Spain's NLV at the US consulates: how Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Houston and Miami differ
Plain Spain editorial team · · 13 min read
The Non-Lucrative Visa is one authorisation, written in one regulation, and the income test is the same whether you file in Houston or Manhattan. Where it stops being the same is the desk. Each Spanish consulate in the United States publishes its own requirements page, and those pages ask for different things.
Houston wants a notarised statement explaining why you are moving. Los Angeles has a line about mortgages that appears nowhere else. New York books appointments by email while three of the others hand the counter to a contractor. This is what we found when we read all five on 27 August 2026, quoting them rather than summarising them.
Key takeawaysLink to this section
- The legal test does not move: the same percentage of IPREM, the same FBI certificate, the same three-month decision period, the same one-month appeal at every US consulate.
- What moves is the paperwork around it: extra affidavits, how many months of bank statements, whether the photo must be glued to the form, and how old your medical certificate may be.
- Houston asks for a sworn statement of intent and twelve months of bank statements. Los Angeles asks working-age applicants to prove they have stopped working, and states that applicants cannot leave loans or mortgages behind in the US.
- Four consulates say the visa is valid for 90 days; Houston's page says 365. All five agree you have one month after arrival to apply for the TIE.
- Three of the five list dependent parents among the family members who can come. The 2024 regulation does not. Get that answer from your consulate in writing before you count a parent in.
- None of the five publishes how long you will wait for an appointment, so we do not print one either.
Does the Non-Lucrative Visa change from one US consulate to another?Link to this section
The requirements do not change. The file does.
Every one of the five pages we read states the same core: income at 400% of Spain's IPREM with 100% more for each family member, a criminal-record certificate from the FBI carrying a federal apostille and a sworn Spanish translation, private health insurance from an insurer authorised in Spain with no co-payment and no coverage limit, a medical certificate under the 2005 International Health Regulations, a passport with at least a year left and two blank pages, form EX-01 and form 790 código 052. That list is the Non-Lucrative Visa document requirements in full, and it comes from the regulation rather than from any consulate's preference.
The divergence starts one level down. A regulation says "prove sufficient means"; a consulate decides that proof means twelve months of statements with every page included. A regulation says "medical certificate"; a consulate decides how old it may be. Neither decision is written in Madrid, and neither is written the same way in all five districts.
Which US consulate is mine?Link to this section
The one whose district you live in, and there is no choosing. Each page says the office is "competent to accept visa applications from individuals residing in the consular district", and Houston is blunter still: it accepts applications "only" from residents of its own states. All five ask you to prove it with a state ID or driver's licence.
| Consulate | States in the district |
|---|---|
| Los Angeles | Southern California (Imperial, Inyo, Kern, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura counties), Arizona, Colorado, Utah |
| New York | New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware |
| Chicago | Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin |
| Houston | Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas |
| Miami | Florida, Georgia, South Carolina |
Those five do not cover the country. Spain also runs consulates general in Boston, San Francisco and San Juan, and a consular section at the Embassy in Washington. San Francisco takes Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, northern California and the Pacific islands. If your state is not in the table above, start at the Ministry's own consulate finder rather than at the nearest big city.
One more thing about district: honorary consulates cannot take visa applications. Miami's page says so outright, and there are six honorary consulates in Florida alone. They are for other consular business.
What does the income test look like at all five?Link to this section
Identical, because it is arithmetic rather than policy. Every page states the same multiples of IPREM, and none of them applies a local variation.
| Household | Monthly income | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Just you | €2,400 | €28,800 |
| You + 1 family member | €3,000 | €36,000 |
| You + 2 family members | €3,600 | €43,200 |
| You + 3 family members | €4,200 | €50,400 |
Houston is the only one of the five that also prints an approximate dollar equivalent. We are not repeating that number here, and neither should you in your own planning: the legal test is in euros, the dollar figure moves with the exchange rate, and the consulate itself labels it an approximation. If you want the multiplication itself, including what each family member adds and what savings have to cover instead, the 2026 income math, worked through does it in full.
What does vary is how you evidence it. Houston asks for "bank statements, including all pages, for the last 12 months" from accounts holding a stable balance. Los Angeles asks for statements from the last three months plus your most recent tax return. New York, Chicago and Los Angeles all require account documents to carry the institution's name and address, full account identification, opening dates, the balance as of 31 December of the previous year and the average balance for that year.
