Visa for my wife

Does she have a passport and, if so, from what country?

She does have a passport from Ecuador.

This is from the Spanish embassy's website: "Confirmed reservation of your airline ticket (Round-Trip).Just a Flight RESERVATION is required. It is highly recommended not to confirm the reservation or buy the tickets until you get your visa."

Tom, thank you so much for your clarification. But do you know if it is possible to make airline reservations online. It seems as though that they only allow a user to purchase tickets and not reserve them. thanks again.

I'm guessing you're flying Iberia. They'll let you make a reservation online and they'll hold it 48 hours without your having to buy the tickets. So you & your wife would have to make the reservation within 48 hours of your visa appointment. There might be more leeway if you talk to an Iberia agent, I don't know. But Iberia must run into this situation all the time.

I've been down this road many times. My wife recently completed the US naturalization process and got her blue passport, but for a decade before that we traveled to Europe with her green card and foreign passport. It's a pain in the butt. You will have trouble making a "reservation" and holding that for very long - most airlines seem to allow only 24 hours before your reservation goes poof, and getting your wife's visa will almost certainly take much longer than that. What we would do is 1) Book the flights. Get your e-ticket printout and give that to the embassy/consulate issuing the visa along with the other paperwork they demand. 2) Book your hotel at least for your first night in Spain - they may ask you for that. They may also ask for your full itinerary and hotel details. You can give them a rough itinerary if you want, or just say you're going to figure it out as you go, same for hotels. Be sure you don't volunteer more information that they ask you for. Unless something has changed, the rule is that if you're going to be visiting multiple Schengen countries, you ask for the visa from the country that's your "main" destination (defined as the country where you will be spending most time). I've had consulates try to use this to force me to go ask somebody else. The way to beat that is to say that you will split your time evenly between multiple countries - the same number of days in each - then the rule is you ask for the visa from the country where you enter the Schengen zone. They should be OK if you show them something that looks like you have a round-trip ticket (the worry being that you wife will just stay and work illegally), and the details for your first hotel when you arrive. They might ask about insurance coverage. Otherwise, they shouldn't pry too much. Good luck!

Schengen requirements for a lot of (non USA) countries are extremely strict, require either a guarantee from a local resident or confirmed return airline tickets, confirmed hotel for all nights and proof of enough money to last the period of your trip (bank statements for a number of months). This applies even if she is a USA green card holder. getting the schengen visa through Germany is partiicularly tough. However once you meet all their criteria they are very efficient
(Been there, done that). I would buy the tickets

I agree with you. Get the visa taken care of first. Plane tickets will still be there after you get it taken care of. The risk of possibly paying a little more for your tickets isn't nearly as big as losing the entire value of your tickets because your wife's visa is delayed. More than likely, the visa will be turned around quickly enough that it won't affect your plans but you really can't bank on it.

Yeah, We are going to have to have to make a bogus reservation online for flights and possibly make a reservation with a hotel in Spain for the first night where i could cancel and not risk loosing any money if things don't go well. We are only entering thru Spain and afterwards going to Italy and France. We don't know how long we will stay in each but we'll simply tell them that we are spliting our days evenly. How does that sound? Does anyone know of a hotel where i could make a reservation without the risk of loosing money. We are looking to travel in October so it's not like we would be screwing anyone over. The hotels will have more than enough time to get someone else if we cancel. Also do you gyus think it's ok for us to try and get my wife's visa within the next couple of months? or do we have to wait until we get closer to our date or travel?

We are only entering thru Spain and afterwards going to Italy and France. We don't know how long we will stay in each but we'll simply tell them that we are spliting our days evenly. How does that sound? Either tell them that your trip will be split exactly evenly among multiple countries (if you say 12 days in Spain and 13 days in France, they may deny your wife's visa and tell you to get a visa from the French embassy), or simply tell them you will be mostly in Spain. They have no way to "track" you and count the days your spend in any countries once you enter the Schengen zone. Does anyone know of a hotel where i could make a reservation without the risk of loosing money. Why go through the subterfuge? You should have a hotel for your first night anyway. Might as well book that now - you should book well in advance to get the best places anyway. One less thing to worry about (maybe two). Also do you gyus think it's ok for us to try and get my wife's visa within the next couple of months? or do we have to wait until we get closer to our date or travel
Start now. Book your flight, book your first night hotel, then get the visa going. There's no reason to wait, that only provides opportunities for things to go wrong. Get that stuff settled soon, and the you can focus on other things. As long as you get started soon, it should all work out just fine.