Spain Spousal Visa With Criminal Record.

@Usivesnow

Are you sure Philippines citizens are entitled to special immigration treatment? I have not heard of this. Can you clarify what you are referring to?

@Usivesnow

The income visa is the NLV or No Lucrativa Visa. It is a non-work residence visa for retirees and others with passive income. You need proof of 2.5k euros per month of income OR 30k euros in savings. You apply at your nearest Spanish embassy.

If convictions are old and/or relatively minor, they should be more tolerant. But pretty much the only way to find out is to submit your full application.

Whoever of the two of you has the easiest path to residence does that first. Then you do Family Reunification for the other.

Good luck!

@gwynj Thanks for the reply. She has the easiest path due to being a citizen of a former Spanish colony and having no criminal record.

My record is not minor, but its not huge either, its one of those crimes thats at the less serious end of the more serious crimes.. It is my only one, a decade old, and I have a ton of ways to show rehabilitation.

For family reunification, do you know if a decade ago is a long time in their eyes? I've seen stuff saying they only care about the last 5 years, but it's hard to verify the accuracy of.

My main concern with family reunification is I can only stay in Spain 3.m9nths at a time, 6 months out of they year without a visa and I'd prefer we move at the same.time.than have to do that.

Regarding my income I make 5k a month in rental incomes, so, I definitely meet any income requirements.

@gwynj Yes all citizens of former Spanish colonies get fast tracked residency and citizenship. Citizenship eligabiloty for them takes only 2 years of residency, not the standard 10.

@Usivesnow

I knew you were referring to the 2 years exemption for Ibero-American citizens. My partner applied for her citizenship via this route (she's from Brazil). However, I hadn't seen the Philippines on any list of Ibero-American states - I guess that was my lousy research. :-)

https://balcellsgroup.com/how-to-get-the-spanish-citizenship/

However, it doesn't matter, unfortunately. You're confusing citizenship (or the path to citizenship) with residence. Before you can claim citizenship (whether after 2 years or 10), you need to be a legal resident. I believe Philippines citizens don't have visa-free travel to the EU, so she would need a tourist visa just to visit. And, she still needs to figure out a way to get a long-term residence visa. My partner didn't have any shortcut to residence, even though she has a shortcut to citizenship... so I did my residence first, then we did family reunification (took a few weeks).

I think it still looks like you should do the NLV... and then, once you have your NLV and your TIE, you do family reunification.

There's no time limit for staying in Spain, once you have a residence permit by family reunification. And I'd expect most folks can get their family reunification done in less than 3 months (typical max visit for tourism).

On the criminal record, I think they specify 5 years. But the UK (and USA) goes back further, and if it's on the certificate they look at it. If you're also a resident of Philippines, you could get a clean certificate there and remove any worries.

This is purely my opinion, but I think the passport stuff is over-valued. My partner fell in love with the idea of a shiny Spanish passport, and I could not dissuade her. It cost us a lot of money and a load of hassle to meet all the requirements... and her application is still sitting in a huge pile of citizenship requests more than 2 years later. But we've both got 10-year Permanent Residence permits already (after 5 years of legal residence). The PR is hard to lose (i.e. you can live/work in Spain indefinitely), and most EU countries have a streamlined immigration process for those that have PR in another member state. You can't vote with a PR, but, in practical terms, a PR is not hugely less useful than a passport.

That said, a big plus of the Ibero-American exemption is that (I think) they're allowed to keep both passports. And as the Philippines passport doesn't have a lot of visa-free entitlements an EU passport would be much more useful if you plan to travel a lot. (The PR is also good for visa-free travel within the EU.)

@Usivesnow

Actually, with the NLV I'm not sure you need to get your TIE first (but you must get it), or that you need 2 separate processes. I think the NLV says x euros for main applicant, and y euros for each dependent, so maybe you get the visa for both of you in one go.

Here's what it says:

"Have the necessary financial means to cover the expenses of stay and return and, where appropriate, those of their family members, in accordance with the following amounts:

• For its monthly support 400% of the IPREM .
• For the support of each of their family members, monthly, 100% of the IPREM."

IPREM is currently 600 euros per month, so 5X IPREM (for 2 people) = 3k euros monthly (of income) OR 36k euros (in savings to cover a year).

@gwynj The Philipines won't grant me citizenship due to the criminal record. We want the Spanish citizenship so I can apply for the philipines with a clean Spanish record. I live in the USA, land of a caste system enforced by lifelong criminal records. I understand residency needs to be obtained first, but again, I am unsure whether Spain will grant me residency with my record, and wonder how having a Filipino spouse would affect this.

I can only stay there 3 months at a time, twice a year without a visa, and would prefer not to spend half the year apart from my spouse for two years.

