Coming to Madrid

Coming to Madrid is one of the most pleasant experiences ever to have been recorded for this course especially for M2 students. Before arrival please practice the following thoroughly, "Dos cervezas y tapas, Por favor" It is a well known fact that Spain in one of the most popular Erasums destinations among all the European and this for very valid reasons I shall put forth. Firstly you can possibly take a flight from anywhere to Madrid being at the heart(literally) of Spain, ´Ryan air´included which makes it very cheap to come to Madrid. After landing however you will see that expenses escalate quite quickly owing to the expensive urban transportation. (of course in my case compared to Stuttgart and travel in Indian cities). Hence it is highly advisable to get the new Urban Metro Madrid and Bus transportation card as soon as possible to minimize the costs per month to a fixed minimum depending on which campus you travel to of course. Before that some of the things that need to be kept in mind are you need a residence permit first and foremost before you start on anything else. Since it takes a month to get this done it is advised to start the process as soon as humanly possible so that you may leave the country for study visits or vacations and come back to Spain without any issues after a month of submitting the request. In order to apply for the residence permit please follow the following directions laid out in great detail of course by yours truly. Kindly make sure the process has not changed in which case I advise that the person who notices the change make the necessary changes.

VISA (Extended Residence Permit) Application:

We Started the process about a week back with receiving of the papers attached below for getting the Residents permit from the OFICINA DE EXTRANJERÍA DE CANILLEJAS Información general at Calle San Faustino, 23 (esquina a C/ Sebastian Francisco, 28022 - Madrid Plano de localización Teléfonos: 91 272 95 00) ,

You would be asked to make the payment of 15 Euros at the bank and submit one of the papers at the bank, which is what we followed. A small piece of paper containing a link for making an appointment at the office of foreign nationals office for submitting all the documents that are required by them a given, This paper also requires that you include the following

a. Passport Photo b. Copy of Passport c. Certificate of Home address (Certificado de empadronamiento) which you can easily apply for at the town hall by just going to the office near the Moncloa Metro station. After all the above documents have been procured you would only need an appointment date.

Following the link on the piece of paper which was provided at the earlier office address I mentioned leads us to the following pages. https://sede.administracionespublicas.gob.es/icpplus/citar

1. Select Madrid and the given (INDENTITADAD DE EXTRANJERO [HUELLA]) for page 1.

2. Give in all details as asked and accurately for page 2.

3. The system identifies you as ¨"Name Family Name" with "Passport number" for page 3.

4. Select the office as mentioned / or any other office since it doesn't matter, preferably an office close to your accommodation or university for page 4.

5. Provide more information like the phone number etc and the email ID for page 5.

6. On accepting the change in details, you will get the same response from the system which is that an appointments is available before the expiry of your current current 90 day visa. the date, time and place for the appointment will be made clear and take a print of this to carry with you on the day of the appointment. I attach the bank papers and the piece of paper with the link and address for your reference.

Metro Card Application

This is slightly trickier than the above as the method is not as straightforward, Spainish speakers are advised to be taken along. An appointment for the metro card has to be made prior to your arrival at any one of the Metro offices near the university UCM(Universitaria) or UC3M (leganes). This link will give you directions for the appointment.

https://www.tarjetatransportepublico.es/CRTM-ABONOS/entrada.aspx

go to the office on the appointment date with the following documents

a. Residence card b. Passport Photo c. Patience and a belly full of wine.

There would be much chaos as many people without appointments will barge in arguing they are Spanish citizens and do not require all that etc. Stay bold and speak louder(if necessary and also mandatorily in Spanish ) it helps to maintain your place in the queue. Apply for the ´Joven´ card if below 23 years of age this will give your card discounts on the recharge which would save you around 20 bucks per month. You will get the card immediately, go down to the automatic card recharge machines and insert card select zone (A - UCM or B1 - Leganes) with prices ranging from 50 - 65 and insert card to pay and Voila you can travel back and forth as many times as you want till the edges of zone mentioned on the Madrid Metro Map. Congratulations. Next lets register at the universities.

Enrolling at UCM & UC3M

..to be continued..

--130.206.40.27 10:39, 10 April 2015 (UTC) Pranay Valson