!!
We will be coming over on a non-lucrative visa. Per our consulate, we cannot work for a Spanish company, but can work remotely for my U.S. employer. I'm glad I called the consulate to verify as there is a lot of misinformation on some forums. Read More
Barcelona internet
Hi All! Can anyone tell me what the options are for internet service in Barcelona? I'll be working from home for my U.S. employer, so I'll need service with decent speed. Thanks!! Read More
Should we bring our Electronics from U.S? Computer?
Hi All! As my husband and I continue to plan our move to Barcelona, we are facing the issue of should we take our electronics or leave them behind? If we take them, which ones should we bring? We know that we will need adaptors in order to ... Read More
Apartment hunters/realtors
We did purchase your ebook and started making a list of questions to ask our consulate (Miami). Some of the documents seem difficult to get, such as another copy of our marriage certificate (we were married in St. Lucia), but we'll work through ... Read More
Apartment hunters/realtors
Hi everyone! My husband and I are planning a move to Spain, specifically Barcelona. We're working on our visas (mostly research) and would like to start researching apartments/flats. We have found numerous websites showcasing properties, but ... Read More
New members of the Spain forum, introduce yourself here 聳 3rd quarter of 2015 by Julien
Hi all, Newbie on the Spain forum? Don聮t know how to start? This thread is for you ;) We invite you to introduce yourself on this topic, to share with us your expat story if you are already living in the country, or to tell us more on ...
Hello everyone! My name is Shawn and my husband (Gene) and I are considering a move from the US (Florida) to Spain (Barcelona). I look forward to hearing everyone's success story about how they made the move. Read More