u/Far_Narwhal6435

I (30M) am a Mexican national living in France. I came to study a master's degree and am looking for a job atm but I'm not so sure of wanting to stay here. I was wondering if anyone in my situation (non-EU national in EU wanting to move to Spain) has any advice on what the way to go about this would be.

I have 9 months left on my French residency permit but I am exploring ways of moving to Spain from France but I don't know how to 1. ask for a residency permit and 2. justify my stay. I would like to stay long enough to maybe lay some roots there and eventually gain a long term residency.

Before anyone tells me to google it, I wanted to know if anyone here has been in the same situation and what you did.

How does one go about moving to Spain from inside the EU as a non-EU national and being able to stay there and find a job? I'm not looking to go there illegally, I want to do it the right way. I just want some guidance and advice.

I am 30 years old. I moved to Paris, France from Mexico almost 4 years ago to get a master's degree in Musicology. I have experience in music festival production so that is what I wanted to continue doing here. My plan is (was?) to finish my degree, get a 1 year permit to look for a job and eventually settle here for the long term. However, I feel so unsure of it now. I am struggling to find a job that meets the requirements (1.5 the minimum salary and related to my field) in order to renew my permit.

I have 9 months left on my current residency permit and I am looking and sending applications everyday but I feel so defeated. I have had interviews for interesting jobs but I let my insecurities get the best of me and seem to fumble it at the 1 yard line. I always doubt my abilities and experience and either under or oversell them depending on the situation. I have reached the 3rd round of interviews for some jobs but I am never chosen. I don't have any contacts in the industry and the colleagues I made in school weren't really in the live music field. I always compare my situation to other friends who have either 1. gotten a job already (however in other fields such as marketing or such) or 2. have found another reason to stay (dual citizenship, found a partner).

I struggle everyday with the idea of continuing until the last day I am allowed to stay here without any guarantee or moving back home and try to retake the path I was on. I love this city, but I feel so stressed, anxious, depressed and alone all the time. I have friends but none of them are in my situation. I can't seem to find a partner to pass time with since I am so preoccupied thinking about how to fix my way and the fact that my finances aren't the best (to date) adds to the wound.

I feel like I am romanticizing Paris a lot and not taking into account that maybe the stress and uncertainty is stunting my life and happiness. I have wanted to live here for so long and when I got to I felt like I lost some kind of purpose. I knew that wanting to stay here wasn't going to be an easy task but it's so taxing on me and I don't know what to do. Should I keep trying until my last breath or when should I decide it's time to choose what's best and go back?

I am also scared of the fact that during the past 4 years, the people I knew and the opportunities I had going on back home have passed. I know I wouldn't start from zero but I don't want to feel like I wasted 4 years of my life. I am currently researching what other possibilities I have in order to extend my stay. Passeport talent artistique, going back to school. I just don't know if that will work out and I will be back to square one.

I feel like a failure for not being able to reach my dream. I know I still have time but I don't want to live with the "what if" of not having made it.

I read that someone here moved back home, got their shit together for some years and then went back but I don't know if I'm too old to do that, especially because of the fact that I would like to start a family at some point.

Also, I never felt like my home country was the place I wanted to stay, but moving here and struggling to secure a path to stay makes me feel like I have nowhere to go. I fantasize about the idea of moving to Asia but it also feels like I'm just running away from my problems. I just want to have stability and find a partner. I don't know what to do. I feel like I don't what I want or what to do with my life. I don't feel like I have a purpose.

To the people who had to go back to their country even though they didn't want to, how did that go? Did you feel better about it after the fact? Did you feel like wasted your time or did you see it as an experience and got what you were looking for after the fact?