Spain Study Visa Support

The IPREM benchmark

Spain requires you to show monthly means expressed as a percentage of IPREM, the public income index. Because IPREM is revised, the figure you need this year is not the figure quoted in older guides and forum posts.

You evidence it either as funds available to you for the duration of the course, or through a sponsor whose income and relationship are documented. We confirm the current threshold at the point of filing rather than working from a saved number.

Admission and course length

Courses of more than 180 days lead to a student visa and then a residence card; shorter courses take a short-stay route with different conditions and no residence card. Which side of that line your programme falls on changes the whole application, so it is settled first.

Spanish universities run substantial English-taught provision at Master's level, while undergraduate study is mostly in Spanish and usually expects B2. Public university tuition is moderate by international standards.

Documents for the consulate

• Letter of admission from an accredited Spanish institution stating the course and its dates.
• Proof of means at the current IPREM-derived level for the whole stay.
• Private medical insurance with an insurer authorised to operate in Spain, with full cover and no co-payments.
• A medical certificate, and a police clearance certificate covering the last five years for longer courses.
• Documents translated into Spanish by a sworn translator and legalised as required.

The TIE after arrival

For courses over 180 days you apply for the Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero within a month of arriving. It involves an appointment, fingerprints and a fee, and appointment availability in the larger cities is genuinely tight.

Students who leave it to the end of the month-long window can find there is no slot inside it, so we advise booking as an arrival task rather than a settling-in one.