How to obtain a student visa in Spain

You are not in Spain and you want to stay in Spain asking for a student visa. In this post we want to explain you how to obtain a student visa in Spain. Coming into Madrid to study Spanish is a great decision: you’re going to love our country.

Normally there are two ways to come to Spain: with a tourist visa that will allow you to visit us for a maximum of 90 days or with a student visa for more than three months.

In this post we are going to focus on the student visa.

The first step, even before looking for a Spanish language school, is visiting the Spanish embassy or consulate in your city or country. There are several key questions to ask them that will make your life much easier:

Do you accept partial payment for the Spanish course?

At Cronopios Idiomas, our Spanish language school, we ask for a 30% down payment to start the process, but in several countries this is not enough and they require the full payment of the course.

Do I need to present the original documents or are they scanned?

It depends on the country. Sometimes scanned documents are sufficient, sometimes scanned documents to start the process and then the originals, and in some countries, only originals.

How many weeks of accommodation should I book?

Normally it is 4 weeks, but it is best to clarify this with the embassy.

What is the resolution time for the study visa at the Embassy?

You should ask for it. If we know the estimated time for the resolution, it will be easier to define the date of arrival in Spain, the beginning of the course, the dates of the flight, etc.

Well, well, this is already taking shape. We already know what to do, now it’s time to look for a good Spanish school. To make the final decision easier for you, you should keep in mind that our school fulfills the conditions to get a visa and we have a long experience.

*Our Spanish school is accredited by the Instituto Cervantes.

*We have a long experience in the management of visas and we will help you during the whole process.

*Our refund conditions in case of refusal are very advantageous.

*We do not add visa fees to the price of the course.

An important question to keep in mind: Although we know that your priority is to learn Spanish, some Embassies will ask you to explain your reasons. The most frequent question is: Why do you want to learn Spanish? The reasons may be to study at a Spanish university, to take the DELE exam or to improve your cv.

You already have the necessary information about the steps to take at the embassy. The next step is to choose a Spanish school in Spain. If you choose our school, we will send you a quote that you must accept before starting the process.

Reasonable doubts you may have:

Income level:

You must prove that you have the money to pay for the weeks of the course, the time spent in the accommodation and the expenses during the stay. Apart from the cost of the course, you should have about 540€ per month for accommodation and daily expenses.

If you do not have enough money, sometimes embassies will accept your parents as a financial guarantee, but please inform your about this because of different conditions in each country.

If you do not have enough money, or simply you don’t want to spend so much money, maybe you should think about a 90-day visa and, once in Spain, try to renew that visa to stay more than 90 days in Spain.

 Accomodation:

Normally it is mandatory to book 4 weeks of accommodation. Living with Spanish families for a few weeks is more than recommended: it facilitates language immersion and will allow you to look for longer term accommodation alternatives such as apartment or shared apartment.

 Medical inssurance:

If you are not sure which medical insurance you should take out, our Spanish language school recommends several reliable ones so that you can take it out before your arrival. Remember that it is an essential requirement to obtain the student visa.

Bureaucracy upon arrival in Spain:

In our Spanish school we have experience with administrative procedures and we will help you at all times to fill out the forms and apply for an identity card.

Staying in Spain after finishing the Spanish course:

In our Spanish school we have a lot of experience managing that. If you want to continue in Spain longer as a student after finishing the Spanish course, let us know from the beginning and we will explain you the whole procedure. There are many options to continue studying in Spain; one of the most popular is to get the official DELE certificate and use it later to study at university or get a job.