Visas for courses of more than 12 weeks

The first and essential thing is to contact the Spanish embassy or consulate in your country. They will tell you which documents are necessary for you to apply for your student visa and whether your Spanish studies are valid for you to be granted it. Not all countries require the same documents. They are often similar, but not the same. For this reason, this information is the key to start the process.

Once you have confirmed the documents required by the Spanish embassy or consulate in your country, and you have checked that you meet the requirements, you must tell us on which dates you want to start your course, to find out if there are places available and how long you want your course to last, how many weeks or months. Knowing the dates of your course, we can tell you if there is availability for your level on the dates you have chosen. Once this is confirmed, we will send you a quote for the total cost of your course, so that you know the total cost of your course at Hablamos.

The processing of a visa takes time. For this reason, you must apply for it in the 90 days prior to the start of the course, but you should ask the Spanish embassy in your country about the period in which these visas are normally granted to be sure that, if you apply for it in the 90 days prior to the start of the course, the visa will be ready before you come to our country.

You can come to Spain as a student (if you are not a European citizen) with these visas:

• OPTION ONE: TOURIST VISA: you can come with a tourist visa if your stay is a maximum of 3 months or 90 days maximum. In that time you can come and do a Spanish course as long as it does not exceed 90 days. In this case you would not apply for a student visa, but for a tourist visa. Consult the Spanish embassy in your country for the requirements to come as a tourist.
• OPTION TWO: VISA AS A STUDENT: if your stay is longer than 3 months or 90 days, then you must apply for a student visa. The Spanish embassy or consulate in your country will tell you what documents are required to obtain it. The student visa lasts for the duration of your studies. If you want to come to Spain for 6 months to study Spanish, your visa will last six months; if you want to come for a year, it will last one year. Once you are in Spain, and you have your visa, for example, for one year, you can request the extension or renewal of your student visa for another year, provided that you are enrolled again in a course or studies that allow this renewal. You can renew your visa from Spain.

Can I come to Spain as a tourist and then apply for a student visa or student card? Yes, this is possible, as long as you apply for a student visa in Spain within 60 days before your tourist visa expires.

If for whatever reason you are not granted this student visa, you will have to leave Spain when your tourist visa expires.

Once you have been informed of the requirements to obtain a student visa, and once you have confirmed with Hablamos the start and end dates of your course, and we have confirmed that you have a place to study Spanish with us, you can start the visa application process.

Logically, the process is done at the Spanish embassy or consulate in your country, and they are the ones who will tell you what documents you need to obtain it.

To give you an idea of the type of documents they usually ask for, here is a list of the most common ones (but not all embassies ask for the same, so take this list as a simple reference):

• Valid passport valid for more than the length of your course.
• 4 recent photographs.
• Completed visa application form.
• Letter of Acceptance that you are enrolled in a Spanish language school, in a course of at least 20 hours per week (this is provided by us).
• Travel insurance with certain minimum coverage.
• Proof of having booked accommodation in Spain.
• Proof of sufficient financial means to be able to reside in Spain for the duration of the course.
• Criminal record and medical certificate for long-term stays.

Check with the Spanish embassy or consulate in your country to find out if these or any other documents are required for you to be granted your student visa and prepare all of them.

One of the requirements for obtaining a student visa is the so-called “Letter of Acceptance”. This letter or document states that you have been accepted in our Spanish language school Hablamos, and that you have therefore been enrolled in the Intensive Spanish course of 20 hours per week, on the dates and duration chosen by you. It is therefore an important document, and key to your visa. With this document you reserve your place at Hablamos firmly.

