Passports and Visas

The government of Spain maintains an extensive network of consulates around the world where incoming students can apply for their required visa. You must apply for your Spanish visa through the specific Spanish consulate that corresponds to your place of legal residence. In the United States, for example, there are several Spanish consulates located in different cities across the country, and U.S. residents will need to apply for the visa through the one that holds consular jurisdiction over the particular state where they live. 

Consult this listing of Spanish consulates around the world to locate the one where you will apply. On each consulate’s website, refer to the “Consular Services” (Servicios Consulares) section of the page and look for information pertaining to a “Study Visa” (Visado de Estudios). Reach out to Berklee if you are unsure of which consulate holds jurisdiction over your place of residence, or if you are unable to locate the necessary student visa information on that consulate’s website. 

Most Spanish consulates will require that students secure a visa application submission appointment for a date that is no less than two months before their travels to Spain. These appointments usually book up several weeks or months in advance. You can schedule your appointment now for a date in the future by which time you expect to have compiled all your visa application documents. Do not wait too long to schedule your appointment or there might not be any appointments available when you need one. 

For students who will study in Spain for more than one semester, one of the documents you will need for your Spanish student visa application will be a Criminal Record History Report, also known as a Background Check Certificate. You must obtain this from each country in which you have lived (for 6 months or more) during the past five years. This is usually the visa application item which takes the longest amount of time to obtain, sometimes several months. You should begin the process of getting your Criminal Record History Report as soon as possible. 

This document must be issued by your country’s national law enforcement agency. Applying for it usually requires that you submit your fingerprints with an application to the law enforcement agency, and it may take them several weeks to respond with the necessary certificate. Once an official paper copy of your certificate is received, you will then need to get the document authenticated/apostilled and also translated into Spanish by a professional translator who is registered as a “sworn translator-interpreter” with the Spanish government. 

You can consult this listing to find a sworn translator (traductor jurado) in the region where you live. In the País (Country) drop-down menu, filter for translators near you according to your country’s name in the Spanish language. For example, if you live in the United States, filter for “Estados Unidos.” Your specific Spanish consulate may also provide a list of sworn translators in your area. 

In addition to being translated into Spanish, your background check certificate must also be authenticated for international use. An additional stamped piece of paper will be affixed to your background check, verifying its authenticity. The United States, Spain, and a majority of the world’s nations are members of the 1961 Apostille Convention of The Hague and background checks from those countries will be authenticated with a stamp called an “apostille” issued by the national foreign affairs department of each country’s government. You can review the Apostille Convention website for more information on how to get an apostille authentication. If your country is not a member of the Apostille Convention, your Spanish consulate should specify the appropriate type of authentication for your background check. The apostille is only required on the original criminal record history report. The translation does not need an apostille and the apostille does not need a translation. 

If you live in the United States, your criminal record history report will be an FBI Identity History Summary Check, also known as an FBI Background Check or rap-sheet, issued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). You should apply for this directly with the FBI either online or by mail (but not through a third-party channeler) and you will need to submit your fingerprints to the FBI, usually at a designated U.S. Post Office or police station in your area. Once the paper background check certificate is delivered to you, it is then necessary to mail that official document to the U.S. Department of State - Office of Authentications for a federal-level apostille, which will eventually be returned to you by mail. The entire process of requesting the background check and then getting the apostille often takes about 2-3 months. To save on time, you can simultaneously request the Spanish translation of the background check certificate while you are waiting for the apostille to be completed.   

Each Spanish consulate has its own process for how they collect student visa applications and issue visas. Most consulates require that you make an in-person appearance at their office either to submit your visa application, or to pick it up when the visa is issued. A small number of consulates may allow visa applications through the mail, and they will clearly post that to their websites, if applicable. You must follow the specific procedures and instructions provided by your particular consulate. The following is a list of the standard application documents which most consulates will require in your application. 

