Spain Student Visa Instructions

Spanish Visa Application Instructions

Step #1: Choose your consulate

Nicole Chance (hereafter, I) needs to know which consulate you will apply through because the program acceptance letter Middlebury provides will be consulate-specific. You may usually apply at the consulate with jurisdiction over your permanent or your school address. Use this list to help you decide: https://www.middlebury.edu/schools-abroad/schools/spain/student-visa International students who hope to be in their home country to apply should verify with the Spanish Embassy to be sure their US visa status doesn’t mean they must apply from the US.

Step #2: Make a plan to apply

If you live or go to school in Boston’s jurisdiction (ME, VT, NH, MA, or RI—Brown, Wellesley, Middlebury, Bowdoin, etc.) I can apply on your behalf. I will plan to send your applications to the Boston consulate in mid-May. Plan to send me physical application materials by mail (or drop them off if you’re in Middlebury) to arrive by Thusday, May 1.

Those of you who do not have a permanent or school address in Boston’s jurisdiction will have to apply on your own. Usually, students may apply up to 180 days before the start of their program.

I do not know when I will be able to pick up the passports, but plan on not having your passport back before mid-August. If you will need your passport for travel between May 1 and August 15, or if you live outside Boston’s jurisdiction, please make an appointment now to apply within the 180 window allowed by your consulate. Book an appointment for a NATIONAL visa (not tourist, not business, not Schengen, etc.—this is the category of student visa, so if the only option is student visa, that’s fine).

Boston I can apply for you only if your driver’s license or valid student ID is from MA, ME, VT, NH, or RI. Boston expects study abroad advisors to apply for their students, so do not miss our group application process—individual appointments are available now, but become very difficult to secure later. Those of you who must apply on your own will find the scheduling link through BLS on their student visa page, and may apply not more than 180 days before the program start date.
Chicago Schedule an appointment (now, if available) on their website through the BLS processing agency to appear not more than 180 days before the program start date. Once you open an account with BLS, they send you a link to schedule the appointment, and you’ll need to keep checking until your window of opportunity is open. They will return the passport by courier service for a fee (do not provide your own return envelope).
DC Schedule an appointment (now, if available) on their website through the BLS processing agency to appear not more than 180 days before the program start date.
Houston Schedule an appointment (now, if available) on their website through the BLS processing agency to appear not more than 180 days before the program start date. Once you open an account with BLS, they send you a link to schedule the appointment, and you’ll need to keep checking until your window of opportunity is open. They will return the passport by courier service (do not provide your own return envelope) or you may go to collect it in person.
Los Angeles Schedule an appointment (now, if available) on their website through the BLS processing agency to appear not more than 180 days before the program start date. Once you open an account with BLS, they send you a link to schedule the appointment, and you’ll need to keep checking until your window of opportunity is open. They will return the passport by courier service (do not provide your own return envelope) or you may go to collect it in person.
Miami Schedule an appointment (now, if available) on their website through the BLS processing agency to appear not more than 180 days before the program start date. Once you open an account with BLS, they send you a link to schedule the appointment, and you’ll need to keep checking until your window of opportunity is open. They will return the passport by courier service (do not provide your own return envelope) or you may go to collect it in person.
New York Schedule an appointment (now, if available) on their website through the BLS processing agency to appear not more than 180 days before the program start date. Once you open an account with BLS, they send you a link to schedule the appointment, and you’ll need to keep checking until your window of opportunity is open. They will return the passport by courier service (do not provide your own return envelope) or you may go to collect it in person. **Currently requiring a notarized copy of your passport as well.
San Francisco Schedule an appointment (now, if available) on their website through the BLS processing agency to appear not more than 180 days before the program start date. Once you open an account with BLS, they send you a link to schedule the appointment, and you’ll need to keep checking until your window of opportunity is open. **Currently requiring a Spanish health insurance plan—I recommend this one: https://www.healthplanspain.com/sanitas/sanitas-health-plans/healthplan-students.html

As you follow the above steps, please let Nicole know if you learn any processes have changed and she will note them here.

