If you’re an American who wants to study Spanish in Spain for more than a few months, you’ll need a student visa, and you have to apply for it before you leave the USA. This guide walks through what that involves: where you apply, the documents that catch people out, and the parts that genuinely vary from one consulate to the next.
The process is very doable. The main thing is to start early, because two of the documents (the FBI background check and getting things apostilled) take time you can’t rush.
The short version
| Step | What it means for US applicants |
|---|---|
| Where you apply | The Spanish consulate that covers your state of residence |
| How it’s run | Usually through BLS International (Spain’s visa partner) |
| Background check | FBI Identity History Summary, apostilled |
| Money to show | €600 per month of your stay (€7,200 for a year) |
| Health insurance | A policy from a Spain-authorised insurer (travel insurance won’t do) |
| The visa fee | Set by reciprocity for US citizens — check your consulate’s current fee |
You can’t apply from inside Spain on a tourist stamp and switch over later. For a language course, the application starts at home, before you travel.
Where Americans apply
Spain runs several consulates across the USA, and each one covers a specific set of states. You must apply at the one with jurisdiction over where you live; you can’t pick whichever is nearest or has the soonest appointment.
There are consulates in cities including New York, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Washington DC, New Orleans and San Juan, each handling its own group of states. Because the exact state-to-consulate mapping does change, look up which consulate covers your state on the official Spanish government site rather than assuming, and apply there.
In practice, most US consulates handle student visas through BLS International (Spain’s appointed visa partner, at blsspainvisa.com), so a lot of the booking and document submission happens via BLS rather than the consulate directly. Our how to apply page covers the overall flow.
The background check Americans need
For a stay of more than 180 days, Spain wants a criminal-record certificate. For US applicants this is the FBI Identity History Summary — the federal background check, not a local police letter.
Here’s the part that catches people out: it then has to be apostilled, and federal documents like the FBI check are apostilled by the US Department of State. If you ever need to apostille a state-issued document instead, that’s done by that state’s Secretary of State. Getting these two offices mixed up is a common cause of delay.
Because the FBI summary plus the apostille can take weeks, start this one first. Our background check guide explains the document and its short shelf-life in more detail.
Proof of funds
Spain asks you to show you can support yourself: €600 per month of your stay, which works out at €7,200 for a full year, proportionally less for a single term. This figure is national and consistent, and it’s the same whether you apply from the USA or anywhere else.
You usually prove it with bank statements; a sponsor (often a parent) can meet the requirement for you. How many months of statements your consulate wants, and whether they must be certified, is one of the details that varies, so check yours. The financial requirements guide has the full breakdown.
Health insurance
You’ll need private health insurance from an insurer authorised to operate in Spain, with full coverage and no co-pays or waiting periods. A standard US travel-insurance policy is normally rejected, which surprises a lot of applicants. The health insurance page explains what a compliant policy looks like.
The visa fee
This is where US citizens are treated differently from many other nationalities. The Spain student-visa fee for Americans is set by reciprocity, and it’s higher than the standard rate paid by many applicants. You’ll sometimes see figures quoted (for example, around $160), but treat any number as an illustration only, and check your consulate’s current fee before you apply, since it’s the figure most likely to be out of date online.
Putting it together
For an American applying from the USA, the essentials are:
- Apply at the Spanish consulate for your state, usually via BLS International.
- Get your FBI Identity History Summary and have it apostilled by the US Department of State — start this early.
- Show €600 per month of funds, and carry Spain-authorised health insurance.
- Expect a reciprocity-based fee as a US citizen, and confirm the current amount with your consulate.
Beyond those, the finer points — appointment steps, how many months of bank statements, sworn translations, exactly how documents are presented — vary by consulate. Always work from your own consulate’s official checklist, not a forum post or another country’s requirements. For a full document run-through, see our documents checklist.
One more thing worth knowing: a language course and a university course are different routes with different rights attached, so it’s worth understanding which you’re on. Our language school vs university guide explains the difference.
We make the Spain side simple
The American paperwork — the FBI check, the apostille, the bank statements — is on you, and only you can provide it. But everything on the Spain side is where we come in: choosing an Instituto Cervantes-accredited school, getting the official acceptance letter your visa application needs, and being guided through the process by a real person instead of guessing alone.
When you enrol through us, you save €500 on a 12-month visa course (or €250 on shorter courses), and you get that guidance built in.
General guidance, not legal advice — confirm specifics with the relevant consulate or a qualified immigration lawyer.
← All articles