HOW TO GET A SPANISH STUDENT VISA FROM INDIA
(With Special reference to the Delhi Consulate)
(All - Really, ALL The information you could possibly need, in ONE place)
So you’ve decided to go to Spain to study, got admission in a University and have the University’s acceptance letter in hand. And you’re an Indian/ Stay in India. Congratulations! Not to be a buzz kill, but that’s like running around in a room full of candy compared to whats next. Unless you don’t like candy, in which case I’m not sure you should be here. By ‘here” I mean “On Earth”.
Admission was a cakewalk compared to what the visa application process was for me. Half baked information on the internet pieced together bit by bit, a (frankly) incomplete and confusing visa website, complete lack of procedural knowledge, multiple trips to the embassy at very short notice with documents I had no idea were anywhere NEAR those that would be required to send you abroad, all formed the most ridiculously harrowing couple of months of my life.
I’m hoping listing ALL the information in ONE place will make the job easier for others like me in the future. So here it is. It’s a long list, with a lot of details, but just read it from start to finish in order to get a complete idea of what you need to do. Trust me, it’s easier than doing it the way I did.
There are some documents which you’ll believe will be over-egging the visa pudding, but I thought the same… and I regretted it. Remember what Mark Twain said? “In twenty years you’ll regret the things you didn’t do, rather than the ones you did”. He was talking about his visa. GOLDEN RULE: Always err on the side of more papers than less. The worst they’ll do is make little paper planes out of the extras which they will then aim at your heart like knives.
Before that mysterious list, just a few important things:
• You’ll be applying for a “Long Term Stay Visa”, so you’ll have to apply directly at the embassy itself (i.e., you can’t go to the IVS centre which handles Short Term Visas - http://www.ivs-spainvisa.com/.). Also, you’ll have to apply in person; you CANNOT go through a travel agent, no matter what they tell you. So be prepared to take time off work/ travel to Delhi/ Mumbai etc.
• Don’t apply more than 3 months before the beginning of your course because - well, they won’t let you. So if your course begins on 1st September, you can’t give in the application before 1st June.
• They visa wont be granted for the entire duration of your stay, it’ll be given to your for approximately 3 months, starting from the date of your departure for Spain (usually not more than a couple of weeks before your course begins). Once you reach Spain, you’ll have to apply for a Student Residence Card, which, being valid for the whole time you’ll be studying in Spain, will count as your legal residence document.
• There are two Spanish consulates in India- one in Delhi, one in Mumbai. The Mumbai consulate handles applications from Gujarat, Maharashtra, Chattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Karanataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa plus Daman & Diu. The Delhi Consulate handles applications from all the remaining Indian states, Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
________________________________________________________________________
Once you’ve managed to read this list and get together ALL your papers, (a process likely to be supplemented with weeping, a string of annoying friends [with the best of intentions, nevertheless] saying “Of course you’ll get it! Like obviously!”- because no ones ever been denied a visa in the history of the universe, and a petrol bill like never before), then congratulate yourself, you’ve managed a feat of titanic proportions. Heres what’s next:
1. When you go to the consulate, they’ll probably ask you a few questions, specially designed to instill in you a rock solid belief that you will never, ever be allowed to set foot in Spain as long as you’re alive (and, as you’ll find out upon reading further, not as long as you’re DEAD either). Don’t worry about it, its part of the fun. You cry inside, they laugh outside, it’s called life. Just keep your calm and answer honestly (unless the plan’s to carry out systematic annihilation of their government, or worse, their football team). Know clearly things like your tuition fees amount, your accommodation scene, your future plans after finishing your studies, why Spain, etc.
2. Now you may get an email or a call within a week asking for additional papers, a personal interview, a blind date with the ambassador’s son/ daughter or some such thing. Just go with it, give them what they want. Don’t bother arguing, they take special pleasure in seeing how finely they can shred the applications of people who argue with them.
3. If your applications complete from the start, and I’m hoping this list will help facilitate that, then they should call you within 3 weeks to let you know if it’s been granted or not. If you’d like, you can call (after at least 2 weeks) with a status inquiry or, you know, just to ask what the ambassador’s offspring said about you.
4. When they do call, they (of course) “cannot disclose” whether it has or not over the telephone, because the lines may be tapped, and there may be nuclear war if someone else finds out the status of your visa. So get prepared for a journey to the embassy on the verge of a breakdown (you’ll have to go in person to collect your passport).
5. If upon reaching, they finally reward you for all your effort, then Congratulations! In all your life, never will any adversity compare to what you just managed to beat. Make sure all details like name, date, etc. are correct, and that the “Type of Visa” is written as “D”.
Now that that process is a bit clearer, may I present an extensive list of all the documents you will definitely or possibly need for the Spain Student Visa Application when applying from India. Here goes:
________________________________________________________________
1. One Schengen Visa application form filled in with blue ball point pen. Write N/A wherever you’re leaving a blank space (As of 2011, India doesn’t have National Identity Numbers assigned to citizens. Check if that’s still the case, and if it is, write N/A in that slot as well).