Step #3: Make sure your plans do not include travel outside the US

Consulates require you to leave your passport with them for processing (different consulates quote between 4-6 weeks, but Boston can take up to 10, and even longer for the group process).

Alternately, if you will need your passport for travel while your passport must be at the consulate for visa processing, consider getting a second US passport through a processing agency like CIBT. It’s expensive and they require proof of imminent departure, so plan to be in the US during visa processing if possible.

Step #4: Gather your materials

Checklist of application materials for BOSTON through the group process—please refer to your own consulate’s list, linked from their websites above, if you’re not going through the group process (this applies even if you’re going through the BLS processing agency in Boston—the requirements differ slightly). Many of these items have more information in the next section, so keep reading:

Your original, valid, signed passport + copy
Your completed, double sided (preferred), signed application for national visa (1 original)
1 passport photo, paper clipped to the visa application
$160 money order for US citizens (other nationalities, confirm fee).
Proof that you live or go to school in your consulate’s jurisdiction
Certificate of admission in Spanish—Nicole prepares this for you and will send it to you if you’re applying on your own—so let me know when you have booked your appointment; I’ll keep it in your file to match with your other materials for those of you applying through the group process.
Availability of financial means: original + copy showing at least $750/month of stay
Health insurance coverage of at least $500,000—Nicole prepares this for you and will send it to you if you’re applying on your own—so let me know when you have booked your appointment; I’ll keep it in your file to match with your other materials for those of you applying through the group process.
Pre-paid priority mail envelope addressed to a secure address where you’ll be before leaving for Spain if you won’t be in Vermont in August to pick it up
Either the disclaimer form (if applying on your own) OR the notarized letter that allows Nicole to pick up your passport (see wording below)
YEAR REQUIREMENT: Medical certificate in Spanish + copy. This cannot be more than 3 months old at the time of application.
YEAR REQUIREMENT: FBI background check, apostilled and officially translated, if required + copy. This cannot be more than six months old when you enter Spain. The Boston consulate will accept the apostille when I pick up the passports if you do not have it in time for the group application. Also, a background check from any country where you have lived for more than 6 months during the past 5 years.
Non-US citizen requirement: notarized copy of permanent resident card, valid US student visa along with Form I-20, work permit, passport stamp or parole.

If applying with the group through Nicole, bring/send your materials, to arrive by May 1.

Nicole Chance
356 College St.
Room 125 Sunderland Language Center
Middlebury, VT 05753
+1.802.443.5847

GENERAL EXPLANATION OF ALL REQUIREMENTS/MATERIALS

Word of warning: each consulate makes its own rules—and they change these rules at will. They tend to re-evaluate their application fee in June. You will need to research your individual consulate’s requirements, but these are standard across many consulates, including Boston, so I’ll offer them here with a brief explanatory note for some of the questions I get most often. Please take to the consulate/send to Nicole originals, plus one photocopy when indicated. Year-long students will only be granted a 90 day visa and will need to take your original documents to Spain in order to register with the local police within 30 days of arrival (these will be returned to you by the consulate and our staff will help with this during orientation).