@Usivesnow

Did the Philippines grant you residence? If so, can't you get a criminal record certificate there? If you can, and you've been a resident for 5 years, then I would use that certificate in your application for the NLV. Or you're saying that both residence and citizenship are not possible because of your record?

If you really want to live in the Philippines, I would suggest a consultation with an immigration attorney. Usually, they know the best way to present such issues, and they can advise on your chances. I also read that there's a spouse residence visa in the Philippines, and this page doesn't even mention a criminal record check. To me, it seems unlikely that the Philippines wouldn't allow a wealthy American, even with a criminal record, to become a resident there.

https://www.respicio.ph/features/spousal-visa-in-the-philippines-1

Similarly, the easiest way to get an answer about your realistic chances of getting the NLV for Spain is to pay for a short phone/online consultation. Your spouse doesn't affect this, it's purely down to the seriousness of your criminal record.

I get the issue with spending lots of time apart, it's not much fun. I would have expected that the easiest option was to bring your spouse to USA, but American immigration is no picnic. Next option, is for you to become a resident in the Philippines, by virtue of being the spouse of a citizen... and I would have expected this to be much easier. Or, there are many (nice) countries in the world where it's relatively easy for both Filipinos and Americans to get tourist and residence visas... such as, Panama (and maybe a few other Central/South American neighbours including Argentina which is cheap as chips right now if you have $$), Bali, Serbia, Turkey, North Cyprus (TRNC). If the first two options really aren't viable, I'd definitely research the last option. Spain is lovely, but it's just not the easiest (or cheapest) option if you're just looking for a place to put you two lovebirds together as quickly as possible. :-)

I can personally vouch for Panama, Argentina, Bali, Serbia, Turkey, TRNC. All very acceptable places for a few years, and the South American options are quite geographically convenient for Americans (vs. Europe). Right now, I'm in none of them... we ended up in little Bulgaria. It's a great little country, and your retirement income goes a long way here. They have a pretty easy path to residence for retirees, and family reunification is also straightforward. Excellent health system too which is a big plus.

I applied for Spanish citizenship, but I had a misdemeanor for a very minor infraction about 20 years ago. My attorney in Spain gave me careful instructions on how to document it, which included apostilled copies of my sentencing record, a statement that my fine had been paid, and an explanation by the USA attorney who represented me. Due to my Spanish attorney's work and guidance, the misdemeanor was disregarded and I successfully obtained Spanish citizenship.

In other words, ASK YOUR (Spanish) ATTORNEY!

Of course, probably any country allows applicants to do all this pro se, but you're investing a lot of time, energy, and money into this. Getting advice from people here is helpful and informative, but getting guidance from a Spanish immigration attorney is more likely to have a positive result.

@Phil722 Could you perhaps put me in contact with the immigration attorney you used for Spain? They seem like they know what they are doing and I am planning to consult one, but am carry of people wasting my time to make themselves a quick buck at my expense.

@gwynj We haven't applied because we are 99% sure I'll be denied using my US record due to a record or "moral turpitude". We are looking at spain purely because it's part of the EU so we wouldn't mind being stuck there if the Philipine route fails, and because it offers excellerated residency and citizenship to philipinos and their spouses. I know a bit of Serbian and get along great with the ones I've worked with here in the states so I may look I to there.

@Usivesnow

I think, at some point, it's probably better to submit an application and see what happens, rather than assume it will be rejected. After all, your offence was more than 10 years ago, and, presumably, you've been a good boy since then. A consultation with an immigration attorney might be helpful too.

If you're currently legally resident in the Philippines, are you sure you can't get a criminal record check there? Most countries will give you one, once you become a resident. I got one in Bulgaria a few months after moving here. Almost all visa applications will accept a criminal record certificate from your current country of residence, rather than your country of citizenship. If it's clean in one place (and covers at least 5 years) then it's problem solved, innit.

Serbia is a nice country too, I've visited several times. Both Serbia and Turkey are non-EU countries, so residence is much easier to get. In Serbia you just need to buy a property, or incorporate a company. Turkey is low-cost, sunny, with lots of nice beaches... it's a pretty nice place to hang out.

Within the EU, I think Spain's NLV is one of the easier options. I think Portugal's D7 is similar, maybe easier.

My concern is these types of visas typically require passive income (pensions, rent, dividends, etc.). If your income comes from your own real estate company, it might not look like passive income, or guaranteed income. It might be that it's better to treat your company as a remote income generator and apply for digital nomad / remote worker visas. (Spain and Hungary both have these.)

With your own operating company, the Bulgaria D visa by TRO (Trade Representative Office) might be an interesting option. Bulgaria is the EU country sandwiched between Serbia and Turkey, and I've been pleasantly surprised by what an awesome little country it is!