u/PaperCloud619

I’m looking for some outside perspective from people who have gone through the Spanish Digital Nomad Visa process, especially anyone who paid for a relocation company or immigration lawyer to handle it.

I signed up for what was marketed as a premium relocation/visa service, with a five-figure price tag, to help me move to Spain. For that amount of money, I wasn’t expecting miracles or for them to somehow control Spanish bureaucracy. But I was expecting someone to actually manage the process and guide me through each step.

The service included a dedicated case manager, coordination with the immigration lawyer handling my application, regular check-ins, and reasonably quick response times.

In reality, there were several months where I basically heard nothing unless I reached out myself.

There was also no clear roadmap along the lines of: “These documents expire at this point, these ones need to be legalized, this needs to happen X weeks before you travel, and this is what we need from you by this date.”

And that’s really where my frustration starts.

I was having regular calls with the project manager throughout the process, so naturally I assumed that what we discussed was being relayed to the legal team and that they were communicating internally about my case.

Apparently, that wasn’t happening.

At one point I was genuinely shocked to discover that the legal team didn’t seem to know where I was in the process and mentioned that I hadn’t contacted them in months.

That confused me because I thought the whole point of hiring one company was that the project manager and legal team were working together. The legal team also hadn’t reached out to check on my progress during those months.

Then, less than a week before I was supposed to move to Spain, I suddenly received a list of documents and legalization requirements from the legal team that apparently needed to be completed before everything could move forward.

And these weren’t things I could simply download and email over.

Some involved government offices, embassy legalization, banking documents, couriers and processing times. I eventually had to work with a third party just to help secure appointments and handle parts of the legalization process, which became very expensive.

These were things that realistically needed to be planned weeks, if not months, in advance.

Naturally, I asked why I was only finding out about all of this right before my move.

The response I got was essentially that I should have provided the documents earlier.

Which... yeah, that frustrated me.

There hadn't been any mention of these additional steps beforehand. Even the project manager seemed to think I was almost at the finish line, only for the legal side to suddenly introduce requirements neither of us seemed to have been preparing for.

That was when it really hit me that the different people managing my case apparently weren’t communicating with each other properly.

Things became even more stressful around the actual move.

They ghosted me for several business days before and after my flight. I found myself scrambling for help with the remaining requirements, arranging legalization, chasing documents, figuring out government procedures and coordinating much of the process myself.

I flew to Spain without knowing where things stood and felt abandoned.

They only got back in touch days after I had already arrived! and without a single apology or explanation why they were MIA.

I was incredibly anxious and felt very much left on my own at the exact point when I thought professional support would matter most.

At some point I remember thinking:

What exactly did I pay a premium relocation company for if I’m the one project-managing my own visa application?

There were smaller things too. One person handling my case repeatedly couldn't get my name right even though my name appeared throughout my documents. It added to the feeling that they just didn't care about me.

The delays also ended up costing me quite a lot of money.

I had to renew documents and residency-related things in the country I was leaving, adjust travel plans, pay for additional accommodation and document processing, use third-party services, and postpone parts of my relocation.

I completely understand that immigration authorities can be slow. Embassy appointments can be difficult to get. Government offices have their own processing times. Flights get cancelled.

I don't blame a relocation company for things genuinely outside their control.

What bothers me is everything that happened before those external factors became a problem.

If someone had given me a proper timeline and the guidance I needed months earlier, I could have prepared for most of this.

Instead, there were months of very little proactive communication, followed by a sudden scramble immediately before I was supposed to relocate.

Then I was made to feel as though I should somehow have known what needed to be done, despite this being my first time navigating an international relocation and one of the main reasons I paid professionals in the first place.

That’s the part I’m struggling to accept.

I would like a refund, but the contract is written in a way that makes obtaining one extremely difficult.

So I’d genuinely like some outside opinions:

• What would you have done in this situation?
• What would you consider a fair resolution?

I’m not naming the company or any of the people involved.

I’m considering eventually leaving a factual negative Google review about my experience. I want a fair resolution and, ideally, most of my money back.

I’m not wealthy. This was money I had specifically saved to relocate and start my life in Spain, which is probably why the whole experience has been so frustrating.

I’d genuinely like to know how other people would handle this situation.