Spain Student Visa: Requirements and How to Apply

Spain student visa requirements (checklist)

You apply for the National (Type D) long-stay student authorisation ('estancia de larga duracion por estudios'). Real Decreto 1155/2024, in force since 20 May 2025, governs it. Your status while studying is legally an estancia, a stay, not residence. You lodge the file from home, at the Spanish consulate or outsourced visa centre that covers your country.

What the consular checklists ask for:

• A passport valid for the whole stay, recent photographs and the signed national visa form.
• Your university’s admission letter for a full-time programme.
• Proof of funds of €600 per month for each month of stay.
• Health insurance from an insurer authorised in Spain, at least 30,000 EUR cover if the policy is limited.
• Evidence of accommodation in Spain.
• A criminal record certificate for stays over six months.
• A medical certificate for stays over six months: Medical certificate required for stays over 6 months confirming no disease with serious public-health implications under WHO International Health Regulations (2005) – not a named TB-specific test. Tuberculosis screening is required only in that sense.
• Academic certificates, apostilled or consular-legalised, with certified Spanish translations.
• The visa fee of €90.
• Proof of Spanish if your programme is taught in Spanish; for English-taught programmes the university’s own English evidence suffices.

Apostille works only if you apply from South Africa or Morocco — the other seven origins must run the full consular legalisation chain, the step that makes most files late. Fingerprints at the consulate: no — Spain takes them after arrival, with your TIE card.

Proof of funds — the exact rule

The amount is €600 per month, multiplied by the number of months you ask for. The basis is 100% of the IPREM (Indicador Publico de Renta de Efectos Multiples) per month of intended stay, per Real Decreto 1155/2024 Art. 35.h). If you have pre-paid accommodation for the whole stay, that share is treated as already covered. Applicants bringing dependants must show a further share of the IPREM for each one.

How you prove it: No blocked-account system (unlike Germany): shown via bank statements, a valid job offer/contract if work-authorised, a scholarship award letter, or a sponsor's 'toma a cargo' undertaking to cover costs. A sponsor’s undertaking is only as strong as the statements and income proof behind it, and consulates read both.

The IPREM figure is a legal threshold, not a budget: real spending runs €700–1,200 per month, and €900–1,300 per month in Madrid. Show the legal minimum, plan for the real one. Our proof of funds guide covers the mechanics, and Spain cost of living and tuition has the city figures.

Health insurance

Your policy must be complete — no co-payments, no waiting periods, with benefits equivalent to Spain’s basic public package, or at minimum 30,000 EUR cover if it is more limited. The insurer must be authorised in Spain, so a travel policy or a home-country plan will not pass. Student policies meeting the four consular conditions, repatriation included, run €40–70 per month, or €480–840 per year. Buy the annual policy up front: the consulate wants proof of cover for the whole requested stay on the day you submit, not a monthly direct debit.

Where Africans apply: embassies and visa centres

Nigeria. Consulate General of Spain, Lagos, 21C Kofo Abayomi Street, Victoria Island, with jurisdiction over Nigeria and Benin. Files go directly to the consulate, not to an outsourced centre, and appointments have been by email since 2021.

Ghana. The Spanish Embassy in Accra decides; BLS International in Accra and Kumasi takes the submission and biometrics. The visa fee is cash only in local currency, with a separate BLS service charge on top.

Kenya. The Embassy in Nairobi decides, but you submit in person at the BLS Spain Visa Application Centre in Nairobi, which forwards the file the next working day. A BLS externalisation charge is added.

Egypt. BLS International, Cairo. The national study visa is quoted and paid in US dollars, cash, plus a BLS service fee. You need a valid Egyptian residence permit covering the ninety days from submission.

South Africa. BLS International in Pretoria, Cape Town and Durban, under the Embassy in Pretoria. A separate non-refundable BLS charge applies.

Uganda. No Spanish mission. Nairobi is accredited to Uganda, so you file at BLS Nairobi in Kenya.

Zambia. No Spanish mission either. The Embassy in Harare, Zimbabwe, serves Zambia; the honorary consul in Lusaka does not process visas. There is no BLS route — you apply in person, by email appointment only.

