Consulate General of Spain

This was by far the best experience I’ve had getting a Visa for any country. I’m a musician with an Indian passport and it’s usually a stressful nightmare getting Visas in time for performances and tours outside of the US. This proved to be such a pleasant experience, I was in and out of there in under an hour with the Visa in my passport. Unbelievable! Not to mention, the staff there are so nice and friendly, and expressed a genuine interest in my travels and what I do for a living. It felt so nice to be treated with such courtesy for a change.

I must say this was a great experience! The Consulate of Spain has the most availability for visa appointments. I logged in late at night to make an appointment and they had available slots the next day! because i need additional time to gather our documents i scheduled it for the following week!- My husband received his visa on the spot for our trip next month! Thank you, LORD… the process was smooth because he presented all necessary documents. In addition to their required documents I presented the following as I was the one supporting my husband.
–My passport (original and copy)
–Marriage license (original and copy)
–Notarized letter stating that I will be responsible financially
–Employment Letter
–Last three pay stubs
–Last three bank statements
My husband submitted the following docs:
Application
Passport (original and copy)
Green card (original and copy)
Passport picture (2)
Complete Itinerary
Insurance documents
Hope this helps!

Pros: they are pretty quick comparing to other embassies in NYC; took me an hour to leave with my visa
–very friendly staff
–nice view from the seating area
Cons: they give visa for exact dates of travel :(

I needed to get a student visa for Spain and was extremely pleased with the process, which I had otherwise expected to be painful. They say it takes 2 – 4 weeks, but I provided all the documents and had my visa in 8 days.
Within those 8 days, I made a trip outside the country and they allowed me to keep my passport for the duration of the trip, as long as I provided photocopies. When I went to the visa to return the passport, they gave me the visa in under 30 minutes.
Overall: Amazing service, particularly for a government institution. The staff is accessible by phone (once you get passed the robot, and in limited business hours) and extremely helpful, providing detailed responses.
Very pleased. Thank you!
Lionel

My appointment was at 1:45, was called at 1:50, interviewed for 5 minutes and was out with my visa by 2:15. It can’t get any better!
The staff was extremely professional, polite and helpful. Just make sure you have the documents listed on their website and you should be good to go.

The visa process can’t be any easier. Appointment was 12:15 and got called at 12:25, then interviewed for 5 minutes and I was able to leave with my passport at 1. Staff and visa officers are all super friendly. Amazing and open view of midtown Manhattan, even sitting at the waiting area was a relaxing and pleasant experience.
The only other EU consulate I’ve been to is Italian consulate, and the difference is day and night. My wait was over an hour and the visa officers were totally unprofessional. The lady who interviewed me took a personal call and talked for a good 5 minutes while I was standing and waiting. When I tried to ask her question she was impatient too.
My point is that Spanish consulate is the best! Go get your visa at here even when you are trying to visit Italy!

Amazing experience! So smoothe and professional. Came a little late but was called up shortly. The ladies at the windows were very nice and informative. Gloria at the counter helped make the process easy. Visited on a weekday, made an appointment in advance so no ticket necessary, they call you up by name. They have seating available for waiting and it is located on the 30^th floor of the building. Long live Spain!

I am writing this review while waiting for my passport for more than an hour already (excluding about 40 – 50 minutes of waiting for my name to be called for the interview and 30 minutes of interview). The guy who interviewed me at the window told me that my passport with visa should be ready in 15 minutes. Very disappointed since now I have to skip almost half a day of my work (I was advised that the visa application process including passport should be less than one hour). My visa application experience with Greece and Scandinavian consulates in New York is way much better (and faster!).

Best experience ever. Waited for 30 min for the interview, then 5 min of the interview and got my visa in 15 min after that. You can also schedule the interview on a last minute or change the dates, they have a lot of empty slots, and I got multiple entry visa for $ 65. Advice for everyone: come over– prepared. Bring all required documents, originals and copies and more.

This is the worst EU consulate I have ever been to. If you intend to get a visa for 6 months or 1 year I recommend you try elsewhere (This is probably my 10^th EU visa, The shortest time I have ever gotten it for was for 6 months) –the Greeks or the Portuguese have worked very well for me in the past, no wait or questioning at all.
As other reviews point out, these people only grant the visa for the duration of your trip. Not to mention they will find every possible way to question your application and documents.

Update — -
I made a short trip to Madrid on the long weekend of May 25^th as I was in UK. I am planning to visit Spain/​France or Spain/​Portugal again in early July (Spain primary destination). I need to reapply for Schengen visa as my earlier visa was for 7 days. Do you think it would be a problem getting the Spanish Schengen visa again given that my previous visa expired just yesterday? Any insights would be appreciated. Thanks.
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The wait is long but the staff is courteous. Once you are done with the interview, you get the visa in 15 mins. However, they give you visa for exact dates. Hard to get 60 or 90 day visa.