• In order for us to send you this letter of acceptance, together with the contract of enrolment in Hablamos and the invoice for your payment, it is necessary that you pay 60% of the cost of your course in advance by bank transfer to our account. (In some cases we will ask for 100% in advance depending on the duration and characteristics of the contracted course). This payment can only be made by bank transfer. The rest of the course fee must be paid in Spain on the first day of your course. If this payment is not made on the first day of your course, Hablamos will inform the embassy and request the cancellation of your student visa.
• The payment of 60% of the cost of the course (or the percentage that has been stipulated for your course) will allow the embassy to see that your commitment is firm, and with this payment your place is reserved for the duration of your course.
• How do I pay this 60% of the total cost of the course (or the percentage that has been stipulated for your course)? This payment should be sent by bank transfer to the following Hablamos account:
  • ACCOUNT HOLDER: CAMBRIDGE HOUSE SL/ESCUELA HABLAMOS
  • BANK NAME: BANKINTER
  • ACCOUNT NUMBER: ES7001280021020100100952
  • SWIFT CODE: BKBKESMMXXX
• Once we have received your payment, we will send you the letter of acceptance, the enrolment contract for our course, and proof of the amount already paid. This letter will be sent to you by email. If it is necessary to send it by courier, it is the student who must pay these costs.

Once you have received the letter of acceptance and the rest of the documents from Hablamos, you must present them together with the rest of the documents required to obtain the visa. From that moment on, all you have to do is wait for the visa to be granted. If it is favourable, pack your bags and we are waiting for you at Hablamos to practice your Spanish!

At Hablamos we strive to help all our students to make their stay with us as positive as possible. We also do our best to help them in all matters relating to obtaining a visa, but the decision to grant a visa depends exclusively on the Embassy and Consulate and it is they who make the final decision. The student is responsible at all times for the visa application process, and therefore Hablamos is not responsible in cases of visa refusal, as the granting of a visa does not depend on the school.

In the event that the visa is denied, and the student has paid 60% of the course fee in advance, Hablamos will refund the total amount paid by transfer to the student’s account, minus 150 euros for administrative costs incurred in processing the application. If the student later obtains the visa by enrolling in a Hablamos course, this amount will be deducted from the course fee.

If the student cannot attend the course due to a visa refusal, he/she will have to send to Hablamos the official document of refusal (with date, signature and stamp) issued by the Spanish embassy or consulate, clearly stating the name of the student, his/her passport number and the visa requested.

For the refund of the advance payment, the cancellation must be communicated to Hablamos in writing (together with the refusal document) at least 20 days before the start date of the course. If the cancellation is received less than 20 days before the course start date, no refund will be given. If the cancellation is due to a delay in the delivery of the visa to the student by the Spanish embassy of the country where it was requested, Hablamos will refund the amount of 60% of the course paid in advance, minus 150 euros for processing fees, as long as this delay does not exceed 30 days from the beginning of the course in which the student was enrolled. Once this period has passed, Hablamos will not refund the amounts given, as the places offered are no longer available.

Do you have any questions about this process? No problem, contact us and we will help you with everything you need to know.

Taking out full medical insurance is a compulsory requirement for your entire stay in Spain. In order to effectively comply with the Spanish visa requirements, we advise you to consider the possibility of obtaining medical insurance with this insurance agency with which Hablamos collaborates, called Asesoría Quero Avila & Asociados.

Your medical insurance for your visa must meet all these requirements:

• Be a contract with an insurance company operating in Spain,
• Have coverage throughout the Spanish territory,
• Be an insurance policy without co-payments,
• It must be an insurance policy with no deductibles,
• It must have broad coverage (in terms of emergencies, medical consultations, medical examinations, hospitalisation and surgeries due to accidents or pathologies),
• It must have coverage for repatriation of mortal remains.

You can even take out the insurance from your country of origin before arriving in Spain, with your passport. Asesoría Quero Avila can help you to take out this insurance from your country of origin.

For more information contact Asesoría Quero Avila & Asociados so that they can give you several personalised quotes and help you with the requirements of the contract and with the promotional code HABLAMOSSEG you will receive a discount according to the insurance campaign.

Whatsapp: +34 622077888

Email: quero.avila.seguros@gmail.com