Here is my situation in bullet points:-
I'm British, living in the Philippines.
My gf of 4 years is a Filipina (pause for inevitable joke ... ).
We wish to permanently relocate to Spain.
We asked the Spanish consulate in Manila for the procedure to apply for permanent residence, and they asked us to submit a standard Schengen visa application form.
We did this with all of the usual proof of relationship, finance, health, etc.
She has now been issued a 90-day Schengen visa, marked 'vis estancia'.
Not knowing what to do next, we asked the consulate again and their reply was "she needs to apply to the local authorities in Spain for a residence permit".
So my question is, what do we do now?
It seems wrong to enter Spain on a visitors visa when it is our stated intention to remain there permanently, however that appears to be the advice we're being given. Does anybody know what/where/to whom we should apply once in Spain, and what exactly are we applying for? I'm confident that we meet the relationship criteria as specified in 2004/38/EU and also the Spanish equivalent (Royal Decree 240/2007). However are we likely to hit any bureaucratic issues because local officials only understand certified marriage/partnerships?