Barcelona SAE | Passports & Visas

PASSPORTS

All Barcelona SAE programs require each and every participant to have a valid passport, and it must be valid for at least six months after the program end date. If you do not yet have a passport, we recommend that you apply for one ASAP as the process can be lengthy.

For information on applying for a passport, renewing a passport, or replacing a lost/stolen passport, please consult the U.S. Department of State’s International Travel Website.

For non-U.S. citizens, please consult your country’s travel website for information regarding how to apply for, renew, or replace your passport.

STUDENT VISAS

Some Barcelona SAE programs require a student visa, whereas others do not as it completely depends on the duration of the program. For U.S. Citizens, here’s a quick overview:

Semester Students: Any academic program 90 days or longer does require a student visa. Any academic program 89 days or less does NOT require a student visa.
Academic Year Students: All academic year programs are 90 days or longer and do require a student visa. Please note that Spanish Consulates now require an FBI background check with Spanish translations and apostilles for students staying in Spain longer than 6 months:
- You can learn how to obtain an FBI background check here. These background checks can take up to 12 weeks to be processed, so please apply early!
- The U.S. Department of State issues Apostilles. Apostille Certificates are issued for documents destined for use in countries that are parties to the Hague Apostille Convention. For more information on how to obtain an Apostille please check here.
Summer Students: Since our summer programs are 89 days or less, a student visa is NOT required for U.S. Citizens.
Interns: Since our internship programs are 89 days or less, a student visa is NOT required for U.S. Citizens.

If your Barcelona SAE program requires a student visa, we recommend starting the process ASAP as it can be quite lengthy. Please note that Barcelona SAE has absolutely no control over your visa processing time. However, visa applications will not be accepted by the Spanish Consulate more than 90 days in advance, nor will they be accepted less than 14 days before departure – so please keep this in mind when booking your appointment. If you cannot get an appointment within the desired timeframe, it’s important to keep calling in hopes of there being a cancellation. Unfortunately, Barcelona SAE has absolutely no control over or involvement whatsoever in booking visa appointments.

When obtaining your student visa, it is very important that you contact your local consulate and verify instructions. While some requirements are similar, each consulate can require different materials for the visa application process. To determine your consulate and their contact information, please visit the Spanish Consulate Website.

For additional information regarding your visa, please consult the NAFSA Website.

If your Barcelona SAE program does NOT require a visa, we are unable to assist with any visas that are not related to or required by our programs. Please note that this does apply to the Start Abroad in Barcelona program through the University of Miami in Fall 2024.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

Your consulate may require you to apply for your visa in person, and most consulates require that you schedule an appointment well in advance.
If you are not a U.S. citizen, you should contact your Consulate to verify specific entry requirements. As these requirements vary based on citizenship, non-U.S. citizens may not be permitted to travel to Spain without a visa or outside of their visa dates. Also, visa fees for non-U.S. citizens may differ so please be sure to check your specific consulate’s website for the most up to date information.
If you are under 18 years of age when applying for your visa, additional paperwork may be required. Please contact the consulate immediately for more information.
Embassy and consulate contact information is subject to change without notice. Please refer to the website of the embassy or consulate to verify information.

TOURIST VISAS & LENGTH OF STAY

Technically you can stay for up to 90 days in the Schengen zone during a 180 day period without a visa.

“If you leave the Schengen Zone the countdown clock stops and doesn’t start until you enter it again. Once you reach your 90-day limit you have to stay out for another 90 days.”

This means that students can figure out their 90 day window, and if they are planning to travel longer than that, they can travel outside of Schengen for some of that time by going to England, Scotland, Ireland, Turkey or Morocco. For example, if you go to Morocco for 5 days (outside the Schengen Zone), you can add an additional five days to the time you can stay.

The consequences of overstaying the visa are difficult to judge, as it totally depends on the customs officer you face and what kind of a day they are having. If you overstay you may be able to leave without any problem at all, or you could face a fine (some sources say this is up to 500€ but it varies), and in the worst case scenario you could face a ban for up to 3 years from entering back into the region. For this reason, we do not recommend that students on a tourist visa ever overstay the 90 day window. More information can be found on the Schengen Visa Website.

WORK VISAS

Unfortunately, Barcelona SAE is unable to assist students with obtaining work visas. If you ever look to return to Barcelona in the future, please realize that getting a visa to live and work in Spain is quite expensive and can be extremely difficult. As such, most of our former participants that decide to return come either on an internship program, to teach English in Spain with a visa, or to study a masters degree.

BATCH VISA PROCESSING

If an institution sends more than 10 students participating in a program that is more than 90 days, Barcelona SAE will provide batch visa processing services for an additional fee of $200 per student in addition to the cost of the visa ($160 for US citizens).

QUESTIONS?

If you have questions about the passport or visa process, please contact our advising team at advising@barcelonasae.com.