1. Spanish National Visa Application Form, which should be available for download from your consulate’s website. You will print out this form and complete the necessary sections. Review this Sample Visa Application Form for general guidance on how to complete this form. 
2. Your actual Passport, valid for at least six months after your planned period of study in Spain. The consulate will typically hold onto your passport for several weeks while they are processing your visa application. 
3. Identity Photograph, normally 2x2 inches (5x5 cm), printed in color, with your name written on the back. You can get “passport photos” or “ID photos” taken at many pharmacies, general stores, camera shops, etc. 
4. Proof of Acceptance to Berklee Valencia, an acceptance letter written in Spanish that will be sent to you around 3-4 months before your first semester with us begins. Your letter will specify the start and end dates of your academic year abroad. Contact your Berklee enrollment officer if you have questions about these details.
5. Proof of Spanish Health Insurance, another letter written in Spanish which will show that you have comprehensive health insurance throughout your time in Spain. This will be sent to you from Berklee with the Proof of Acceptance letter mentioned earlier. 
6. Proof of Financial Means, showing that you will have access to a sufficient amount of money while in Spain to cover your essential expenses. The consulate usually wants to see three months of recent bank statements in which the ending balance for each month is above a particular minimum amount determined by the Spanish government. As of 2024, the minimum amount that must be shown for two semesters in Spain is USD $6,300 or EUR €5,400 (or the equivalent of the euro amount in your local currency). If a student has not held this much money in a bank account in their own name over the past three months, the students’ parents may submit their own bank statements along with a signed and notarized Parent/Guardian Financial Support Letter detailing that they will be providing financial support to their child. A copy of the student’s birth certificate should also be attached with the bank statements and financial support letter. 
7. Proof of Residency in Consular Jurisdiction, such as a photocopy of your driver’s license or some other government-issued or school-issued identification proving that the student lives in the consulate’s region of jurisdiction. The copy of residency proof usually must be notarized. If the student is not a citizen of the country where they currently live and apply for the visa, they must also include evidence of their lawful immigration status in the country, such as a notarized photocopy of their residence permit or visa. 
8. Criminal Record History Report with Spanish translation and apostille/authentication. See the previous step listed above for more information. 
9. Medical Certificate, verifying that the student is in good overall health. This must be signed by a physician (MD or DO); other kinds of healthcare professionals are not able to sign this document. The letter must mention the “International Health Regulations of 2005” and it must be printed on the official letterhead paper of the doctor’s office, clinic, or hospital. You could forward this Sample Medical Certificate in Spanish and English to your doctor and ask them to complete it for you. If your doctor will not sign a document that contains information written in Spanish, then you must get the medical certificate translated into Spanish by a “sworn translator” registered with the Spanish government.
10. Payment of the Visa Fee, usually paid in the form of a certified cheque or money order payable to the “Consulate General of Spain” with your name on the memo line.  The preferred method of payment and the exact cost of the visa fee will depend on your country of citizenship, and will be published on the consulate’s website.

Follow the instructions provided by your specific consulate’s website to submit your visa application to them. As noted earlier, most consulates require that you make an appointment for application submission, and often these appointments will book-up several weeks in advance. You can secure your appointment ahead of time while you are compiling all the necessary application materials. In some cases, you might submit your application materials directly to the consulate. In other cases, you might be required to submit your application to a third-party visa processing center (such as BLS Visa Services) which is contracted with your particular consulate. Remember that it will often take several weeks to process your visa application, so you must submit your application sufficiently in advance of your travels to Spain. 

Arrive at your visa appointment early with all of your required application materials plus photocopies of the same. In the rare situation where an appointment is not required at your particular consulate, be sure to check your consulate’s visa application drop-off hours. If you ever need to mail anything to the consulate, make sure you use a secure mailing service with tracking and delivery confirmation. 

Remember that you will normally need to leave your actual passport with the consulate while they process your student visa. Before you depart the consulate, ask how long it will take to process your visa, how you will know when it is ready, and how you can pick it up. Some consulates will mail your passport back to you if you provide a prepaid self-addressed envelope for a secure mail service with tracking. Each consulate has a different process, and you must confirm with them in advance.

Once your visa has been issued, you may have to go to the consulate or visa processing center in person to pick up your passport (with visa stamped inside). It is also possible that your passport and visa will be mailed to you, if that option was available. Remember to confirm the process of receiving your visa with your specific consulate (see the previous step, above).

For students who will study in Spain for more than one semester, the validity dates on your Spanish visa will normally cover a period of just 90 days. After you have used this visa to enter Spain with international student immigration status, our team at Berklee Valencia will help you apply for the necessary Spanish Student Residency Card which will extend your lawful status in the country for the duration of the academic year. More information on that topic is provided below. 

Spain is a member of the Schengen Area of Europe, an open-border travel zone that encompasses many of the countries on the continent including France, Portugal, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, and others. As you go through the passport control area of the airport or border crossing upon entering Spain (or any country in the Schengen Area), an immigration officer will scan and stamp your passport. Within their database system, you will be recorded as having entered with international student immigration status. Make sure your passport gets stamped.

Students should plan to arrive in Valencia on the first day of the semester, which is also the designated move-in date at the residence hall. Most students will arrive by air at the Valencia Airport (code VLC). Depending on the place where your trip originates, you may have a layover in another Western European city on your way to Valencia.  

It is not legally possible to enter Spain or the Schengen Area with international student status before the start date of validity that will be printed on your Spanish student visa. That start date is normally just a few days before the start date of your enrollment at Berklee Valencia. We do not recommend that you travel to the Schengen Area of Europe before the start date of your visa. If you must travel earlier, however, it will normally be necessary to briefly depart the Schengen Area (to a neighboring country/territory) before the start of the semester and then return so that your student visa can be activated upon re-entry. 

Within 30 days after your arrival into the Schengen Area of Europe, which includes Spain, you will need to apply for a Foreigner Identity Card (tarjeta de identidad de extranjero or TIE). This TIE residency card will enable you to hold lawful immigration status in Spain and Europe throughout your academic year at Berklee Valencia. It will take approximately two months to complete the residency card application process with local authorities, and the on-site staff at Berklee Valencia will help you with that process at the start of your first semester. Similar in size and format to a driver’s license, your TIE card will be your national identification document while in Spain, and you will carry it with your passport when traveling internationally.