Spain Student Visa

The Student Visa lets you come to Spain for a course longer than 90 days, whether that is a degree, a language course, an internship, or academic research. It is not a route to residence on its own. It is tied to your enrollment, and what happens when the course ends depends on what you studied and what you do next.

What the Student Visa covers

Study stays of up to 90 days do not need this visa; a short-stay Schengen visa or visa-free entry covers them instead. Anything longer, a full academic year, a two-year vocational course, a PhD, needs the long-duration student visa.

It covers enrollment at an authorized Spanish institution: universities, officially recognized language schools, vocational training centers, and research placements. It also covers a small set of related situations bundled into the same legal category: student mobility programs, volunteering under a recognized scheme, and formal training activities. A center that cannot show you an admission letter from an authorized institution is not going to get you a visa, regardless of what it promises.

If your authorized stay is under 180 days, the visa itself covers the whole period and you do not need a residence card. Over 180 days, the visa is issued for up to a year and you get a residence card (TIE) after you arrive.

Who qualifies

You need a genuine place on a course, with proof of admission and paid tuition from the institution. You need to show you can support yourself, that you hold health insurance meeting Spain's requirements, and, for adults staying over six months, a criminal-record certificate covering the countries you have lived in over the last five years. Everyone needs a medical certificate confirming you do not have a disease with public health implications under the World Health Organization's rules.

Family members, spouse, registered or stable partner, minor children, and adult children who depend on you because of disability, can accompany you if you show enough extra income for each of them. Family members who come with you are not authorized to work.

How much money you need

The requirement is set as a percentage of Spain's IPREM, a public income index. For 2026 the monthly IPREM is €600, frozen at the 2023 figure by the ongoing budget prórroga.

• You: 100% of the monthly IPREM, currently €600 a month.
• First family member joining you: another 75% of the IPREM, currently €450 a month.
• Each further family member: another 50% of the IPREM, currently €300 a month.

You do not need to show this if you can prove your accommodation is paid in full for the whole stay. Funding can also come from a scholarship, an employment contract, or a formal declaration of support from a sponsoring institution, not only from your own savings.

Documents you will need

• Admission letter and proof of paid tuition from the institution
• National visa application form
• Passport valid at least a year, with blank pages, plus photos to spec
• Proof of your income, savings, scholarship, or sponsor declaration
• Health insurance policy comparable in coverage to Spain's public system, with no waiting periods or copays
• Criminal-record certificate, apostilled and translated, if your stay is over six months
• Medical certificate
• Proof of accommodation in Spain, where the consulate asks for it

Any foreign document has to be apostilled and then translated into Spanish by a sworn (traducción jurada) translator before a consulate or the Immigration Office will accept it. Both steps run on their own clock, often several weeks each, so start them as soon as you have your admission letter. A sworn translation and apostille service is worth booking early rather than scrambling before your appointment.

How to apply

1. Get your admission letter and paid-tuition proof first. Nothing else can start without it.
2. Apply at the consulate covering where you live, or from inside Spain at the Immigration Office or online if you are already a legal resident, at least two months before the course starts.
3. Buy a compliant health policy and start the criminal-record certificate and apostille immediately if your stay is over six months.
4. Get every foreign document apostilled and sworn-translated.
5. Attend your appointment, submit the file, and wait. Consulates aim to resolve applications within a month; from inside Spain the deadline is two months.
6. Collect the visa and travel. If your stay is over 180 days, you now need to get your residence card.

After you arrive: the TIE

If your authorized stay is longer than six months, you must go to a police station within a month of arriving and apply for your Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero (TIE), the physical residence card. You do not need to be registered on the local padrón to get your first TIE, but registering as soon as you have an address is worth doing anyway, since it is required to renew the card later and to access public healthcare and local services.

Can you work while you study?

If you are studying higher education, yes, automatically, without applying for a separate work permit. You can work for an employer or as self-employed up to 30 hours a week, as long as it stays compatible with your studies. Go over 30 hours and the Ministry can end your entire stay authorization, not just the job, so this limit is not a soft guideline. Curriculum-linked placements built into your course do not count against the limit and need no separate authorization. Family members who came with you cannot work.

What happens after your course ends

If you finish a higher-education qualification, a bachelor's, master's, or doctorate, the regulation lets you switch to a residence-and-work authorization, either because you have a job offer, want to register as self-employed, or want to stay and look for work. Once your modification application is admitted for processing, you get a provisional authorization to work while it is decided, so there is no gap where you are both qualified and barred from earning.

An amendment in force since April 2026 widened the window to apply: you can now file the modification up to two months before your study authorization expires, or up to three months after it expires, and filing on time extends your previous authorization until the new one is decided. If you finish your course and do nothing, your legal stay ends with your student authorization, so treat this window as a deadline, not a formality.

If your course was not higher education, for example a vocational or language program, the rules are narrower, and a study-to-work move is not automatic. Check your specific situation with the Immigration Office before your course ends.

Student Visa or something else?

The Student Visa is for studying, not working remotely or living on savings while you study part time. If your real plan is to live in Spain on income from outside the country while working remotely, look at the Digital Nomad Visa instead. If you are moving to Spain without working and without studying, the Non-Lucrative Visa is the closer fit.

FAQ

How much does the Student Visa cost? The consulate fee varies by nationality and location. The bigger cost is usually tuition, health insurance, and the apostille and translation work, not the visa fee itself.

Can I bring my family? Yes, if you show the extra income each family member requires. They can join you but cannot work while you are on this visa.

Do I need a criminal-record certificate? Only if your stay is longer than six months, and only for adults.

Can I switch to a work permit after I graduate? If you completed higher education, yes, through a modification of your authorization. File within the window around your course's end date so your legal stay does not lapse.

What if my course is shorter than 90 days? You do not need this visa. A short-stay Schengen visa, or visa-free entry if your passport qualifies, covers it instead.