Graduate Students
Students who do not have legal residence in the European Union will need to apply for a student visa in order to study with us at the Madrid Campus. Please keep in mind that this process can be both time consuming and costly. To find your corresponding consulate, refer to: http://www.maec.es/embajadas. Please keep in mind that you may need an appointment to apply for your visa.
SLU provides a visa service for students who are able to apply for their student visa using the Chicago Spanish Consulate. This service will allow students to send their application paperwork to St. Louis and SLU will take the applications to Chicago and pick them up for the student. You can find more information at this link: http://www.slu.edu/study-abroad-home/spain-visa-service.
There are two types of visas and you’ll need to apply for one or the other depending on how long you’ll stay in Spain:
- Short-stay visa (valid for 180 days and non-renewable) – This visa is for students who are certain that they will be staying in Spain for under six months (one semester). This visa cannot be extended, so if there is a possibility you may want to stay for an additional semester in our program, please apply for the long-stay visa. Please note some consulates refer to this visa as “long-stay up to 180 days”.
- Long-stay visa (valid for stays of over 180 days) – Students who plan to stay for longer than one semester should apply for this. This visa will be needed to apply for a student residence card (tarjeta de estudiante), within a month upon arrival. This card will allow the student to stay in Spain until the completion of studies and to travel in and out of the country. For U.S. students applying for a long-stay visa, you’ll need an FBI background check authenticated by the FBI with the Apostille of the Hague Convention. This may take up to 12 weeks to obtain so please apply for it with ample time. Background checks can be ordered by following the instructions at: http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cjisd/fprequest.htm. In most cases, you can obtain this apostille by contacting your Secretary of State's office. For more information regarding the Apostille check here and here.
For further information, refer to: http://www.nafsa.org/regulatoryinformation/default.aspx?id=6769. Please direct any questions to the consulate corresponding to your state.