National Visa Application—See section below for help answering other questions (it’s there—keep scrolling).
Actual physical passport AND PHOTOCOPY of your passport (photocopies in color or black and white) of the ID pages including all numbers across the bottom. This passport copy needs to be a copy of the two ID pages, not a photo of the passport, and may not include your fingers. First, make sure you have signed your passport. Then, open the passport, put it in the middle of where the 8x11 paper would go on a photocopier, and make a photocopy. This would be a good time for you to make a clear scan of the ID pages for your own records.
- The passport must be signed and valid for three months after the intended period of stay in Spain.
- The passport must be in good condition (they’ve turned down ones that are damaged and students have had to get replacements).
- The passport must have at least two blank visa pages (the ones that say “visa” on the top—the last two pages of US passports do not count).
- If you need to obtain/renew a US passport, do so immediately: http://travel.state.gov/passport/
One notarized copy of your driver’s license OR notarized student ID with address OR notarized letter of enrollment as proof that you may apply at your chosen consulate. The copy should be on one page. If you don’t have a driver’s license or current enrollment that lists your address, you may use a utility bill with your name and address or an enrollment verification from your registrar with your name and address (you may not use the electronic one from the Clearinghouse because it doesn’t list your school address). Boston recently rejected a student applying with only the student ID, so Boston applicants who do not have a driver’s license from one of the state’s in their jurisdiction should be prepared to show two notarized documents with proof of address (student ID and also enrollment letter or transcript work). Nicole will secure this requirement for all graduate students applying through the group process.
One recent, color, passport sized photo with a white (light) background. You must be facing the camera and looking straight ahead, and your hair must fit within the fame (long hair is okay to go past the bottom of the frame, but if you have especially curly hair, please pull it back. This photo does not need to match the photo in your passport, and it cannot match the photo in your passport unless you’ve renewed your passport within six months of your visa application (because these photos must be no more than six months old: “recent”). In Middlebury, you can get passport photos at the post office (call 802.388.3020 for an appointment) or Kinney Drugs (sometimes—it depends who is working). You’ll be better off to get them taken just about anywhere else. Alternately, you can try an on-line service like this one: https://www.epassportphoto.com/, but do not try to print this photo yourself. Write your name on the back. Attach it to the form with a paperclip only (no glue/tape/staple). Some students have used photos that are too small in the past (looking at you, Pomona), so be sure yours are 2x2 inches square, even though that’s too big for the square provided on the form. Do not trim the photo to fit the box on the form.
Application fee ($160 for US citizens; $99 for most other nationalities) by US postal service money order only (not Western Union, not your bank, go to the post office) + BLS processing fee (varies) IF not going through Nicole’s group application process. Those going through the group process do not have to pay the BLS fee, so it will only be the $160 money order that you need. Address it to the “Consulate general of Spain in [Boston—or other consulate]”. In the bottom right corner, list your name and an address local to your chosen consulate [14 Old Chapel Rd., Middlebury, VT 05753 if Boston]. Keep the receipt for your records. Consult the fees section of your consulate’s website if not a US citizen. If not going through the group process, most BLS offices take cash or debit card only.
Letter of acceptance as a full-time student from Spain’s University/School or US program that indicates: name, address and registration number of the school with Spain’s Department of Education; (Ministerio de Educación de España) full payment of tuition, duration of the program, subjects of the study and hours of study per week which must be no fewer than 20. This is the letter in Spanish provided for you by our office—signed by Patricia Rodriguez. If I’m applying for you, I won’t send this to you—I’ll keep it here to match with your other application materials. If you are applying at a consulate other than DC, NY, or Boston and you’re attending the university in Córdoba let me know, as you may need a letter from the university itself, which will impact your timing. Everyone going to Madrid is fine, as our Sede Prim is a legal entity there, and Boston doesn’t require the university letter for those in the other sites. It includes a line that students will be housed by the program, which usually means students aren’t asked for other documentation about their accommodations abroad, but let Nicole know if you are.
Health Insurance: International insurance coverage for health/accident with $500,000 coverage amount. I will provide you with a letter (in Spanish) you can use if you’re applying on your own; I’ll match it with your other materials if you’re sending them to me. Do not enroll yourself in health insurance through GeoBlue—the cost of this is included in your tuition. Later, once we have actually enrolled you in the health insurance plan, you will get an email from GeoBlue. You should follow their instructions to register and print your insurance card from their website.
Proof of the availability of financial means. Original + copy of the documents that prove that the applicant (or the legal representative or family member who supports the student) has sufficient financial means to cover the expenses of the stay and return of the student and accompanying family members. The minimum amount required is equivalent to 100% of the IPREM. To this amount must be added 75% of the IPREM for the first family member and 50% of the IPREM for each additional family member. If the student travels to Spain without relatives, the minimum amount required for 2025 is ~$750 dollars per month.
- One of the following documents (original + copy of each component) must be presented:
  - Student’s own personal bank account statements showing at least $750 per month of stay. Two copies.
  - Letter from the financial aid office showing aid or scholarship for at least $750 per month for room and board. Original + copy. [Nicole gives a list of all Middlebury students studying in Spain to the Financial Aid office, so if you receive at least this much in aid, they will send Nicole your proof of financial means, and you do not need to request it or provide additional documentation.]
  - Notarized letter from the parent or legal guardian assuming full financial responsibility for at least $750 per month for room and board, original + copy. In addition, two copies of the past three months of their bank statements and the applicant’s (student’s) original birth certificate + copy.

