Spanish Consulate London

[MaprangHolmes]

Just a note to anyone who may be using the Spanish consulate in London my wife had an appointment there on Tuesday morning seen fairly quickly the person who she saw was very friendly and helpful, we gave them a special delivery bag so they could post the passport back. We received the passport back on the Thursday.

Hope this helps anyone who is thinking of going there.

[Donutz]

So she got a (free!!) visa without hassle within 2 days (15 days is the limit)? Congratulations and enjoy your holiday in Spain. Good to hear that they seem to doing there job properly.

Did you make the appointment by snail mail* and was it granted within 2 weeks of the request?

*questionable practice since it is not exactly "providing every facility" for family members of EU/EEA citizens (Thai with UK spouse for instance) traveling together. Though even more important is getting the visa for free with minimum hassle and paperwork (no pre bookings etc.).

Edited August 23, 2014 by Donutz

[MaprangHolmes]

So she got a (free!!) visa without hassle within 2 days (15 days is the limit)? Congratulations and enjoy your holiday in Spain. Good to hear that they seem to doing there job properly.

Did you make the appointment by snail mail* and was it granted within 2 weeks of the request?

*questionable practice since it is not exactly "providing every facility" for family members of EU/EEA citizens (Thai with UK spouse for instance) traveling together. Though even more important is getting the visa for free with minimum hassle and paperwork (no pre bookings etc.).

Yes the appointment was made via snail mail and we got an appointment with 3 weeks it said on the letter this was the first available appointment.

Edited August 27, 2014 by theoldgit
Quote fixed

[Donutz]

That's one week too much (may be important for others to know):

Schengen visa code 810/2009:

CHAPTER II

Application

Article 9

Practical modalities for lodging an application

1. Applications shall be lodged no more than three months before the start of the intended visit. Holders of a multiple-entry visa may lodge the application before the expiry of the visa valid for a period of at least six months.

2. Applicants may be required to obtain an appointment for the lodging of an application. The appointment shall, as a rule, take place within a period of two weeks from the date when the appointment was requested.

3. In justified cases of urgency, the consulate may allow applicants to lodge their applications either without appointment, or an appointment shall be given immediately.

4. Applications may be lodged at the consulate by the applicant or by accredited commercial intermediaries, as provided for in Article 45(1), without prejudice to Article 13, or in accordance with Article 42 or 43.

Source: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32009R0810

So not really as much priority as you should be entitled too, and perhaps they asked more then the minimum documentation (basically your marriage certificate, official translation, both passports/IDs and statement that the two of you will travel together should be enough for EU/EEA applications which should get priority treatment, I guess you could see it as a sort of VIP process).

Anyway, you got the visa, enjoy. You may wish to share your experience with EU home affairs since it is a bit odd that they only allow snail nail direct applications and are a bit too slow with granting the appointment and visa handling time.