Do the pages agree on remote work?Link to this section
All five agree on the answer. The Non-Lucrative Visa is not a work permit, and it does not cover working remotely for a foreign employer. They differ on where the page says it, and on how much you have to work out for yourself.
New York and Los Angeles state it in the opening line: "This type of visa does not allow teleworking." Chicago folds it into the definition, describing a visa to live in Spain "without carrying out any gainful activity, providing professional services nor working online". Houston makes you swear to it in front of a notary. Miami's page says the visa "does not constitute a work permit" and stops there, which is the same law stated less explicitly.
Read the strictest version as the real one. If you intend to keep a laptop job, the Non-Lucrative Visa is the wrong route and the honest fix is the other visa, not a quieter application.
Where do the five desks actually differ?Link to this section
Here is the comparison in one place. Every cell is what the consulate's own page said on 27 August 2026. A blank cell means the page is silent on that point, which is different from an answer of no.
| Consulate | Where you file | Medical certificate age | Visa collection | Page checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | BLS, by appointment only | maximum 90 days before filing | one month from notification | 27 Aug 2026 (page stamped 11 Feb 2026) |
| New York | at the Consular Office; appointment by email to the visa desk | not stated | one month from notification | 27 Aug 2026 |
| Chicago | BLS, downtown Chicago | not older than 3 months | not stated; BLS explains passport return | 27 Aug 2026 (page stamped 10 Feb 2026) |
| Houston | BLS; applications outsourced entirely | not older than 3 months | not stated | 27 Aug 2026 |
| Miami | in person or through an accredited representative; pickup at BLS | not older than 3 months | one month from notification, Monday to Friday, 3:00 to 4:30 PM | 27 Aug 2026 |
New York is the outlier on two counts. It still takes applications at the consulate itself, and it books by email. You send one message to the visa address with your name, contact details, passport number, nationality, visa type and scans of your ID and passport page, all in a single email. The other four route you through BLS International, which adds a service fee and its own booking system.
New York is also the only page of the five that sets no maximum age for the medical certificate. That is not permission to bring an old one. Three of the other four cap it at three months and Los Angeles at 90 days, so a certificate obtained inside 90 days is safe at every desk and an older one is a gamble on a silence.
What does it cost at the counter?Link to this section
Three separate charges, and only the middle one is the same everywhere.
There is the consular visa fee, which each consulate publishes on its own page and which varies by nationality: several countries pay a different rate on reciprocity grounds, and New York publishes no amount at all, telling applicants to ask the office. There is the residence-permit fee on form 790 código 052, the same modest amount at every desk, payable by money order on the day or online with the receipt attached. And where BLS handles the filing there is a service fee on top, which Miami publishes and the other BLS consulates leave to the contractor's own site.
We are deliberately not printing the numbers. Miami's page carries the reason: "Consular fees are updated by law. Please verify the current rate at the time of processing." Any figure we printed today would be wrong the day a rate moves, and you would have no way of knowing which. Read the amount off your own consulate's page in the week you file.
What does Houston ask for that nobody else does?Link to this section
A notarised statement of intent, written by you, before a notary. Houston's page asks for a sworn statement containing a brief explanation of your professional background, the reasons you decided to live in Spain, how long you plan to stay, the Spanish address where you will live for at least the first three months, and an express commitment not to do any gainful work "either on-site nor remotely (online)".
It goes further for anyone of working age. Employees must produce a letter of termination or retirement from their employer, or a letter accepting a sabbatical year. The self-employed must document "the closure or sale of the business, inactivity of their professional license". Retirees show benefit documents stating the monthly amount, the grant date and the period of entitlement.
Houston also carries the most practical warning on any of the five pages: "Do not remove the apostille staples, rivets, security seals from the document. This will invalidate the authentication." People do this to photocopy things. It ruins the document.
What does Los Angeles ask that the others do not?Link to this section
Two things. The first is the same not-working evidence Houston wants, in a slightly gentler form: a pension, a termination letter from your employer, or, if you are self-employed, "an affidavit before a Notary stating that you agree not to work while residing in Spain".