Template for letter from parent—use both the English and Spanish to avoid having to pay for an official translation:
I [name of parent or guardian] hereby take responsibility for air tickets between the United States and Spain and for all monthly accommodation and living expenses of my son/daughter [full name of the child] during their stay in Spain, as well as any emergency that may arise during it.

Yo [nombre del padre o tutor] por la presente asumo la responsabilidad de los boletos aéreos entre los Estados Unidos y España y de todos los gastos mensuales de alojamiento y manutención de mi hijo/hija [nombre completo del niño] durante su estancia en España, así como cualquier urgencia que pueda surgir durante la misma.

BOSTON GROUP APPLICANTS: notarized letter (our office, banks, major post offices, schools, and law offices have notaries on staff) from you allowing Nicole to apply on your behalf:

Date
To the Consulate General of Spain in BOSTON

I, (your name), give permission for Nicole Chance to apply for my student visa to study in Spain for the fall semester/academic year 2025-26. Furthermore, I grant her permission to pick up my passport with visa stamp when it is ready.
Sincerely,
(Your signature—WAIT to sign it in front of the notary public)
(Your printed name)
(Signature from the notary public)

Middlebury students: see Alessandra Capossela in room 124 Sunderland (the office next to mine). She’ll be available to notarize documents for you on Thursday, May 1 from 10:30am-12:00pm and 3:00-4:30pm without an appointment. If you can’t make those times, please notarize your documents on your own; there is a list of campus notaries here. Please call to schedule an appointment and be sure to take your photo ID with you to have documents notarized.

BOSTON GROUP APPLICANTS who will not be in Middlebury in August should provide Nicole with a pre-paid mailing envelope with tracking addressed to a secure address where you’ll be before leaving for Spain. If you select USPS, have the post office affix actual stamps for the postage (don’t use a metered label with a date) AND a tracking number. Save the receipt with the tracking number so you’ll be able to track your passport when I return it to you. UPS and FedEx are also fine.
BOSTON INDIVIDUAL APPLICANTS need this disclaimer form (not necessary for those of you applying through the group process)

Additional Requirements for Students Staying the Full Academic Year, ***including graduate students*** (Those abroad for only one semester do not currently need any of the following):

Medical Certificate: Doctor’s statement on practice or medical center letterhead or with stamp from the practice (important) indicating that you have been examined and found to be in good health. This cannot be written on a prescription pad—it must be a typed letter signed by a doctor (not a nurse practitioner or other medical professional). Use this template to avoid having to get it translated. It can either be printed on practice letterhead (so send it to the doctor’s office in advance of your appointment) or the doctor can use their office stamp.
Background check—consulates require an FBI background check and have stopped accepting the state-level background checks. While the background check itself is fairly quick, the requisite apostille can take months. The consulate requires a background check from every country you’ve lived in during the past five years, including Spain. In Boston, I can apply for students with results of the background check + translation—I am then permitted to present the original apostille when I return to collect the visas. You must take the original apostille with you to Spain, so I will include it when I return your passport to you.

First, make an appointment to get fingerprinted ($35). In Middlebury, make an appointment on-line at the Sheriff’s office (appointments open 21 days in advance and they have very limited availability—only open on Thursdays) and pay the processing fee OR, if pressed for time, you can elect electronic fingerprinting when you complete the request for the FBI background check, and in Middlebury you’ll make your appointment for digital fingerprinting at the post office on the next screen. Digital fingerprinting will cost you about $30 more, but will save on the postage and processing time.

