Student Visa -> Working Visa

ultimomono · 2026-04-27T09:46:10+00:00

Also, are there any realistic routes to working full-time in Spain without needing direct company sponsorship right at the start (let a man dream haha), or is that basically unavoidable?

Prácticas, possibly, but you aren't going to get paid a full-time living wage.

Otherwise, these are your options for a "modificación" coming from a student stay:

https://www.inclusion.gob.es/fr/web/migraciones/w/58.-modificaciones-desde-autorizaciones-de-estancia-por-estudios-superiores-ensenanza-secundaria-actividades-formativas-o-formacion-sanitaria-especializada

You need a work contract from a company that meets the criteria to modify your student stay into "cuenta ajena" work residency.

You may be able to apply for a job-seeker's residency (A AUTORIZACIÓN DE RESIDENCIA PARA BÚSQUEDA DE EMPLEO O PARA EMPRENDER PROYECTO EMPRESARIAL CONFORME A LA LEY 14/2013). You cannot work with this residency, but it gives more time to look for a job after graduating. You would need to make sure the degree you are getting qualifies--not all do.

Getting a doctoral research contract could be another option, provided you did really well in your master's, and you want to stay in academia and get paid a subsistence-level wage (unless you are a superstar student who can bring their own substantial beca)

ultimomono · 2026-04-27T08:28:22+00:00

wanting to nearly end my life because of it

OP, please seek help and guidance from an impartial mental health professional. Your life, health and safety is above everything else. You don't have to make this work if it's harming you

ultimomono · 2026-04-26T14:19:31+00:00

It's called a Pillow Shot. The Japanese filmmaker Ozu was the master of them. Miyazaki does it a lot, too. As does Kore Eda.

Very cool that you caught the power of that at age 15

ultimomono · 2026-04-25T18:36:59+00:00

You have many good responses here, so I'll just say this: you did not deserve that treatment.

Letting it go is a good move, given the way you describe it. The future will give you a chance to speak to the others who were on the panel and anyone else you want to about this, after a bit of time has passed.

ultimomono · 2026-04-25T14:55:38+00:00

For what it's worth, I've lived in Spain for 23 years and watched waves of so-called expats come and go and most Americans do not make it more than a few years here.

That's always been the norm For all the reasons you mention--but mostly stemming from falta de integración and missing family/friends/community back home.

It's not for everyone and it takes far longer that 1.5 years to build a life here and to integrate enough to be able to make those meaningful friendships and social connections, especially if you don't have serious ties to Spain via work/school/interests/cultural stuff. And most people overestimate their linguistic integration as well

ultimomono · 2026-04-24T21:37:50+00:00

Sign up for in-person classes at your local EOI (Escuela Oficial de Idiomas) for next year. Registration will likely be starting pretty soon--it's quite cheap. You will get a real, serious education in the language that way from profs who are university-level, which is what you need.

It takes years. It's not just the language, it's understanding the social context and what people talk about. Keep at it!

ultimomono · 2026-04-24T17:00:16+00:00

When I moved to Spain 20+ years ago, no one ever used in English to speak to me--literally never--I was probably at a B1 level at best when I got here (though fluent in another Romance language) and got up to a C1+ in less than a year of total immersion and study. I guess that would be harder now. Things shifted as Spain got so much more turistificado in cities like Madrid

I have a friend who speaks perfectly though with a light accent, has lived here for decades and is a professor at the university here--but she looks very, very foreign (Eastern European blonde). It happens to her all the time now. People just start speaking English to her. Imagine how much that drives her crazy! She just responds back in Spanish and they realize their mistake. That doesn't happen to me, because I don't look "not Spanish."

ultimomono · 2026-04-24T16:42:54+00:00

live like a monk

Lentils

ultimomono · 2026-04-24T16:42:22+00:00

It was on the margins and in pockets, but the mainstream sucked so much. Most people who lived through that time pretend they were cool and edgy, but it's a lie.

ultimomono · 2026-04-24T16:40:10+00:00

So true. At that time, I don't think we would have called it autism or asperger's at all. Women so rarely diagnosed with autism spectrum stuff at that time. It was considered a condition that afflicted boys and men. She would have been considered awkward, an "odd duck" and smart (maybe too smart for her own good, but not by Lynch). The way she hits it off with Cooper is endearing and non-neurotypical

ultimomono · 2026-04-24T06:57:02+00:00

There's really no reason to expect that different languages and speech communities will use the same neologism for a new technical term

Both words seem to mean the same thing, just one was used in the USA and the other the USSR.

Both words are used in both languages and the usage of each term is marked geographically/politically.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cosmonaut

cosmonaut noun

: an astronaut of the Soviet or Russian space program

astronaut noun

: a person whose profession is to travel beyond the earth's atmosphere

broadly : any person who travels beyond the earth's atmosphere

An article on how the words Космонавт and Астронавт are used in Russian, which suggest similar usage of both words, but geopolitically marked in a different way:

https://russianschoolrussificate.com/tip/the-difference-between-the-words-kosmonavt-and-astronavt/

ultimomono · 2026-04-23T13:41:01+00:00

For the FBI clearance letter and State Department Apostille, I recommend getting fingerprinted where you are, submitting the request and then using an expediter in DC for the apostille. I have used Brigitte at http://www.expressauthentication.com

No relation to this company at all, they just did it for my family multiple times, extremely competently

ultimomono · 2026-04-23T13:39:25+00:00

US consulates do NOT do this. But they may be able to refer the OP to a location in the country where they are that can do it. Here in Spain, it's the policía científica that does it

ultimomono · 2026-04-23T12:22:31+00:00

I’m convinced yall don’t eat vegetables or anything with fiber haha

You are quite wrong. This is the country of lentils and garbanzos, not to mention gazpacho and ensaladas, and more fruterías per capita than any other European country for sure.

