The Cost to Get a Student Visa for Spain

There are actually a multitude of reasons you may need a student visa for Spain, other than just the typical undergraduate student studying abroad. There are cheap graduate programs for Americans in Spain. There are language schools for students of any age to learn any level of Spanish. And there is a position called an auxiliar de conversacion, or language assistant in English, which is kind of like a teaching internship for English speakers to come help out in English classrooms in Spain.

I acquired a student visa for Spain because I needed it for two of the above reasons. First, I was enrolled in a one year Master program at the Universidad de Alcala in Madrid, Spain. Second, I was working as a language assistant at the same time, also at a school in Madrid, Spain.

Acquiring this visa was a time consuming, costly, and stressful process. And, sadly, the advice you receive from other people who have successfully obtained a visa is only as relevant as the consulate they went to. Because there are 34 Spanish consulates in the United States of America, and they all run a little differently and have different procedures.

My consulate was located in San Francisco. This consulate covers Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Guam, American Samoa, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, as well as middle and northern California. Since I was residing in Idaho, this was my assigned consulate.

So, as far as for the San Francisco consulate, my necessary documents had the following costs attached:

• National Student Visa Application Form: $0 (unless you need to pay to print it)
• Visa Fee: $160 (my consulate only accepted cash or money order)
• Passport: $0
• State Identification: $0
• Passport Photos: $10 (the process requires two photos)
• School Acceptance Letter: $0 (unless you need to pay to print it)
• Intended Flight Itinerary: $0 (you do not need to have purchased the flight beforehand)
• Evidence of Funds: $0 (unless you need to pay to print it)
• Proof of Health Insurance: $0 (unless you need to pay to print it)

The total cost for my student visa to Spain was: $170.

But, depending on your financial starting point, the cost may be more. To begin with, one of the required documents is evidence of funds. In the fine print, this requires you to show a bank account with $700 for each month you are staying in Spain. So for me, I had to show at least $6,300. You can submit the bank account information of a parent or relative. But if you are leaning on your own funds for the evidence of funds, that is several thousand dollars you need saved, depending on the length of your stay. Or, if you are lucky enough to get financial aid from your institution in Spain, you can submit proof of financial aid in place of your evidence of funds.

If you do not already have a passport, you will need about $165 to acquire one. And, if you do not have a state identification, expect to pay about $35 for one. 

If you do not have health insurance in Spain, you will have to purchase it. Buying insurance on your own can be achieved for around $80 a month. So, for a 9 month program that would be $720.

So, you can actually estimate spending somewhere between $170 and $1,090 for your student visa. Plus, thousands of dollars in savings to meet the evidence of funds requirement.

But, if we go back even further, there are certain expenses that you will likely have to pay to even get into your institution in Spain. For me, this included the following documents to get into my Master’s program in Spain:

• Official Undergraduate Transcript: $15
• Apostilled Undergraduate Diploma: $11
• Apostilled Criminal Background Check: $30
• Tax Residency Certificate: $85
• Medical Certificate of Good Health $0 (if you have insurance or if you can find a free clinic)

So, you can expect a total cost, from the starting point of applying to your institution to the ending point of acquiring your visa, of $311 to $1,231.

But a student visa is not needed for every student in Spain. You should consult with your study program in Spain for the most relevant advice. However, when I studied abroad in Spain the first time in 2018, I did not have a student visa. My program lasted only 89 days, so I was able to attend my study program with just a 90 day tourist visa, which is free.