Moving to Spain

I don't know the work permit rules for Spain, but if it's anything like the rest of the EU, it's a big hassle. Having an offer of employment by itself isn't enough. There may be rules about having the job advertised publicly for a certain amount of time, and then being able to prove that there's no one in Spain, and no one in the EU, who can/will do the job. Plus, at least in the countries that I've looked into, it costs the employer a pretty penny to apply for a work permit.

If you want to go this route, and your future FIL has a vacancy for which you have the specific experience and rare skills required, then it may be useful to look up the requirements for a Spanish work permit. If you're not fluent in Spanish, at least you have people over there who are and can look up the paperwork for you.

This sounds like an all too familiar story. Girl goes on holiday and meets a foreign guy, decides to completely change her life overnight. I hope you aren't one of the hundreds of young and naive women I've seen going down this road. Spain, Greece, Turkey, etc. are full of them.

OK, let's assume you are actually in a relationship of substance. That means you have spent a signifigant amount of time together (year or more) and now want to move to the next step. How can you go about it? Well, first, you need to tell us what kind of job your boyfriend's Father will offer you. If for example it's a waitress job, you have no chance of getting a long term visa for that. So you need to say what kind of work you would be getting offered. NWPlatinum has spelled it out pretty clearly.

Second, you need to know that there is no way around the Schengen 90 in 180 rule unless you have a long term visa. If you can't get one through employment you could look at a student visa. That requires you to register for Spanish language classes.

Since your boyfriend is the Spanish citizen, it would make sense for HIM to look into how he could get you into HIS country legally. It's a lot easier for him to read and understand the Spanish Immigration rules than it is for you to do so. Put him to work.

It may be you will have to first marry before being able to find a way to stay for more than 90 in 180 days.

BPGuru what's up - what caused the name change??

you don't know her - so don't make any assumptions - I know a US girl who met same foreign dude, changed her life and followed him - and I am very happy with my wife since 13 years..

1. you don't get Spanish citizenship just by marrying (your Spanish boyfriend wouldn't get Canadian citizenship either by just marrying you ) - what you get by marrying is a permanent residencyship for Spain (right to live + work in Spain - so exactly what you need) - you can apply for citizenship only after living a couple years in Spain
2. I am not familiar with Spanish immigration rules - it took my wife in Germany only a day to get her permanent residency in Germany after the wedding ( getting the docs for the wedding was a smaller nightmare , though) - put your boyfriend to work - I would be surprised if it takes longer than 90 days to marry and get the permanent residency

What's in a name Keimbeggra? I use several as the mood strikes me, just to confuse the groupies.

I'm not assuming she falls into the holiday romance group, I am assuming the opposite. But I'm sure you are aware of the type I meant in my opening paragraph. In those cases, it's all just a game on the part of the guy in the holiday resort.

The rules are the same for Canada, first Residency and then citizenship. To get my wife into Canada we first had to prove 2 years of living together. No 2 years proof, no Residency.

certainly I know this group - met several of them in Costa Rica...

ok was curiuous - so googled a bit around

as the wife of a Spanish citizen you can apply for citizenship after 1 year of continuous residency in Spain ( if Canada is not allowing double citizenship you will lose your Canadian citizenship if you accept the Spanish one!) - so guess as its that easy to get citizenship, must be a piece of cake to get legal residency

She needs Residency, not Citizenship so the question would be whether marriage alone is enough to get her Residency Keimbeggra, not what the requirement is for Citizenship. If you have to prove a lengthy relationship first as in the case of Canada, then you have to have had that lengthy relationship. We have no idea if they have lived together etc. or just spent a few weeks together.

Canada allows dual citizenship by the way.

my point is that Spain has veeery lenient citizenship laws - in Germany it takes 5 years to get citizenship - so it would surpirise me if the laws for residency would be so much different

in Germany there is no need to prove a lenghty relationship to get a residence visa through marriage - my cousin met a Maroccon girl in August 07, she visited him in November and they married three weeks after that and she got residency in Germany basically the same day - so if it's that easy in Germany (even if getting citizenship is harder) it should be not much harder in Spain

I lived in three different countries - so I am aware of the difference between citizenship and residency :)

I guess Canada is following more the US model then the European model

it took me 7 month, 900 US $ , 4 lenghty visits to the embassy, countless sixpacks and a couple nervous breakdowns to get my US green card

it took my wife 5 minutes and 60 or 70 Euro to get permanent residency in Germany...

What is it with North Americans wanting to live in Europe?