The second has no equivalent anywhere else. The Los Angeles page states that "Residency applicants cannot have/leave loans or mortgages in the United States when applying for residency in Spain". We can tell you the sentence is there, on a Ministry page stamped 11 February 2026. We cannot tell you how it is applied, because no regulation we have read imposes it and no other consulate repeats it. If you hold a US mortgage and Los Angeles is your district, that is a question to put to the consulate before you book, not after.
Los Angeles is also explicit about the apostille: it must be the federal apostille issued by the Department of State in Washington DC, and "A local Apostille is not valid". Chicago and Houston say the same in nearly identical words. An FBI certificate apostilled by a state Secretary of State is not valid at three of the five desks, and replacing it means going back to the Department of State and then back to your sworn translator. How to get it right the first time is in our guide to apostilles and sworn translations.
What about Chicago and Miami?Link to this section
Chicago's differences are small and unforgiving. The photograph "has to be glued to the application form", and photographs of small children "must not show any part of the adult holding them". Its medical certificate must be bilingual and completed by the examining physician, and the consulate offers its own template. Its page also still says the medical certificate accredits a "student's" good health, which is a leftover from the student-visa sheet rather than a rule about students. These pages are maintained by hand, one office at a time.
Miami sets a filing window nobody else states: "The submission period will be three months in advance of the planned date of your trip to Spain." It allows an accredited representative to file for you using a notarised form. And when the visa is ready you collect it at BLS, not the consulate, between 3:00 and 4:30 PM on weekdays. Miami's district is not on its visa page at all; it is on the consulate's separate demarcación page.
Where do the consulate pages and the regulation disagree?Link to this section
In two places we could not resolve, so we are naming both rather than picking the tidier answer.
The first is dependent parents. New York, Miami and Houston list "dependent relatives in the ascending line who form part of the family unit" among the family members who may obtain the visa; Los Angeles lists relatives in the ascending line too. The Reglamento de Extranjería that has governed the Non-Lucrative authorisation since May 2025 defines family, for this visa, as a spouse or proven partner, unmarried minor children, and adult children who cannot provide for themselves (RD 1155/2024, article 61.3). Ascendants are not in that list. The consulate pages may simply predate the regulation. Our rule is not to plan a Non-Lucrative file around bringing a parent unless the consulate confirms it in writing.
The second is the visa's own validity. Four pages say it is valid for 90 days. Houston's says 365. We are not going to reconcile two Ministry pages for you; take your own consulate's page as the answer, and note that all five agree on what comes next: the Foreigner Identity Card must be applied for within one month of entering Spain.
How long is the wait for an appointment?Link to this section
Nobody publishes it, so we will not invent it. We checked all five pages on 27 August 2026 and none of them states an appointment lead time. Houston offers the closest thing to advice: "Please do not schedule an appointment if you do not yet have all the necessary documents."
What is published is the decision period after you file, and it is the same at all five: three months from the day after submission, extendable if the consulate asks for more documents or calls you in for an interview. If the answer is a refusal, you have one month from notification to lodge a reconsideration appeal with the same consular office, and two months for a judicial review before the High Court of Justice of Madrid. Those windows are identical at every desk.
The practical consequence is a sequencing problem. Your FBI certificate is good for six months and your medical certificate for about three, but you cannot know today when the appointment will be. Book first where you can, then work backwards: certificates last, translations after apostilles, everything else before either. The step-by-step application guide puts that order on paper.
How do we build a file that survives any desk?Link to this section
By preparing to the strictest reading of the five rather than to your own consulate's page. It costs very little extra and it takes the guesswork out of the appointment.
In practice that means: FBI certificate with the federal apostille from the Department of State, never a state one. Sworn translations for everything foreign, including the medical certificate, even where the page implies a bilingual form will do. Medical certificate inside 90 days. Twelve months of bank statements with every page, plus the 31 December balance and the year's average. Photographs on photo paper, unglued but ready to be glued. A notarised statement of intent, whether or not your district demands one. Insurance with no co-payment, no deductible and no coverage limit, from an insurer authorised in Spain.
Then read your own consulate's page in the week you file. Two of the five we read carry a February 2026 date stamp and the other three carry none, so the page itself will not tell you when it last changed. And if you are not yet sure the Non-Lucrative route is the right one for your household, check your eligibility in six questions before you start buying apostilles.