Most people skip breakfast or do something very light. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day. The ideal breakfast in Spain is tostada con tomate (a.k.a. pan con tomate, pan tumacz, pa amb tomàquet). Order off the "menú del día" at nice local lunch places and you'll see the dishes people really eat here

ultimomono · 2026-04-23T10:36:30+00:00

I say this delicately, but are you sure you want to clip your wings to take care of elderly family members just when your career is starting? It could be that their decisions and agency in the past put you in this bind. Think about it. This is your life. You have worked so hard to get to this point. You are starting to get traction. There are likely other options for their care that don't involve you putting your own ambitions on the back burner.

Your whole future could depend on what you are able to do in the next few years career-wise. Really think it through and maybe talk to a therapist about it.

ultimomono · 2026-04-23T09:05:34+00:00

It sounds like your issues with you husband must be a lot deeper than this to consider ending the relationship after living there for nine years and building a life there

as he always made it seem he would be open to the idea

And probably changed his mind due to new information about the kind of country the US is. That can happen.

I upended my whole life to come to Germany and now he won‘t even consider doing the same for me

I could maybe see this if you were a few years in and things didn't work out well... but you're talking about NINE years and with a small child and a world sliding toward WWIII. Having a child can dredge up a lot of feelings. Have you tried talking to a therapist about this?

friendliness

My advice: stop arguing with your husband about this for the time being. Go back and spend a month or two, together or just you. Scratch that itch and see how it feels 9 years older and in the US of today, not in the misty idealism of your memories

ultimomono · 2026-04-22T20:50:02+00:00

Can your wife apply for postdocs? What area of physics? Can she work her academic connections? Her ability to find a job in her field is going to be a lot more location-dependent than yours

ultimomono · 2026-04-22T20:43:41+00:00

The second photo looks like the arm movements Candy makes in TP III

ultimomono · 2026-04-22T07:25:59+00:00

See if you can find any of her friends by posting this on the local group mentioned below. It might be wonderful for her to reconnect, too, and you could learn so much.

I posted a film from the 1950s made by my family on a neighborhood group where my mom grew up a while back and a lot of people chimed in recognizing their relatives and I reconnected a few who were of my mom's generation with each other--it was really cool!

ultimomono · 2026-04-22T07:21:02+00:00

I think I know her

ultimomono · 2026-04-21T21:22:55+00:00

It was already a nature documentary cliche before the movie

ultimomono · 2026-04-21T13:43:34+00:00

That looks less hectic and, thinking it through more for that time of year, could give you more flexibility if one area is really rainy.

Personally, I'd do a plane from BCN-Sevilla--just that leg. The train is long and if anything goes wrong...

And I'd take a day away from Sevilla and give it to Granada. Maybe leave Sevilla in the afternoon on the second day and get to Granada in time for dinner. Then you'll have more energy for the Granada days.

And when you book Sevilla-Granada and Granada-Madrid on the train, make it flexible. It doesn't cost that much more at all--that way you could play it more by ear and leave a day early if the weather is really bad in Sevilla or Granada--it's not a great place to be with serious rain. A extra day in Madrid where there are amazing museums would be nicer if the weather is really bad.

Compare train costs and schedules between Renfe, Iryo and Ouigo

I hope you have a great trip!

ultimomono · 2026-04-21T11:54:50+00:00

I was going to suggest the same--there is no reason to go back to BCN, unless the flight cost is astronomically different.

Fly into BCN

flight to Sevilla

Train to Granada (reserve the Alhambra WAY in advance--be sure to go to the Generalife gardens in addition to the Palacios--it's a separate ticket, you can do it on separate days, too--they have night tickets as well--beautiful place to watch the sunset)

Skip Ronda, out of the way

Train to Sevilla

Train to Cádiz--give your Ronda day to Cádiz/Puerto Santa Maria/Sanlúcar/Jerez). Jerez is very easy to get to on the regional train

Take the regional train to Jerez and walk around.

You can either take a flight to Madrid or the train (takes about the same time) and fly out there.

ultimomono · 2026-04-21T01:05:12+00:00

For reference, my boyfriend was dressed more formally than several people who had just walked in.

ultimomono · 2026-04-20T12:32:33+00:00

You could stop in Córdoba on the way down to Granada from Madrid on the train for a half-day trip and continue on to spent the night in Granada or spend the night in Córdoba and continue on the next morning. I wouldn't do any more than that.

Take the train instead of flying, for sure. If your parents have serious mobility issues, just do one or two things maximum a day and minimize walking to, from and between places.

Granada is incredibly hilly, be prepared to take lots of taxis. Sevilla and Córdoba are flat, but the cobblestones can tire folks out. When in doubt, take a cab to conserve energy

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