Welcome to my Study Abroad blog! For those of you who don’t know, I will be studying abroad in August at IESE Business School – University of Navarro. It is located in Barcelona, Spain and while I am very excited about the move, the first thing I have to do is apply for my Spanish Student Visa. Anyone who wants to stay in Spain for more than 90 days for study purposes must apply for this. But don’t worry, if you are staying for less than 90 days, you need not apply. As I’ve searched all over the internet, there are not a lot of clear cut steps on how to navigate this process as every consulate has their own requirements. So I hope this guide helps you and if you have any questions, please feel free to comment down below or watch my vlog which shows video footage of me going through the entire process.
Step One: Determine your Consulate
There are multiple Spanish consulates in the United States and each one has its own jurisdiction. They will not help you if you try and go to a consulate outside of where you live or go to school. Normally, you would need to make an appointment by email or going to their site but due to COVID, most are only taking applications by mail.
NOTICE: You may only apply 3-4 months before your intended start date so do not apply early as your application will automatically be denied.
| Consulate Name | Address | Phone Number | Jurisdictions |
| Consulate General in Boston | 31 ST James Avenue, Suite 905 Boston, MA 02116 | (617) 536-2506/2527 | Maine, Massachussets, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont. |
| Consulate General in Chicago | 180 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1500 Chicago, IL 60601 | (312) 782-4588/4589 | Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesotta, Missouri, Wisconsin |
| Consulate General in Houston | 1800 Bering Dr., Suite 660 Houston, TX 77057 | (713) 783-6200/05/14 | Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas |
| Consulate General in Los Angeles | 5055 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 860 Los Angeles, CA 90036 | (323) 938-0158/0166 | California (counties: Imperial, Kern, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Barbara y Ventura), Arizona, Colorado, Utah |
| Consulate General in Miami | 2655 Le Jeune Rd., Suite 203 Coral Gables, FL 33134 | (305) 446-5511/12/13 | Florida, South Carolina and Georgia |
| Consulate General in New York | 150 East 58th Street, 30th & 31st Floors New York, NY 1015 | (212) 355-4080/81/82/85/90 | New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey |
| Consulate General in Washington, D.C. | 2375 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W. Washington D.C. 20037 | (202) 728-2330 | Alaska, Northern California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, US Pacífic |
| Consulate General in San Francisco | 1405 Sutter St. San Francisco, CA 94109 | (415) 922-2995/96 | Maryland, Virginia, West Virgina, District of Columbia, North Carolina |
| Consulate General in San Juan, Puerto Rico | Edificio Mercantil Plaza, Piso 11 Oficina 1101 Av.Ponce de León s/nHato Rey – Puerto Rico 00918 | (787) 758-6090/6142/6279 | Puerto Rico, Islas de Culebra y Vieques, Virgin Islands |
For accurate and more up to date information, go to the Embassy of Spain
Beware, every Spanish consulate has different requirements
I will be speaking and showing in my vlog the process for the Consulate General in Miami (Florida, South Carolina and Georgia residents) but for all other consulates, please use as a helpful reference.
Step Two: Preparing All of your Materials
National Visa Application Form
The first piece of paperwork you must fill out are two (2) copies of the National Visa Application. They must be double sided and include your signature and European date format DD-MM-YYYY.
For step-by-step instructions on how to fill out, read my Filling Out the Spanish Student Visa Application blog.
Two (2) Recent Photos in color (US Passport Size)
You have many options for this requirement. Option 1: You can get them taken at a Walgreens/CVS, Walmart or 3rd party location by finding a participating location and going in and having them take and print them off. Option 2: Downloading an app like iVisa
Passport or Recognized Travel Document
You will need to provide two copies of your passport (color or B&W).
Driver’s License and/or Student Card
You will also need to provide a state-issued or school ID. This will prove that you are in the jurisdiction of your consulate.
Certificate of Admission
You will need to bring a Spanish translated certificate of admission from your study abroad school or program. This should include details like the dates you’ll be there (preferably exact dates i.e. August 01, 2021 not August 2021), what you’ll be doing as well as if you have health insurance included and the cost of the program.
