How can I get a Spanish visa for a child that would be studying and living with a guardian?

Last Updated on March 18, 2026 by Bruno Bianchi

Question

How can I get a Spanish visa for a child that would be studying and living with a guardian? We leave for Spain on July 6 2022. We bought a flat so we can get the residence visas for our family of four. We were talking to some friends whose daughter just graduated 8th grade and will be entering 9th grade/high school in California.

She said she wants to go to high school in Spain. We are going to think about this idea of hosting her at our flat for a year. We bought the flat to avoid dealing with the San Francisco Consulate which is not issuing visas right now.

Is there any way we could get this girl a visa with ours? We will be her guardians for the year old if she goes with us. But obviously she’s not our daughter, and I think the Residence visa covers dependent children. Any ideas?

Answers

These are the answers of some Facebook group members:

“Student visa from Extranjería in Spain.”

“Hello. Assuming you are using the term “residence” visa to refer to the Non lucrative (i.e. non-working) visa, then please know that application can only be initiated from your current county of residence, it cannot be initiated from within Spain. Regarding the golden visa (I think this is what you refer to as the investment visa), please check with your consulate of record.

As of now, it is my understanding that you may initiate the application from within Spain. I have been making weekly visits to the SF consulate & they are not processing any residence visas (NLV). Golden & student visas can be initiated from within Spain. Sadly, the information they give is all verbal so it changes daily. As of my last visit this week they will not give any estimate as to when they will begin processing again. Sadly, it’s the way of socialized bureaucracy.”

“She can do a year of high school in Spain by becoming an exchange student; the organization takes care of the visa and custody questions”

“She needs a student visa which isn’t hard to get but she probably needs to be accepted to a school first. I suspect private school will be easier and her parents should do the legwork. Public school could be more problematic since she’s not your child. Also, please realize that Spanish high school is set up differently from high schools in the US, even if fluent, so a private “American school” would be the easiest transition.

I would contact both the school of interest and any consulate. Student visas can be obtained from Spain but I believe there’s a time limit (meaning she has to apply pretty early after arriving in Spain – you can’t wait until the 90 days is about to expire).”

Bruno Bianchi CEO & Spain Immigration Expert

Bruno Bianchi is the founder and CEO of Spainguru, Spain's largest expat immigration community with 150,000+ members. Since 2014 he has helped thousands of people relocate to Spain through expert guides, webinars and vetted professional services covering visas, residency, taxes and life in Spain.

See Full Bio

Spain Non-Lucrative Visa Spain Digital Nomad Visa Spanish Residency Taxes in Spain for Expats Moving to Spain