2. THREE photocopies of the above filled out form with a photograph pasted on each. The IVS site says ONE. Lies. Take three or they’ll send you back to get more copies, preferably done by hand.
3. A Passport which is valid for at least three months till AFTER the end of your stay in Spain. And it must be less than 10 years old. Also it must have two blank pages where they can put the pretty “España Visado” stamp.
4. One photocopy of all the pages of your passport, including the blank ones (Even if they’re ALL blank ones. Give them ten empty sheets. Just don’t argue).
5. A Bank Draft drawn in favour of the “Embassy of Spain” for the amount Rs 3,889/- (This amount held true as of August, 2011, but it may have changed so check the IVS Visa Application website [www.ivs-spainvisa.com] website to make sure).
6. Your official letter of acceptance from whichever University you’re going to. The IVS website says that if the Univeristy has a code number (if any)
“assigned by the ‘Registro nacional de universidades, centros y enseñanzas’ or by the ’Registro estatal de centros docentes no universitarios’, (both run by the Ministry of Education and Science), or to the investigation centres as such recognized by the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce or by the Ministry of Education and Science,”
then it must be included in this letter.. However, the operative words here are “if any”. My letter didn’t have it, and so if yours doesn’t, don’t run around in circles, screaming, like I did trying to find it and get it included.
7. An English/ Spanish translation from whichever language the above letter is in. My original letter was in Spanish, so I used Google translate to get the English gist, cleaned up the grammar and attached it to the original. If you need it translated to Spanish and don’t speak the language, then get it done officially from a Spanish centre (Like Cervantes/ Insituto Hispania in New Delhi), or cleverly find someone benevolent who speaks Spanish and request them/ bribe them/ coerce them into doing it.
8. The original letter from the University that outlines your course details. I used the document that my university had sent me to present on my first day of class (including class hours, subjects and dates) and it doubled up acceptably.
9. A translation of the above (See point 7).
10. A photocopy of your last University degree. If you haven’t yet graduated and so, don’t have a degree in hand, either obtain a provisional degree from your current school/ university, or show however many years’ Marksheets you do have. I, for example, showed my:
• 1st and 2nd year bachelor degree Marksheets, and (just to be on the safe side)
• my 10th and 12th CBSE Marksheets too.
CONTINUED IN “How to get a Spanish Student Visa from India - PART II”
(With Special reference to the Delhi Consulate)
(All - Really, ALL The information you could possibly need, in ONE place)
So you’ve decided to go to Spain to study, got admission in a University and have the University’s acceptance letter in hand. And you’re an Indian/ Stay in India. Congratulations! Not to be a buzz kill, but that’s like running around in a room full of candy compared to whats next. Unless you don’t like candy, in which case I’m not sure you should be here. By ‘here” I mean “On Earth”.
Admission was a cakewalk compared to what the visa application process was for me. Half baked information on the internet pieced together bit by bit, a (frankly) incomplete and confusing visa website, complete lack of procedural knowledge, multiple trips to the embassy at very short notice with documents I had no idea were anywhere NEAR those that would be required to send you abroad, all formed the most ridiculously harrowing couple of months of my life.
I’m hoping listing ALL the information in ONE place will make the job easier for others like me in the future. So here it is. It’s a long list, with a lot of details, but just read it from start to finish in order to get a complete idea of what you need to do. Trust me, it’s easier than doing it the way I did.
There are some documents which you’ll believe will be over-egging the visa pudding, but I thought the same… and I regretted it. Remember what Mark Twain said? “In twenty years you’ll regret the things you didn’t do, rather than the ones you did”. He was talking about his visa. GOLDEN RULE: Always err on the side of more papers than less. The worst they’ll do is make little paper planes out of the extras which they will then aim at your heart like knives.
Before that mysterious list, just a few important things:
• You’ll be applying for a “Long Term Stay Visa”, so you’ll have to apply directly at the embassy itself (i.e., you can’t go to the IVS centre which handles Short Term Visas - http://www.ivs-spainvisa.com/.). Also, you’ll have to apply in person; you CANNOT go through a travel agent, no matter what they tell you. So be prepared to take time off work/ travel to Delhi/ Mumbai etc.
• Don’t apply more than 3 months before the beginning of your course because - well, they won’t let you. So if your course begins on 1st September, you can’t give in the application before 1st June.
• They visa wont be granted for the entire duration of your stay, it’ll be given to your for approximately 3 months, starting from the date of your departure for Spain (usually not more than a couple of weeks before your course begins). Once you reach Spain, you’ll have to apply for a Student Residence Card, which, being valid for the whole time you’ll be studying in Spain, will count as your legal residence document.
