
Getting A Student Visa For Spain – After passing the second round of interviews with education counselors and submitting an application through PROFEX that got me a school placement in Spain, I applied for a student visa, which was my last step to officially partake in the Philippines. Auxiliaries de Conversation Program of the Ministry of Education For me, this is the most important step in the whole process, as not preparing the requirements well can lead to visa rejection and not allowing me to fly to Spain after the long (almost a year) process of entering the program.
Visa application is always nerve-racking for me, there are many requirements to complete and if I get visa or not. To be honest, despite a good travel history, I have had my fair share of visa rejections and approvals With that said, I always take the visa process very seriously In this blog, I would like to share the specific visa I applied for as an LA, when I applied, and the exact documents I submitted.
Getting A Student Visa For Spain
As an LA, you need to apply for a long-term visa (ie student visa and Type D visa) at the Spanish Consulate in the Philippines. This visa, by default, is valid for 90 days only Once you arrive in Spain, you will need to convert this student visa into a foreigner’s ID card, called a TIE (tarjeta de identificación de extranjero). This serves as proof that you are legally resident in Spain As long as you are in an LA program, it is valid for one year and renewable every year Also, the TIE allows you to travel to the European Union with your Philippine passport as your legal document.
Spain Student Visa
All long-stay visa applications require that the applicant be physically present at the consulate Submission of requirements is also done on the day of interview The Consulate of Spain in the Philippines is located at 5th Floor ACT Tower, 135 Senator Gil J Puet Avenue, Makati City. Appointment is strictly required before departure I will talk more about this later
Visa applications can be made up to 90 days (3 months) before the scheduled arrival date in Spain Apply as soon as possible That way, if additional requirements are asked, you’ll be able to pass them on in a timely manner Consulates usually allow a period of time to complete additional requirements Otherwise, your application may be rejected
Also, when you book the appointment early, you have time allowance for any unforeseen circumstances. In our batch, for example, many visa appointments were canceled due to lockdown/epidemic We were in the middle of completing our visa requirements when Manila imposed a 2-week lockdown from August 4 to 18, my guess was August 6, but I had no choice but to cancel it on the website. It was so stressful waiting for the vacant slot, but finally the consulate opened up more slots and I was able to book the August 27 appointment. Thankfully, the rest went smoothly and my visa was issued on September 10.
Remember that you are only allowed to arrive in Spain within the validity date of the visa For example, if the visa validity start date is September 20, you cannot come to Spain before then. Furthermore, note that according to the directives of the Ministry, Filipino language assistants are only allowed to arrive in Spain 10 days before the start of the program. The program will start from October 1 From personal experience, I flew from Manila on September 22nd and arrived in Spain on September 23rd, which is 7 days before the start of the LA program.
Eu Residence Permit In Spain
As mentioned above, appointment with the consulate is mandatory Visa appointments are booked through the website of BLS Spain, a third-party agency that helps process short-stay visas (eg tourist Schengen visas) for Spain. Not to confuse you though, all long-stay visas are processed by the consulate only, so all communications (eg visa requirement questions, visa application follow-up, etc.) should only be made with the consulate, not with BLS Spain. The consulate’s working email is con.manila@maec.es
Recruitment slots are available 2 months prior to the scheduled recruitment date For example, if you check the slot in October, the appointment slot from October-December may be booked only.
When asked when is the best time to book, I would probably say when the acceptance letter is there and when you make sure to secure the government-issued documents (such as the sent NBI clearance and medical certificate). Note that if you attend the appointment with incomplete requirements, visa issuance may be delayed
For a step by step guide on how to book an appointment, I will write a separate blog soon 🙂
Non Lucrative Visa For Spain: How I Applied In Just 1 Week
Follow exactly what the Ministry has listed for requirements Note that there are some long-standing visa requirements that no longer apply to ministry assistants (such as requirements for medical insurance and
Update as of July 2021: The Consulate recently announced that NBA clearances and medical certificates must be translated into Spanish by a certified translator (Tractor Jurado).
The consulate looks at original documents, but only photographs (except for visa forms). To keep organized, put them in long brown envelopes, one for the original and one for photography. Use paper clips instead of staplers
1. Fill out the National Visa Application Form You can download the form here After filling (handwritten or computerized), produce at least 2 photographs The consulate will receive the original form and one photograph, then return the other copy with a receipt stamp.
Dual Citizenship In Spain 2023
2. One passport size photograph with white background Paste it on the top right side of the visa form I wrote my name on the back of the photo (in case my photo accidentally gets separated from the form).
3. Valid passport To be considered “valid” by the consulate, your passport must be valid until September of the following year. For example, when I applied in August 2020, I confirmed that my passport is valid until September 2021. Note: If your passport is about to expire, renew it in the Philippines rather than in Spain Why? Renewal means your passport number will change This reduces the difficulty of updating records Also remember that your visa and NIE are printed in your passport
At the last minute, I didn’t submit my old passport (or a photograph of the pages) and just presented the current one. Why? Yes, I was just paranoid, the consulate might look at the old records Apparently, I used that old passport when I applied for a tourist Schengen visa to Spain in 2017 and got rejected. The following year, however, I applied for the same visa at the French Embassy and was granted a visa
4. Letter of Acceptance In Spanish it is called Carta de Nombramiento This is confirmation that you have been assigned a school in Spain
Spanish Student Visa Application And Requirements
How to Get Acceptance Letter: By now you must know that PROFEX is the start of getting an acceptance letter Once you have a school assignment, which you initially know through PROFEX, you then wait for the acceptance letter.
If you are recruited in Madrid, you will receive an acceptance letter from AxMadrid, a portal for LAs assigned to the Madrid community. In my experience, the acceptance letter was posted on July 3, two days after receiving an email notification to register on the AxMadrid portal. There is no exact date when the acceptance letter will be sent, and it varies from region to region Madrid usually ships much later than other regions
5. Evidence of economic means In my 60s, I can confidently say that I am no longer financially dependent on my parents (yay, haha), so I have not submitted any support certificates. If you are a graduate or fresh graduate with no source of income yet, skip this section and instead look at the need for financial means for dependents. So anyway, here is the proof of economic means I presented:
5.1 Bank Certificate This certificate proves that I have an account with a specified bank. The said certificate contains the account type, current balance, account opening date and average daily balance (ADB). In my case, I presented 2 savings accounts from BDA and Eastwest Bank I requested them at the branch of my account at least 2 weeks before the visa appointment date (for BPI, I think it can be requested at any branch). It is best to request bank certificates as soon as possible, so that the records are more current A bank certificate request costs 100 PHP
Spanish Consulate Los Angeles
How much should be in the bank account? When I presented the bank account that contains more than 500,000 PHP combined, the consulate stated that there is actually no exact amount bracket. In fact, I have batch mates who have 150,000 PHP in their accounts and were granted visas. More important is the maturity of the account Meaning, avoid presenting a bank account that is too close When you show a new account, it can ring a bell to the consulate that you can do
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