Health Insurance
Although Spanish citizens have free health insurance, international students who are studying in Spain will have to purchase some sort of health insurance. It will need to cover everything that a national one would and be active the entire duration of your stay. My school includes health insurance in the cost of tuition so this information is housed in my Certificate of Admission.
For those students who do not have health insurance included, you will need to find a private health insurance plan that works for you. Sites like Studentfy will give you a discount with providers like Sanitas and AXA.
Proof of Economic Means
Proof of economic means shows that you have enough money to get by while you are studying abroad. You can just print off your Bank Account statement or a parent’s that shows you have over $30,000 (living, food, transportation, etc.) and attach it.
Others have shown their official scholarship document or any real document that shows you can pay to go, live and come back to the US if for an emergency.
Consular Fee
A money order for $160.00 is required to pay for your student visa. It should be made out to the, “Consulate General of Spain”.
Medical Certificate (Original and Copy)
The medical certificate needs to come from a recent doctor’s visit dated no more than 3 months before the application date. It must be on the doctor or medical center’s letterhead, duly signed or stamped and translated into Spanish by a sworn/certified translator.
Some consulates might give you a template like the one in Miami that states:
“This medical certificate certifies that Mr. / Ms. (….) does not suffer from any diseases that may have serious implications for public health in accordance with the provisions of the International Health Regulations 2005.“
Remember: You will need to get this certificate officially translated and legalized with the Apostille certification in order for it to be accepted.
Certificate of Criminal Record
For this requirement, you must undergo ang get a background check done no more than 3 months before the application date. You have a few options that may vary in time. I used SafeSky to get my background check done and it took a grand 1 hour to get my results back. They have locations in Atlanta, GA, Orlando, FL, and Ft. Lauderdale, FL. For US Citizens, it will cost $66.00 to get your FBI Record Check. Once completed, they will send it to you digitally within the hour and you will get it in the mail less than a week later.
You can also get yours done through the US Department of Justice – FBI.
**It MUST be Federal as they will not accept local police criminal certificates because they are looking for your criminal record in countries that you have lived in for the past 5 years.
Remember: You will need to get your criminal record officially translated and legalized with the Apostille certification in order for it to be accepted.
Apostille and Translation
You will need to get your Medical Certificate translated as well as your Background Check translated and Apostilled.
Basically, an Apostille is a document used in international law that is issued by a government in accordance with the Hague Convention and that certifies that another document has been signed by a notary public. In layman’s terms, it’s basically an official Spanish notary.
I would suggest using a company for this because they speak Spanish as well as know the ins and outs like EXACTLY what you need. If you mess up one thing, it could potentially delay your return date by awhile. I used a company called Southeast Spanish and got it back in 28 days from the day I ordered. Dan was very professional and even though he was battling the backlog at the Federal Office the turnaround was still pretty quick. Whenever I had a question, he responded to my email pretty quickly as well.
On their site, I added the specific items to the cart, attached my background check and medical certificates and then paid. He took over and did the rest in terms of submitting and tracking the documents through the mail. He even sent email updates stating when it reached the Feds as well as when I would be receiving it back.
Step Three: Going to the Consulate General
This step depends on what time you plan on applying for your visa. If it is officially Post-Covid, you will need to schedule an appointment and do everything in person. For me, since they were only accepting mail in applications, I decided to make a trip to my consulate general to see if they’d at least look over my packet and make sure that everything was correct as I only wanted to submit once.
For in person applications, the Miami Consulate is open Monday to Friday between 08:30am and 13:30pm (NO APPOINTMENTS, first come first serve basis)
Step Four: Mailing Your Packet
TRIPLE CHECK everything in your packet. When you go to UPS/USPS/FedEx/etc., make sure to get a tracking number.
Step Five: Waiting…
The average amount of time it takes to receive your official student visa is 2-4 weeks depending on your consulate’s backlog of applications. I got mine back in 1 month with no problems.
Well there you have it! Every step in detail of how I obtained my Spanish Student Visa in 2021. If you have any questions, please feel free to comment down below or ask me through social media. Also, let me know if this type of educational content is helpful as this is my first blog post. I love sharing how I got to where I am and love helping people out along the way so I hope this helps someone!
Hope this helps!!
