Kimmy (one of our members) asked Steve1686 to write a guide about his experience of applying for an NLV, as he's the first member to have achieved it:
"My wife and I applied for a NLV; we started the process in late February time. I set a time limit out of what I needed etc. I was very new to this but decided I would give it a go and do it myself rather than paying stupid fees to agencies.
So here goes:
Price - the fee is £516 per person this is paid at the consulate when you have your initial appointment
Private medical insurance - this has to be taken out prior to your appointment. Ours was 8th April, our policy started 1st April, cost approx 1400 euros for both of us - you need a copy when you attend your appointment and it must be a Spanish company.
Documents - 2 x application forms with 2 x passport forms; these don’t need translation.
EX01 form and 1 copy - if you go on line and google the form, there's a cheat sheet explaining how to complete it.
790 form as above
Other documents required:
Medical certificate with apostille stamp and a sworn translation. The sworn translation doesn’t need the stamp, it needs to be within 3 months of application. There is a template which you can give your GP; only thing they have to do is sign and stamp it.
Police Check as per above https://www.acro.police.uk/police_certificates.aspx
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There’s the link
If married, marriage certificate, again as above apostille and translated.
Last 3 months bank statements. These DO NOT need translating; however, what I did I can a notary just to put his stamp on them. I felt this just added a little extra to the document which I feel is the main focus of the NLV.
I have recently retired and so I had my pension statement apostilled and translated.
Finance minimum 32k pee couple this doesn’t have to be income it can be a combination of savings etc.
Copy of passport main page
So what did I do
I googled a local notary in my area went to see him with the above documents that needed the apostille stamp left them with him he sent them away and they came back within 4 days
I also gave him my bank statements he put his notary stamp on them.
He gave me the contact details of a local translation company I emailed them a copy of the documents that needed translating they did this then the translators visited the notary and did the swearing iof the documentation in front of the notary.
All done
I emailed the consulate in Manchester my wife and I did individual ones as stated on the website however this is not necessary one email is ok however each applicant needs individual documents.
We had our appointment on the 8th April the appointment was very relaxed I had completed a few extra documents these weren’t required the staff extremely helpful.
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We paid the fee our passports were handed over and told we would hear something within 15 -20 days
I received an email on Monday to say we had the application accepted I received an email yesterday stating I could collect our passports I attended today and picked them up we had stated on our application form we wanted the visa to commence 25th May and this is the case on the stamp.
If you take a addressed envelope with you to your appointment the staff will post your passports back to you this is something I picked up today.
I have contacted my solicitor in Spain who is going to assist me with the 2nd stage of the application I feel they have the knowledge and contacts over there and so that’s where ii have decided to pay someone to help me.
The process over here for two of us with visa fee,medical insurance and notary and translating fees aporox £2700
My thoughts at the start I didn’t have a clue what to do I sat down thought about it did a little research and completed it alone in the end it was stress free and fairly simple I think if you give yourself a month for everything the main issue for me was getting my GP to sign the forms not though they wouldn’t it was just a little hassle getting them to do it Covid etc.
Yeah it’s fairly pricey but if you want yo live your dreams then it’s well worth it I must admit I did feel a sense of achievement this morning when we collected them.
Obviously this is based on Manchester consulate I am aware others may differ slightly.
Hope this helps everyone; I know there is a lot of posts on here what is needed etc., but that's it."
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