STUDENT VISA

First student visa

Do I need a student visa to study in Spain?

This visa permit to study in Spain will allow you to stay for more than 90 days, where you will improve your knowledge and skills while living in a welcoming and affordable country.

If your course takes less than 90 days you will not need a student visa and you will only need a tourist visa.

What can I study?

Almost all types of courses and studies are valid to get a student visa in Spain. Most of the applicants interested to move to Spain and consider the student visa think that only university courses (Masters degrees) are the only possible courses for student visa application, however there are many other studies of different levels and nature that will grant you a visa.

Primary and high school education
Vocational and professional courses
University degrees (bachelors, masters or doctoral programs)
Artistic or sports education
Language courses

Important things to consider:

The course that you study needs to provide a title or certificate after completion.

The institution does not have to be private. Studies at both public and private centers are valid.

The course must be minimum of 20 hours per week (that is considered full time course)

The studies must be held at an authorized institution by the Ministry of Education (or by the government of the region in which you are currently living). You can ask the school about it. If you are applying for university courses it should appear in the Department of Education. Click here to access the website.

If you are applying to study a language course the academy must be accredited. If you are taking a Spanish course, the center must be accredited by the Cervantes Institute; Click here to access the website with the list of valid courses.

Can the course be online?

Unfortunatelly online courses are not valid. The reason is that if you are applying for a student visa to Spain is because you want to be in Spain (if online you will be able to study from anywhere, therefore the course need to be in person in the institution.

Requirements

Legal stay (if you apply from Spain you need to have legal residence (If not you can’t apply)
Acceptance letter and enrollment at a public or private university, school or center and the details of the course (plan de estudios) to be taken (including start/end date of course and length of course).
Economical means: It can be from you or from close family members. You need to have enough funds to cover: o Stay (you should have above 8.000€ for one year stay) o Trip to come and go back to your country o Fee for your studies
Health insurance provided by an authorized company in Spain (needs to be health insurance with full covered expenses, not a travel insurance)  Medical Certificate indicating the non-existence of diseases that may have a serious effect on public health. (applicable if staying over 6 months)
Certificate of criminal records from the places of residence within the last 5 years (applicable if staying over 6 months).

All documents presented in English must be translated to Spanish by a recognized Spanish sworn translator. Public documents must be legalized.

Where to present the application?

The good thing about this visa permit is that it can be presented in the county where you are living or in Spain if you are already here.

In your country: The application together will all the requirements stated must be presented directly in the Spanish consulate/embassy (many times they use an agency where the documents an application must be presented called BLS Spain) or directly in Spain.

The result from your application should be maximum in 1 month (generally we see that after couple of weeks is alread aproved).

In Spain: It is also possible to present your application if you are already in Spain. The important thing is that you will need to be legal in in the moment of presenting the application (you are in Spain as a tourist for example) or you have a residence permit from another UE country (for example you were working in Holland and you still have few months left in your permit there). After you enter in Spain you need to present your application in the first 60 days and you need to make sure that you still have at least 30 days left before your tourist or other EU permit expires.

That is a crucial point as many students come to after few months once their tourist visa or permit is about to expire and they are not able to present their application, therefore we strongly recommend that if you plan to study and you move to Spain, you start preparing your application as soon as you arrive.

Steps

If applying from abroad

Contact the school you wish to study and enroll in the course
Book a health insurance covering the time of your stay
Prepare your economical evidences (bank certificate, affidavit from parents etc.)
Prepare your medical and criminal records certificates. (if staying over 6 months)
Present your application. Most countries use https://blsspainvisa.com/index_spanish.html (if not directy in the spanish embassy/consulatefor the appointments and wait for the approval.
Book your return flight ticket.
Once in Spain go to police station to obtain your residence card (if staying over 6 months)

If applying from Spain

Come to Spain as a tourist. That means that either you have already a schengen visa or that you will need to apply for it to come as a tourist first and then do the application in Spain.
Enroll in the school. It's a good option to enrol directly if you are in Spain because you can talk to the school personal, can see the facilities, talkt o other students etc..
Book your health insurance (some of the most commonly used are Sanitas, Adelas etc..). Many times when you open a bank account in Spain they also offer you an insurance.
Have ready your criminal records and medical certificate (if staying over 6 months)
Have ready your economical evidences (easiest is to book an account in Spain (for example BBVA Bank offers a passport account and to transfer the money but from abroad banks also might be considered)
Once approved go to police station to obtain your residence card (if staying over 6 months).

Timing

It usually takes 1-2 months to get the result of the application.

Working during your studies

If you are studying a university studies (masters, postgraduate, degree etc..) you will obtain automatically a permit to study up to 30 hours per week with which you can go to any job and start working. If you are studying other courses (languages for example) you will not get a work permit automatically.

You will need first to find a job and then you can apply to obtain a work permit and then you can work also up to 30 hours per week.

Bringing your family members

Good news! Your family members can join you in Spain while you are studying here.The difference is that they will need to apply from the country of origin and not from Spain directly.

The family members who can process this type of visa are: The spouse and children under eighteen years of age or who have a disability and are not objectively capable of providing for their own needs due to their state of health.

The application for a visa as a student family member can be submitted by the family member themselves.

You can do it together with the visa application of the holder of the Study Stay or at a later time.

The only requirement is that you can prove that you have enough funds to cover the expenses of your family members in Spain during your stay.

The authorization of the family members will be linked to that of the student, and they may remain in Spanish territory for the same period and in the same situation as the student. If the family members' stay is longer than six months, they must obtain a foreigner's identity card.

The family members will not be able to working during the time they are in Spain acompanying the student.

After your studies

Once you finish your studies you will have different options.

Return to your residence country
Extend your studies or apply for another studies
Convert your student permit into a work permit or self employed permit (click here for more information)
Apply for job seeker visa (click here for more information)