Most of that is the same for any country a person visits.
The carta de invitation is 75 euros and your data submitted to the host needs verifying via the local police and then government department. They then give you an approved stamped invite letter I believe.
Data includes normal stuff like home address, how long at this address, job, salary, other countries visited recently, why. There’s 42 questions to answer.
If you stay in a hotel or book an airbnb they collect the info for you.
Hotels don’t ask the 42 questions. Just normal stuff. It has become a bit longer but that’s for everyone, nationals and foreigners.
The extension of questions asked to customers was controversial and it’s got mixed up with entry requirements on the media but it has nothing to do and there are no new entry requirements.
They’re supposed to introduce some kind of European ESTA (ETIAS) at some point this year but that’s for EU not specifically Spain and there’s nothing firm yet.
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MAY be asked to show. I was in Spain last month, on holiday, not sitting, and was never asked any of that, just had my passport stamped, and waved straight through as usual.
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That is the key. It’s what most countries may ask but usually don’t. They tend to do it only when people are selected for second questioning and there is something that they may find suspicious.
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I have just received the famous email for my sit in the UK. They still recommend to show the letter if needed.
They say it “can help border control officials understand that we don’t regard the type of house sitting that we facilitate as work.” 
Seriously!! They can’t believe border control officials care what THS regard as work!!
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For my first sit I flight to London from Paris, I hold a colombian passport. I showed the letter and there wasn’t any problem at all. I didn’t even know the HO full name and address.
Hi @volados.co. Welcome to the
Wow! That’s quite surprising. I guess it depends on the border agent that deals with this.
Did you volunteer that information or did they ask?
I have been petsitting in the UK on three different occasions and have never been asked anything.
Maybe you haven’t noticed? Brits tend to be not very confrontational, even border control isn’t. They approach this in a very conversational and subtle way. They usually don’t ask directly: “What are you doing here?” 
Maybe you don’t notice it if you’re not trained in understanding such indirect communication and questioning techniques. But I’d say I’ve crossed the UK border at least 30 times, and I’ve always ended up in some kind of conversation that was meant to subtly find out what I’m doing here or how long I’ll be staying. Harmless small talk for the unsuspecting, but in reality, they couldn’t care less about your personal plans - especially when there are hundreds of people in line. 
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My wife and I applied to B1/B2 visa saying that the motive of our visit was doing a sit by TrustedHouseSitters, we attached the letter provided by THS, and we didn’t even had an agreed sit or booked flights. We just said that we planned to go there maybe the next year and we wanted to do housesitting. We have colombian passport.
I certainly would have noticed if they had asked anything at all but they didn’t.
Did you get the visa?
Yes, we did. And we did the same for the Canadian visa and we got it. We went to HongKong and we showed the letter as well, we showed the app, and the conversation with the HO and they let us in. Reading this forum is the first time that I realize that it could be a problem.
Thanks for the information.
I have also found out about problems here. I think housesitting falls in a grey area which may be considered work or not and it would depend on the country and the people dealing with it. What tends to be a problem is people being nervous and changing their story. I think it also helps if you fulfill the rest of requirements and they start asking questions about those (return or onward ticket, enough funds to finance the stay, booked accommodation or tours…)
But that’s just a thought. I have only been stopped for questioning once, I was not housesitting and it was just a flight connection. I was totally confident and I was able to board my plane on time. I had no idea how this worked and was a bit surprised that their questions were quite repetitive.
I wonder if Canadians going into the USA to sit have noticed any difference in questions flying versus driving?
I’ve made three trips to the USA to sit in the last year and a half; the first two I flew, and pretty much breezed through customs in Toronto, but I could say I was going to see solar eclipses and they didn’t seem to need any further information. Just got back from trip # 3, where I drove, and I got a bit of third degree. What did I do for a living, needed to see my itinerary, when was the last time I was in the states [I’m sure it’s already in the file right in front of him] and, bizarrely, “what do you have for a home?”
I get it, they want to know you have ties in Canada and are not trying to stay, but this last tripped me up as I am searching for a new home, my brain went into real estate mode and I was thinking “why do you need me to describe my house to you?” 
Then he got huffy because I thought his question was weird.
I guess they have more time to ask questions at land borders. I certainly did not even hint at housesitting and left the infamous letter at home!
I fly and drive across the border often and the questioning has always been more intense driving vs flying. They love throwing in random, bizarre-seeming questions just to see how you react.
I got Nexus a couple of years and ago and highly recommend it. It’s fabulous and makes it so much more pleasant.
A new story on the BBC today. Not THS and probably not petsitting but in Oregon “she spent time with a host family, helping with household chores in return for accommodation” and was going to do the same in Canada. There she was stopped at the border.
And then she was detained by US Border control.
Edit: Dogwalking was part of the chores:
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If Canada and the U.S. consider sitting (or similar bartering of labor) for housing as work, then anyone who does it without the legal right to work is breaking the law. Likewise in various other countries.
Many of us can get away with it, because we declare ourselves as tourists. The problem with anyone young who does that over an extended period is, they typically won’t be believed for having the money to take weeks or months off. Border agents are more likely to ask how they’ll support themselves and maybe to show proof.
Meanwhile, more older sitters would be able to show proof of money and/or investments and/or pensions or retirement payments.
If I were a younger sitter who wanted to risk it, I’d consider how I’d be answering such questions in ways that border agents would find acceptable. You don’t want them thinking you might be doing illegal work or worse, smuggling something.
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Sitters are not the only ones being detained. Two German tourists are being held at the same facility due to unconnected incidents: German tourists detained at Otay Mesa Detention Center for weeks – NBC 7 San Diego
Both homeowners and sitters should keep this in mind as “challenges with border guards” may increase.
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