I'm moving to Madrid next week. For those who recently did the same, what was your first month like?

Hi all,

I'm (27M) fortunate enough to finally be doing what I've worked towards over the past six years—moving to Madrid. I spent four months in Italy last fall to get my Italian citizenship through jure sanguinis, so I'll be moving with EU citizenship.

Thankfully I'm pretty set up as far as most immigration experiences go. I've been fluent in Spanish from a young age, studying abroad and a few trips since have narrowed my neighborhood preferences down, and I'll be arriving to a very close group of local friends that will tag along on my apartment hunt.

While I don't take any of that for granted, I anticipate a few hurdles stemming from my current foreign employment (contractor). I'm in the early stages of applying to three companies with offices in Madrid, but a permanent address is a prerequisite to many other pieces of the puzzle and I don't see myself getting an offer letter within the next 3-5 weeks at the pace things have been going.

With that being said, I'd like to hear about the following from any of you who recently moved to Madrid or Spain at large:

• How long did it take you to find an apartment?
• Did you encounter a lot of landlords who were unwilling to rent to a foreigner, particularly one who isn't employed by a Spanish company?
• Whether you sought an NIE through an EX-15 or EX-18, how hard was it to snag an appointment and would you do anything differently before attending the appointment?
• Oh, and most importantly, how are you liking it? 😎

Gracias y un fuerte abrazo.