Just work under the table

I'm an American living with my spanish girlfriend in Spain for the past year on a now-expired visa. Once you are in the country, you're in, so no immigration worries until you leave the country (Schengen countries) and try to reenter. It's close to impossible to get a work visa these days (thank Bushs' retarded non-spanish speaking Spanish embassador for his hard work on that), so without a work visa you can only get jobs such as waiting tables, kitchen work, or teaching english. The Spanish government is in the middle of cracking down on illegal immigrants and hitting bussinesses with fines, but the english academies and bar/restaurants don't seem to be bothered. Depending on how good your spanish is, teaching english will pay better ($10/hr). Of course all of that depends on where you are going to live. If you have any angle on getting a student work visa you should jump on it asap because that will allow you to get a nice hotel job.