Next, complete your on-line request with the FBI. You’ll submit your email, then receive an email back with a link that says “Click here to access your request” and a PIN that you’ll input. Then you’ll complete the on-line request (be sure to have the results sent to you by email). After you pay, you get another email that is from the same email as before (Criminal Justice Information Services) with the subject line: Identity History Summary Request Confirmation. This email is a receipt that has your order number, the payment verification code, the preference (e.g. you indicated your fingerprints would be delivered by mail or electronically—and if electronically, go ahead and schedule your appointment for electronic fingerprinting at this stage), and instructions to mail your fingerprints here (if getting fingerprinted with ink on a physical card):

FBI CJIS Division
ATTN: ELECTRONIC SUMMARY REQUEST
1000 Custer Hollow Road
Clarksburg, WV 26306

Next, go to the post office or UPS and buy a prepaid mailing envelope, which you should address to the above.

Finally, take the following with you to your appointment to be fingerprinted:

Government-issued (passport or drivers’ license) photo ID
Email receipt from the on-line background check application
Prepaid, trackable mailing envelope (UPS, FedEx or USPS all okay), addressed to the FBI at the address above.

Once you receive the results of your FBI background check (which come in the form of an email—you then print the results yourself), you will then need to send those results away for an apostille from the US Dept. of State. You’ll see they ask for a document with a raised seal, but this is apparently the exception (if you want to read that for yourself it’s in the FAQs on the FBI background check). Send the FBI background check results, Form DS-4194, payment, and return mailing envelope (not FedEx—that one is now excluded in the directions, but still listed as an option on the form—don’t use it) to:

Office of Authentications
U.S. Department of State
CA/PPT/S/TO/AUT
44132 Mercure Cir, P.O. Box 1206
Sterling, VA 20166-1206

For the return address of the apostille, use Nicole’s (save a step):
Nicole Chance
356 College St.
Room 125 Sunderland Language Center
Middlebury, VT 05753

The consulate also requires a translation, which you should have processed concurrently with the apostille (the apostille itself does not need to be translated and the translation doesn’t require an apostille—only the results of the background check require the apostille). The American Translators Association recognizes many services: http://www.atanet.org/. Students have found good results with https://rushtranslate.com/. You may send the document electronically for the translation.

Students may see the option to apply at the UPS store, which is an option (though we do not have one in Middlebury). You can get fingerprinted, send your request to the FBI for the background check and have those results sent to the Dept. of State for the apostille in one appointment, but it’s pricey: the apostille will cost you ten times more (less postage) than if you received the results of the FBI check yourself and mailed them to the Dept. of State to request the apostille. There are also on-line services that will charge about $200 for expedited service. If you start early enough, the processing time of 11 weeks costs $20.

If you have lived anywhere else for more than six months in the past five years, you’ll also need a background check from that country. Mostly, this applies to graduate students in Spain. If you’re having trouble, you can pay an agency to help you: https://spanishcriminalrecordcheck.com/.

Additional Requirement for Non-U.S. Citizens

Evidence of your migratory status in the USA (Only for non US citizens): Provide your “Permanent Residence Card,” “Alien Registration Card,” or “US Visa with I-20/IAP-66” (except B1-B2). The consulate requires a notarized copy or, in some cases the original, which they will return to you, as well as a copy.

DIRECTIONS FOR COMPLETING THE NATIONAL VISA APPLICATION

1. Last name as it appears in your passport
2. Leave blank if your name has not changed since birth (married women use your maiden name, if different)
3. First, middle names as they appear in your passport
4. Date of birth: written two digit day, two digit month, four digit year (ex. 15-03-1985)
5. Place of birth means city and state
6. Country of birth
7. Current nationality, then list your nationality at birth, if different, then list any other nationalities you hold
8. Gender—male or female as stated in your passport
9. Marital Status
10. None of you are minors, leave blank
11. Unless you are a grad student who has been recently living in Spain, you do not have one—leave blank
12. Type of passport is “ordinary passport” (unless your parents are diplomats or you’re in the military, in which case, you might have a “diplomatic” or a “service” passport)
13. Your “travel document” is your passport and your passport number is the nine-digit number in the upper right corner of the ID page (of a US passport).
14. Date of issue (use same format as for date of birth throughout this form).
15. Valid until—give the expiration date.
16. Issued by: whatever country issued your passport
17. Use your home address, even if outside the consulate’s jurisdiction AND email address
18. US citizens should check “no.” Otherwise, check yes and list your current residency status and validity.
19. Current profession: “student.”
20. Principal purpose of journey: “studies.”
21. Date you plan to enter Spain. If you are not a US citizen and you require a tourist visa to travel to Spain, you may not enter until the date your visa begins, so be careful not to plan to arrive too early. US citizens may have up to 90 days in Spain outside the dates of the visa. Use the actual date your plan to travel, even if you haven’t bought your ticket—it must be at least one day prior to the program start date, which we list on your calendar as your arrival date. If you will be going a week early to look for an apartment, include this additional week. The guideline from the Boston consulate is they won’t give you a start date earlier than five days before your program start.
22. Number of entries: “multiple” or “more than two”
23. Applicant’s address in Spain—select the bolded information from your site below (the unbolded part is there for your information):

