Visa and Residency Permit

You will be required to have a Spanish student visa stamped in your passport when you arrive in Spain. Begin researching the application requirements at your consulate immediately and apply for your student visa as soon as you have been instructed to do so by your home institution. Your study abroad office will provide you with all necessary documents for obtaining this visa at a Spanish consulate in the U.S. since it cannot be obtained in Spain.

Spanish student visa regulations can be complicated and time consuming, so you are advised not to leave the U.S. for any international travel before the program begins. If you must be out of the country more than a couple of days immediately prior to the program start date, there is no guarantee that the consulate will process the visa in time for your departure. For example, you should be aware that some consulates require a travel itinerary to apply, thus a plane ticket may have to be purchased before the visa paperwork deadline. In addition, if you will study in Spain longer than six months, you may be required to obtain certificate(s) by police authorities where you resided during the last five years to prove the absence of police record.

If you will be studying abroad prior to the start of the program, please be advised that it is very difficult to obtain a student visa outside of the U.S. In addition, consulates and embassies outside the U.S. are generally unfamiliar with student visa requirements as they relate to U.S. students and will often provide conflicting or incorrect information that will ultimately delay the visa application process and jeopardize your chances of obtaining a visa in a timely manner. Therefore, you should return to the U.S. to obtain your student visa or apply for both visas before going to your first study abroad destination.

Finally, keep in mind that students must surrender their passports to the appropriate consulate anywhere from several weeks to as long as two months or more before the program starts.

Year-long students must be sure to get a 90-day visa with multiple entries to facilitate travel and re-entry into Spain. Although it may seem counter-intuitive, this is the only visa that allows for a student residency to be processed, once year-long students arrive in Madrid, the program staff will help you obtain the required residency permit (tarjeta de residencia de estudiante). This permit takes the place of the visa and allows you to legally live and study in Spain longer than six months. Students must be sure to save their boarding passes from the flight into Madrid and give it to staff upon arrival. The boarding pass will be used to prove entry into Spain and must be submitted to authorities during the process of application for student residency.

Spring or fall semester students will not obtain this residency permit, so you must apply for a 180-day visa to cover the entire length of your stay, and multiple entries to facilitate travel and re-entry to Spain. Please verify that the length that is also mentioned in months (e.g. January-June) covers 180 days.

Important visa considerations for all students: When your visa is issued, immediately double-check that the dates are correct, and that you have been issued a visa with multiple entries.

You must not enter Spain before your visa validity begins. This usually coincides with the start date of the program, so keep this in mind when booking your flight. If you arrive before the start date of the visa, you must leave the Schengen territory (go to the U.K, for example) once the visa’s validity begins and re-enter the country in order to “activate” your student visa and legal status as a student. Visas are only correctly activated if you enter on or after the start date of the visa.

Keep your boarding pass and turn it into the program office staff upon arrival.  

This is especially important for AY students: The boarding pass will be used to prove entry into Spain and must be submitted to authorities during the process of application for student residency.

In the event your passport was not correctly stamped, or you entered the Schengen territory through another EU country, you must prove your date of entry into Spain. Your boarding pass into Madrid is proof. If you do not have this to prove entry, you may need to leave Schengen territory and re-enter it.

Dual citizens of any EU country and the U.S. are strongly encouraged to obtain a visa as Americans, so your legal residence here is processed along with the rest of the students. However, you may choose to enter the country using your European passport and then decide here upon arrival (within 30 days) to declare your entrance into Spain and complete a registration process with authorities.

International students must contact the Spanish Consulate and confirm visa requirements for your nationality. Due to the expenses involved, check with your international student office on campus prior to departure.