They issue visas within 15 minutes. Very nice and friendly staff. The wait time was long, but after they interview you, you get the visa quickly.

Best experience ever !!
I’d 10.15 appointment, I was there by 10.10 They called me to the window by 10.22. I’d all my documents in-​order and gave me 30 days visa. I think they usually give with the exact dates but the VO said «Your documents are all in order and perfect, i’m giving your visa for few more extra days. Enjoy your stay» :)
I got my passport back by 10.45 with Visa on it.

Being an Indian citizen, to travel just about anywhere, I need a visa. what that means is, I have also been to plenty of consulates :-). in my experience, this was a very pleasant experience. Quick and easy. They don’t keep you waiting, as long as your documents are perfect. Also, they are very practical staff. Took me a total of 45 minutes to get my Schengen Visa. Just 1 complaint. $ 82 for just 15 days of Schengen Visa… that’s quite a lot in my opinion!

Really nice people. Very efficient service. We were called within few minutes of our time and once the documents were in order, they took our fingerprints. Waited 15 minutes and got the passports with visa in it. Voila!

If I could give 10 stars I would!!!
Amazing experience the staff is extremely nice, helpful and professional.
My appointment was at 11:30am for Schengen visa Got there on time got approved left the building around 12:15 WITH my passport.
This review is for Manhattan office.

I will be traveling to Spain soon and had a couple of questions and wanted to clarify them. Called to get the address the recording gave all pertinent information regarding location and business hours. The guard was polite and directed me to the right window. The waiting on the line was no more than 10 minutes the Customer Service Rep was polite, smile and answers all my questions fully and professionally.
I was in and out in around 20 minutes. Not bad.

1 star for the phone service and 7 stars (yes it’s that good) for the office visit — 4 star average.
First of all, all visa appointments have to be scheduled online beforehand. Same case with the Boston and SF consulate but DC is walk-​in only. However, the NY consulate tends to be booked way faster than the Boston office. My visit is coming up soon and I couldn’t find an open appointment before my travel date. Hence I called the office many times and no one ever picked up. Very frustrating and their voice message was in Spanish — I didn’t really understand and kept asking the empty voice recording do you speak English. ugh
But once I payed a personal visit, the people in the consulate were very nice and super professional. I could tell they were really trying to help and had empathy over my situation. Both the front desk security guard/​recipient and the counselor. They gave me a few options and informed me to check their calendar regularly. He was absolutely right. Immediately after I returned to work, I saw an open slot for that day. At around 7PM, I found an open slot the next week and that was perfect for me. I’d say the visit certainly calmed me down and helped a lot!

This review is for the Spanish Consulate in NYC. I am planning a trip to Spain with my wife in May 2014. I was kind of nervous after seeing all the negative reviews on google and Unilocal.However quite the contrary my experience was pretty good. I got an appointment for ⁰⁴⁄₂₃ at 12.30 PM. I reached on time and checked in. No issues with that. The guard at the entry was very polite and professional. There were some people waiting in the consulate so I thought maybe I would have to wait for long. After checking in I went to reception and let them know I was here. They asked me to take a seat. At around 12.45 my name was called. The embassy staff member checked my papers, asked me a few questions about my trip then gave me a receipt and accepted my payment and documentation. They informed me that my visa would be ready the next day. I was out by 1 PM. I also included a pre-​paid UPS shipping label. Next day my passport was shipped out and I received it on Friday ⁰⁴⁄₂₅.
All in all the experience was pretty good. I would only say this though that slots for appointments get filled up very fast. So make sure you book an appointment early on. They also allow you to change the appointment so if at a later time you think the appointment is not going to work for you, you can always change it. Plus I made sure I had all of the documentation they needed by looking at their website. So please make sure you have all of your paperwork in order and double check.

First of all, be advised that it is a big office building and the Spanish Consulate is on the 30^th floor.
The interview itself does not take very long but as there are few interviewers the wait might be long.
Make sure you get the right sum for the visa — $ 79 it’s $ 46 only for Russian Federation, Serbia, Ukraine, Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia-​Herzegovina, Albania and Moldova. I saw somebody make that mistake.
If you are granted a visa it is ready the next day. You can either pick it up or bring them a pre-​paid UPS envelope and they will mail the passport to you. That would take 2 – 3 business days.
They are not very generous on the lengths of the visas they grant. I got 10 days even though I’ve had at least 6 Schengen Visas and 2 of them in the past 3 years.