Madrid: Grads and Undergrads in Madrid at the Sede Prim, including those taking courses at the Autónoma and Carlos III
Middlebury College School in Spain
Calle Prim, 19 Primera Planta
28004 Madrid SPAIN
Telephone: 011.34.91.319.8188 Fax: 011.34.91.310.0036
Contact: Patrícia Rodriguez
Email address: prodriguez@middlebury.edu

Córdoba
Juan de Dios Torralbo: internacional_ffl@uco.es
Universidad de Córdoba
Facultad de Filosofía y Letras
Plza. Cardenal Salazar, s/n
14071 Córdoba, SPAIN
Tel: +34 957 218 752

24-25. Leave blank (unless you’re a grad student who does have an NIE—this is like your social security number, so if you already have one, write it here)
26. The “Data of individual resident…” section does not apply to you. Leave all questions here bank.
27. The “Data of employer or company…” section does not apply to you. Leave all questions here bank.
28. This “Data of educational establishment” section is the one you need to complete.
Name of educational institution in Spain:
Middlebury College in Spain: Madrid/Córdoba/Logroño (indicate YOUR site)

Address:
Middlebury College School in Spain: Madrid/Córdoba/Logroño (indicate YOUR site)
Calle Prim, 19 Primera Planta; 28004 Madrid SPAIN (regardless of site—this is our official program address)
Telephone: 011.34.91.319.8188
Email address: prodriguez@middlebury.edu

Official 2025-26 are available here. If your consulate/BLS allows applications 180 days in advance, you may go ahead and book anytime after March 1. Please use these PROGRAM DATES on your application, regardless of your individual travel plans

FALL 2025

Undergraduates in Madrid (UAM, UC3M or Sede Prim) for the fall: August 20, 2025-January 20, 2026. Only those at the UAM will stay into January to take their exams—those at the Sede Prim only or at the Carlos III will finish by December 18 (Sede) or 20 (Carlos II). It’s not a problem to leave Spain before the end of the visa.
Undergraduates in Córdoba for the fall: September 7, 2025-January 24, 2026.

YEAR 2025-26

Undergraduates in Madrid (UAM, UC3M or Sede Prim) for the year: August 20, 2025-May 30, 2026.
Grads in Madrid for the year: August 24, 2025-May 30, 2026.

SPRING 2026
Undergraduates in Madrid (Sede Prim, Getafe UC3M or UAM courses) for the spring: TBD
Undergraduates in Córdoba for the spring: TBD

30. The place (city and state) you are when signing the form—do this from within the consulate’s jurisdiction
31. Original signature required—print the form before signing/dating in blue ink.

Travel
You MAY NOT enter Spain before the start of your visa IF you need a visa to be a tourist in Spain. Usually the consulate will give you a visa that starts five days before the program start date, but not more. Similarly, you must leave the Schengen area when your visa ends (again, they usually allow for five days past the program end date). US citizens (and others who do not require a visa to be tourists in Spain) have 90 days outside the dates of their visa for personal travel.

Picking up your visa
I will pick-up all visas for the group application process. Boston BLS requires in-person drop off and pick-up. Other consulates have their own rules.

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Updated 3/25/2025 NC