Two doors, same visa

The Startup Law created one telework authorization with two application paths. Apply at a Spanish consulate in the U.S. and you receive a visa — valid one year, convertible later into a residence permit. You enter Spain as a tourist and I file your application on your behalf, and you skip the visa entirely: you receive the residence permit directly, valid three years. Same eligibility rules, same documents at the core, very different outcomes.

The case for having your attorney file in-country

Three years instead of one

The in-country permit runs three years, renewable in two-year blocks. The consular visa runs one year — after which you convert it, essentially doing part of the process again. Three-for-one is the headline reason nearly all my clients choose the attorney-filed route.

~20 business days, with the law on your side

When I file your application, it goes to the Unidad de Grandes Empresas (UGE), which resolves in about 20 business days — and the Startup Law’s positive administrative silence rule means an application without a timely answer is deemed approved. Consular processing varies by consulate: 15–45 days, plus the time to get an appointment at all.

No consulate uncertainty, no DIY filings

U.S. consulates each have their own appointment backlogs, document quirks, and moods. When I file on your behalf, it’s one uniform, online procedure — you don’t learn Spanish bureaucracy, I handle it. You’re legally in Spain; I file. That’s the division of labor.

The constraint: the Schengen clock

As a U.S. tourist you get 90 days in any 180 in the Schengen area. Filing in-country means entering Spain and filing while legal — so your remaining Schengen days are your runway. Two rules of thumb:

  • Arrive with your file essentially complete. The long-lead documents — the FBI check, the Certificate of Coverage for W-2 cases — get done from the U.S. You fly when the file is ready, not before.
  • Watch prior trips. Your European vacation four months ago consumed Schengen days. If you’ve used more than 60 of your 90, the window is closing and the timeline gets planned around it — the free assessment asks exactly this.

Filing while legally present protects your status: once the application is in, you can remain while it’s resolved. Keep your entry evidence — boarding passes matter, since Schengen entries from the U.S. don’t always get passport stamps anymore.

When the consulate route makes sense

  • You can’t travel flexibly right now — the consulate lets you secure the visa before uprooting anything.
  • Your Schengen days are nearly spent and waiting six months to reset the clock doesn’t suit you.
  • Family logistics. In-country family filings require every family member physically in Spain on filing day. For some families, consular processing of dependents is simpler to choreograph.

It’s a legitimate route — it’s just usually second-best: shorter validity, appointment scarcity, and consulate-by-consulate variation in document expectations.

My default recommendation

Have me file in-country whenever the Schengen math allows. You prepare everything from the U.S., fly to Spain with a finished file, and I submit within days of landing. You receive a three-year permit in about a month of calendar time. That’s the sequencing I run for nearly every case, and it’s reflected in the week-by-week journey.

Not sure which door fits your dates? Take the two-minute assessment — it accounts for where you are now and how many Schengen days you’ve used, and my written follow-up names your route explicitly.

Sources: Ley 28/2022 (BOE) · Ministerio de Inclusión — UGE. Last updated: July 2026.