[RoyalBlue]

For our visa application (NLV) we went through a service, 9 years ago. It seemed expensive at the time, Eu 5000, but I did not mind paying it as I did not know what I had to do, and I was not in Spain I was in the Middle East. And I was making a lot of money at the time so it was almost like spare change.
After spending some time in Spain, I think I could do it all on my own, but it does take some research. And it would probably take longer than if you pay someone to do it.
What are the sticky issues?
1) Getting a NIE; I'm not sure how one gets one outside of Spain like from a consulate. But in Spain, it is fairly easy once you know how.
2) Getting a bank . That's fairly easy even from outside Spain
3) Medical insurance. That was easy, done via internet. We are still with the same company we started with.
4) Residence. Now that is a trick! We settled this by going on a exploratory visit to the city we thought we wanted to live in. That went well, so on that same trip, we signed a lease on an apartment. Since we did not move for 6 months, 1/2 year of rent was thrown away. This is really what you will want to finesse. And I do not think a visa service company will be able to help with this.
5) The rest of the stuff, medical clearance, financials etc are straight forward.

So really, the only problem out of all that is really getting a NIE. If you needed to go to Spain to get one, with airfare and hotel that could come to a couple of thousand Eu, not Eu 5k.

 

[xabiaxica]

So really, the only problem out of all that is really getting a NIE. If you needed to go to Spain to get one, with airfare and hotel that could come to a couple of thousand Eu, not Eu 5k.

The NIE is easy. You can get one from the Spanish Consulate in your usual country of legal residency - the same place as you apply for a visa.

That said, you don't need a NIE when you apply for your visa - one will be issued when you apply for the TIE in Spain to your residency.

 

[Rusty Nail]

For our visa application (NLV) we went through a service, 9 years ago. It seemed expensive at the time, Eu 5000, but I did not mind paying it as I did not know what I had to do, and I was not in Spain I was in the Middle East. And I was making a lot of money at the time so it was almost like spare change.
After spending some time in Spain, I think I could do it all on my own, but it does take some research. And it would probably take longer than if you pay someone to do it.
What are the sticky issues?
1) Getting a NIE; I'm not sure how one gets one outside of Spain like from a consulate. But in Spain, it is fairly easy once you know how.
2) Getting a bank . That's fairly easy even from outside Spain
3) Medical insurance. That was easy, done via internet. We are still with the same company we started with.
4) Residence. Now that is a trick! We settled this by going on a exploratory visit to the city we thought we wanted to live in. That went well, so on that same trip, we signed a lease on an apartment. Since we did not move for 6 months, 1/2 year of rent was thrown away. This is really what you will want to finesse. And I do not think a visa service company will be able to help with this.
5) The rest of the stuff, medical clearance, financials etc are straight forward.

So really, the only problem out of all that is really getting a NIE. If you needed to go to Spain to get one, with airfare and hotel that could come to a couple of thousand Eu, not Eu 5k.

Things may have changed from when you applied to live in Spain.
1) It seems a NIE comes with the visa and is issued when picking up the visa. You have to apply for a visa in the country you are resident in. You cannot obtain one in Spain.
2) It can be done but you will still need a video call NIE/TIE. However, a number of banks still require some sort of personal visit. If you open a non-resident then later you will need to change that to one for a resident.
4) Residency is only gained once in Spain. It just requires a visit to the relevant Oficina de Extranjeros with relevant forms and paperwork. Spain: your residency
5) what other stuff?

 

[RoyalBlue]

The other stuff would be: the medical clearance and financials, as listed, and filling out the visa application form and submitting it at the consulate/embassy. As I noted, straight forward.
And by residence I mean a place to live. I believe a requirement is that you have to show a residence.
Residence is different from residency

 

[Barriej]

The other stuff would be: the medical clearance and financials, as listed, and filling out the visa application form and submitting it at the consulate/embassy. As I noted, straight forward.
And by residence I mean a place to live. I believe a requirement is that you have to show a residence.
Residence is different from residency

Medical clearance (or Private healthcare) if needed is the most important part of the process.
What happens if you go through all the financial stuff, getting your criminal record checked, etc.
And then you find out that that little problem you had with your knee isint covered so you cant get Private healthcare??

I tell anyone and everyone who is thinking of moving from the Uk (or anywhere else) to Spain etc to see if they can get the healthcare sorted first.
If from the UK and of retirement age then thats taken care of by the S1 (so the Uk picks up the tab)
I know of three people who have failed (and there are more that have posted here) and one couple who were refused residency in 2020 because the policy was basically just a holiday insurance. All because of healthcare issues.

 

[Rusty Nail]

The other stuff would be: the medical clearance and financials, as listed, and filling out the visa application form and submitting it at the consulate/embassy. As I noted, straight forward.
And by residence I mean a place to live. I believe a requirement is that you have to show a residence.
Residence is different from residency

So when you mean residence you really mean looking for a property, renting or purchase. Glad that is clarified.

 

[RoyalBlue]

Also, medical clearance in our case was different from medical insurance. It was a medical exam, in which the doctor had to state that we had no communicable diseases as identified by some European standard.
For us that became a bit difficult as the doctor in the country I was living in had no knowledge of these standards. I had to do a little persuasion to get that bit completed.
We also had to have medical insurance; this was really easy.
Oh, and to add to the list of "other stuff"; getting documents translated into Spanish, at least the required ones. I think ports are exempted

 

[xabiaxica]

Also, medical clearance in our case was different from medical insurance. It was a medical exam, in which the doctor had to state that we had no communicable diseases as identified by some European standard.
For us that became a bit difficult as the doctor in the country I was living in had no knowledge of these standards. I had to do a little persuasion to get that bit completed.
We also had to have medical insurance; this was really easy.
Oh, and to add to the list of "other stuff"; getting documents translated into Spanish, at least the required ones. I think ports are exempted

Yes, one needs both a medical certificate

Medical certificate. Original and a copy of a medical certificate accrediting that the applicant does not suffer from any disease that could cause serious repercussions for public health pursuant to the 2005 International Health Regulations. Foreign documents must be legalized or apostilled and, where applicable, must be submitted together with an official translation into Spanish.

& health insurance or an S1 from the UK or an EU country.

Health insurance. Original and a copy of the certificate accrediting the public or private health insurance contracted with an insurance entity authorized to operate in Spain. The insurance policy must cover all the risks insured by Spain's public health system.

Non-working residence visa

www.exteriores.gob.es

 

[wascrabtree]

If the OP is struggling with the Visa process then I really would advise against her moving .I have lived in two different EU countries and getting settled in and sorting out everything is to take things up to another level completely.If you get it right from the word go then things will be much easier,especially if you can speak the language at a reasonable level to begin with.However in my experience so many Brit expats rock up somewhere with minimal language skills then fall in with the Brit community who will tell you all sorts of nonsense eg don't bother with taxes here etc and then it goes all wrong