Foreigners can apply for visas from the country they are RESIDING in.. I would contact the Spanish embassy in France and ask them to verify you can do that during your French stay.
But I am also afraid to say it is difficult to get "answers" about visas anywhere except on websites of many embassies.

I would just deal with this when you get to France. I do not see any way you can even TRY to do this otherwise and there SHOULD BE an EU solution.

oops! Just realized jdc222 was able to solve his student visa once in France.. great!


wiz395.. you need a WORK permit/visa.. Impossible to get while in Spain. You must be HIRED first and the company will give you the papers for you to go back to your country and APPLY for the correct visa.

lincasanova if that is the case then, because there is a company that is willing to provide me with all the necessary documentation to show for a work permit/visa as well as I am also in the course of my TEFL so they can also provide me with documentation for a student visa. My question is, is it possible to travel to another country such as portugal or andorra or even france to go to a Spanish consulate and to apply and then return to pick it up. All of that would be much cheaper than having to go back to the States. That appears to be how jdc222 did it. Please help.

No, her case is completely different. She had a long-stay visa for France (longer than 90 days), and during her residence could apply for Spanish visa there. You are on a tourist visit of 90-in-180 days, so you must return home to US to apply for your work visa with sponsorship details.

Oh poop... :( Sooo as far as I am aware, the ONLY way to get a visa is by going back to my own country? Uggh..

Employers may not hire anybody on a tourist stay. To get hired, you must go home, receive a job offer, and apply for a work visa.

And I hope you know that you can only be hired if no EU citizen has been found who is qualified for the job. This is not a real problem if you have an employer who really wants to hire you because they can rewrite the job qualifications to make sure that you are the only person qualified.