Zimbabwe. Embassy of Spain, Harare, 16 Phillips Avenue, Belgravia, with full jurisdiction and no visa centre in the country. Appointments only by email.

Morocco. BLS International in Casablanca, Rabat, Tanger, Tétouan, Nador and Agadir. Sources differ on the local amount charged; the euro rate is the legal one.

Two of our nine countries have no Spanish mission at all, so Ugandans travel to Nairobi and Zambians to Harare — a flight and a hotel spent before any decision exists.

The fee

The consular visa costs €90, fixed centrally for every country by Orden AUC/891/2024 since September 2024. Some consulate pages still display older amounts in local currency; the legal instrument is what applies. On top sits the domestic authorisation fee of €10.94, and after arrival the TIE card at €16.08. BLS centres add their own service charge. None of it is refunded if you are refused.

Step-by-step: how to apply for a Spain student visa

For a September 2027 start, begin in autumn 2026.

1. From late 2026: shortlist programmes among the 96 recognised institutions. There is no central portal — see Spanish universities for African students.
2. Late 2026: start homologación of your school diploma with the Ministry, then register with UNEDasiss for the national access credential. Master’s applicants skip this: each university evaluates your bachelor’s itself.
3. Late 2026 to spring 2027: legalise and translate your certificates. Apostille if you are in South Africa or Morocco; full consular legalisation otherwise.
4. Winter to summer 2027: apply in each university’s own window. Varies by university; representative example UCM 2026/27 ordinary window 5 June-6 July (early-admission track 20 Jan-1 Apr). 2027/28 dates not yet published.
5. On admission: buy compliant health insurance, secure written accommodation, and prepare the funds evidence in your own or your sponsor’s name.
6. Six to eight weeks before departure: book the consulate or BLS appointment for your country and assemble the file.
7. Submit in person, pay €90, and keep every receipt.
8. Collect the visa and travel. Enter Spain before the visa’s entry window closes.
9. Within one month of arrival: apply for the TIE card, give fingerprints and pay €16.08.

Processing time

Expect 1–6 weeks. The legal decision period at most missions is one calendar month from a properly lodged file; Kenya and Egypt quote fifteen working days extendable to forty-five, Harare states one month non-extendable, and Ghana asks you to apply at least fifteen days ahead. Any request for a missing document restarts the clock, which is why an incomplete file, not a slow consulate, is what usually costs you the intake.

Common refusal reasons — and how we help

Spain publishes no refusal rate for the student visa. The immigration statistics catalogue reports visas issued, never refused, and the EU Schengen dataset covers only short-stay visas and explicitly excludes the national Type D. Refusal percentages quoted for Lagos, Accra, Nairobi or Cairo are short-stay figures and say nothing about student files.

What the grounds actually are: funds that are insufficient or unclear against the IPREM threshold; documents judged fraudulently obtained or altered; an incomplete file or expired supporting documents at submission; a study visa suspected of being cover for family reunification; academic certificates or an admission letter that cannot be verified; and a prior Schengen refusal with a signed voluntary non-return commitment still running.

Before you submit, we check the chain that breaks most files: that the funds cover every month you are requesting, that the sponsor’s statements match their declared income, that the legalisation route is the right one for your country, that the insurance wording meets all four conditions, and that names match across passport, certificates and admission letter. If anyone promises you a guaranteed visa, read how to spot a fake agent first.

Talk to a World Study advisor on WhatsApp or take the free 2-minute eligibility check →

Working during and after your studies

The rule is Up to 30 hours/week, and a separate work permit is no — degree students get work authorisation automatically under RD 1155/2024, provided the job is compatible with your studies. In holidays: Same 30 hours/week cap year-round – Spanish law does not set a separate holiday allowance. The statutory minimum wage is €1,221 per month across fourteen payments, so part-time work supplements a budget rather than funding one.

After graduating you can apply for the Autorizacion de residencia para busqueda de empleo o para emprender un proyecto empresarial (job-search / entrepreneurship permit): 24 months, non-renewable, at €10.94. Since April 2026 you may file from two months before finishing to three months after, and your study authorisation stays valid while the case is decided. More in studying in Spain.