Question about the Spain Student visa
Has anyone heard of anyone taking intensive language courses here as a means of staying in Spain with a Spain Student visa?
Can enrolling in a 20-hour per week intensive language course in Spain for a year be a viable strategy to obtain a visa, similar to the Digital Nomad Visa, especially considering the current global situation?
Answers
These are the answers of some Facebook group members:
”I knew two Chinese students who did this with the official government language schools (Escuela Oficial de Idiomas) that you will find in most cities.
They studied multiple languages per semester in order to accumulate the hours they needed”
”For reference, I’ve been Schengen 90-day hopping and am dating someone and am getting a bit desperate to not have to leave them / the country so often and getting a bit desperate and sad that my permanent move to Spain (despite being what I imagine to be a prime candidate re: no criminal history, educated, high paying US job, fluent in Spanish, etc I just can’t seem to find a way to get into Spain full time”
”Totally possible but it has to be at an approved School and minimum 20hrs a week. They are notoriously slow at approvals (was still waiting 4 months later last year) but you can stay and start studying while the visa is being processed. Even if it exceeds your 90 days”
”Maybe you could go back for a Master’s in linguistics or Spanish then? Tuition is very low for most subjects in Spanish universities. If you’re studying 20 hours a week you might as well make it count for something”
”You might want to look at being an auxiliar de conversacion or English language assistant here in Spain. For only 16 hours a week, you will simply have English conversation practices with Spanish students. In exchange, you will get a monthly allowance worth 1,000 euros from the Spanish government (that is, if you choose to do this in Madrid). You’ll be on a Spain Student visa and you don’t have to leave Spain if you don’t want to because you can just keep on renewing your visa here in Spain as an auxiliar. I was an auxiliary for a year (while doing all of my remote jobs on the side) and I was able to transition successfully to DNV just last month. All the best”
”You can ask for a permit for studies (estancia por estudios). Can be ask from Spain but you must have at least 30 days from 90 before your Schengen expires after you are approved you can ask for DNV”
”I’m doing that right now. It worked better for me than the DNV and you don’t have to prepare as many statements. If you’re interested in learning more look up GoGoEspaña. They’re an agency that has collected a shortlist of approved programs in different cities. They also help you get connected to a lawyer for a reasonable fee ($400) who can guide you through the visa process. No charge to use GGE”
”There’s seriously zero need to use a lawyer to get a Spain Student visa. It’s a very straightforward application and everything is spelled out on the government/consulate website. Nice to know there’s a big list of qualifying programs out there though”
”I did it with Paraninfo at Calle Princesa. They’re a Cervantes institute so they can give out the letter for a student visa”
”In order to get a student visa you’d need to enroll in a language program that is a minimum of 20 hours per week of instruction. They are all over Spain, so no matter where you want to live, you can pretty much be guaranteed to find a program you can enrol in. My son did a one-year program called Campus Spain. It was a little on the pricey side, but it’s a very intensive language course, aimed at preparing students to enrol in a Spanish university”
”That’s what I did, student visa for 1y at some language school then now I switched to DNV”
”I would also love to do that! I tried to check into it from a university perspective, and that did not work because they didn’t have a program for learning Spanish, but I could have done it for English, which totally defeats the purpose lol”
”This is my exact plan since I don’t know how long it will take for me to figure out the social security situation and all that. Hopefully, the DNV requirements get sorted out within the next year. The docs gathering is more straightforward compared to the DNV though it’s still not so fun. If you are planning on doing this, I’d suggest working on getting the background check/apostilled first since it can take a couple of months (in the US) All the other docs are easy to get”
”I’m on a Spain Student visa now, in Spain, and will be applying for DNV from here”
”I did this in 2018 in Madrid. But now I am looking where I am in Granada and 5he cheapest schools id about 7000 euros per year! I paid 2000 in 2018. Too expensive imo”
”Also in Madrid, the police do not check that you are regularly in class, so no big deal if you don’t go all the time. Here in Granada, the schools say that you must attend 80% of the time because it is smaller and the police do regular checks on student enrollment. That won’t work for me, especially since the hours are all daytime. In Madrid, they had night classes”
Conclusion
In conclusion, according to Spainguru Facebook group members, it appears that enrolling in an intensive language course in Spain as a means of obtaining a visa is a viable strategy for many individuals.
Some mentioned that they knew individuals who successfully obtained Spain Student visa by studying at approved language schools for a minimum of 20 hours per week. While the visa approval process can be slow, some individuals were able to start studying while the visa was being processed.
Others recommended specific programs or agencies that help with the process. Some participants also mentioned that transitioning from a student visa to other visas like the Digital Nomad Visa (DNV) is possible.
However, the cost of language programs and attendance requirements might vary between cities. Despite the process being somewhat complex, many found it to be a practical option, especially considering the uncertainties of other visa routes like the DNV.
