How to Get a Spanish Visa the Hard Way – Part Six
1. Monday — Bring kids to school two hours late because we had arrived home from New York in the wee hours the night before. Â Call doctor to try and get an earlier appointment. Â Nope. Â Bring papers to the translator. Â Far north. Â Pick up kids.
2. Tuesday — Ack! Â Forgot to bring my Letter of Intent to the translator! Â (This letter may be the strangest request from the consulate; I have to explain why we’d like a long term visa. Â What is the purpose of this? Â Do they expect villains will confess their nefarious plans in this way?)
No worries, they say. Â I can scan and email it to them. Â Great. Â Now, how does this scanner work again? …. No…. that’s not it… no… not that… nope… IM Rob. Â He says the new update scrambled the scan directions and it’s too hard to explain over IM. Â Sigh… another day to wait for IT help.
3. Wednesday –Â Call doctor to try and get an earlier appointment. Â Again. Â Nope.
Finally unpack. Â Finally clean house. Â Parent-teacher conference. Homework. Dinner. Â Etc. Etc.
4. Â Thursday — Have a mild panic attack that our W2s from last year will not be enough proof of future income. Â Ask Rob to request a letter from his boss. Â *cringe* Hope this isn’t so annoying that the company will decide they’d rather not deal with a remote employee.
Success!  Letter received! Scanner issue overcome!  All papers emailed to translator!Â
5. Friday — Wow. Â This is great. Â I can relax! Â All I need to do now is go to my doctor’s appointment on Monday, pick up the translations, make photocopies of everything, and head down to the Spanish Consulate in Houston. Â Whew!
At this point, I’d like to direct your attention again to the title of this series of blog posts. Â Spoiler alert: It’s not going to be that easy.
6. Monday — Get a 7 a.m. call from my doctor’s office. Â HE HAS THE FLU. Â Guuhhhhh. Â Try to reschedule. Â Nothing until mid-April! Â Panic. Â Schedule an appointment with another doctor, realizing this person I’ve never met before will never sign papers vouching for 3 other people she has never met before. Â Panic. Â Call all the travel clinics in Austin. Â They don’t sign these papers either. Â They just give shots. Â Sigh.
7. Tuesday — Write a pleading letter (longhand!) to my doctor, explaining the situation. Â Enclose it in an envelope along with all the certificate of health paperwork for the four of us, and leave it for him at his office. Â Cross fingers.
8. Friday — Pick up translations. Â They’re beautiful and professional and very official looking.
Get a call from my doctor. Â The signed documents are waiting for me! Â Yes, Yes, Yes! Â Houston, here we come.