• There are two Spanish consulates in India- one in Delhi, one in Mumbai. The Mumbai consulate handles applications from Gujarat, Maharashtra, Chattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Karanataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa plus Daman & Diu. The Delhi Consulate handles applications from all the remaining Indian states, Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
________________________________________________________________________
Once you’ve managed to read this list and get together ALL your papers, (a process likely to be supplemented with weeping, a string of annoying friends [with the best of intentions, nevertheless] saying “Of course you’ll get it! Like obviously!”- because no ones ever been denied a visa in the history of the universe, and a petrol bill like never before), then congratulate yourself, you’ve managed a feat of titanic proportions. Heres what’s next:
1. When you go to the consulate, they’ll probably ask you a few questions, specially designed to instill in you a rock solid belief that you will never, ever be allowed to set foot in Spain as long as you’re alive (and, as you’ll find out upon reading further, not as long as you’re DEAD either). Don’t worry about it, its part of the fun. You cry inside, they laugh outside, it’s called life. Just keep your calm and answer honestly (unless the plan’s to carry out systematic annihilation of their government, or worse, their football team). Know clearly things like your tuition fees amount, your accommodation scene, your future plans after finishing your studies, why Spain, etc.
2. Now you may get an email or a call within a week asking for additional papers, a personal interview, a blind date with the ambassador’s son/ daughter or some such thing. Just go with it, give them what they want. Don’t bother arguing, they take special pleasure in seeing how finely they can shred the applications of people who argue with them.
3. If your applications complete from the start, and I’m hoping this list will help facilitate that, then they should call you within 3 weeks to let you know if it’s been granted or not. If you’d like, you can call (after at least 2 weeks) with a status inquiry or, you know, just to ask what the ambassador’s offspring said about you.
4. When they do call, they (of course) “cannot disclose” whether it has or not over the telephone, because the lines may be tapped, and there may be nuclear war if someone else finds out the status of your visa. So get prepared for a journey to the embassy on the verge of a breakdown (you’ll have to go in person to collect your passport).
5. If upon reaching, they finally reward you for all your effort, then Congratulations! In all your life, never will any adversity compare to what you just managed to beat. Make sure all details like name, date, etc. are correct, and that the “Type of Visa” is written as “D”.
Now that that process is a bit clearer, may I present an extensive list of all the documents you will definitely or possibly need for the Spain Student Visa Application when applying from India. Here goes:
________________________________________________________________
1. One Schengen Visa application form filled in with blue ball point pen. Write N/A wherever you’re leaving a blank space (As of 2011, India doesn’t have National Identity Numbers assigned to citizens. Check if that’s still the case, and if it is, write N/A in that slot as well).
2. THREE photocopies of the above filled out form with a photograph pasted on each. The IVS site says ONE. Lies. Take three or they’ll send you back to get more copies, preferably done by hand.
3. A Passport which is valid for at least three months till AFTER the end of your stay in Spain. And it must be less than 10 years old. Also it must have two blank pages where they can put the pretty “España Visado” stamp.
4. One photocopy of all the pages of your passport, including the blank ones (Even if they’re ALL blank ones. Give them ten empty sheets. Just don’t argue).
5. A Bank Draft drawn in favour of the “Embassy of Spain” for the amount Rs 3,889/- (This amount held true as of August, 2011, but it may have changed so check the IVS Visa Application website [www.ivs-spainvisa.com] website to make sure).
6. Your official letter of acceptance from whichever University you’re going to. The IVS website says that if the Univeristy has a code number (if any)
“assigned by the ‘Registro nacional de universidades, centros y enseñanzas’ or by the ’Registro estatal de centros docentes no universitarios’, (both run by the Ministry of Education and Science), or to the investigation centres as such recognized by the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce or by the Ministry of Education and Science,”
then it must be included in this letter.. However, the operative words here are “if any”. My letter didn’t have it, and so if yours doesn’t, don’t run around in circles, screaming, like I did trying to find it and get it included.
7. An English/ Spanish translation from whichever language the above letter is in. My original letter was in Spanish, so I used Google translate to get the English gist, cleaned up the grammar and attached it to the original. If you need it translated to Spanish and don’t speak the language, then get it done officially from a Spanish centre (Like Cervantes/ Insituto Hispania in New Delhi), or cleverly find someone benevolent who speaks Spanish and request them/ bribe them/ coerce them into doing it.
8. The original letter from the University that outlines your course details. I used the document that my university had sent me to present on my first day of class (including class hours, subjects and dates) and it doubled up acceptably.
9. A translation of the above (See point 7).
10. A photocopy of your last University degree. If you haven’t yet graduated and so, don’t have a degree in hand, either obtain a provisional degree from your current school/ university, or show however many years’ Marksheets you do have. I, for example, showed my:
• 1st and 2nd year bachelor degree Marksheets, and (just to be on the safe side)
• my 10th and 12th CBSE Marksheets too.
CONTINUED IN “How to get a Spanish Student Visa from India - PART II”