Our Student Visa Programmes allow you to live and work in Spain whilst you study.
Are you from the UK, USA, Canada, Australia or any other non-EU country? You can still make your dream of teaching in Spain a reality with our student visa programme! A 1-year student visa will allow you to work up to 30 hours per week, so you can teach English, learn Spanish and enjoy everything Barcelona has to offer.
Download your free Brexit GuideThis programme is for you if you want to get qualified, continue to work on your professional development as a teacher and achieve fluency in Spanish with 10 hours/week of lessons! The package includes:
Note: you must do 12 months if you want to qualify for a long-term visa and be able to work. You will also have the option to extend if you wish.
All courses must be paid in full in order to apply for the student visa.
This programme is for you if you are already qualified and continue to work on your professional development as a teacher, as well as achieve fluency in Spanish with 10 hours/week of lessons!
The package includes:
Note: you must do 12 months if you want to qualify for a long-term visa and be able to work. You will also have the option to extend if you wish.
All courses must be paid in full in order to apply for the student visa.
Find out more about our Developing Teacher & Spanish Programme
See our dates and fees page for more information.
Spanish bureaucracy can seem daunting but we’re here to make it as simple as possible for you. There are many different types of visa available, but the one that is best adapted to the needs of an English teacher is a long-term student visa.
In order to qualify for a long-term student visa you must sign up to a course that is at least 20 hours/week and 7-12 months long. At TEFL Iberia we have created the Developing Teacher and Spanish Programme to meet this requirement.
We keep this as flexible as possible so as to not interfere with your work commitments. All the classes take place in the morning, as most English teaching work is in the afternoon. You can also take regular study breaks to give you time to focus on working, travelling and enjoying Barcelona.
TEFL Iberia is accredited by Trinity College London and our partner school is accredited by the Instiututo Cervantes, meeting all the requirements to apply for a student visa in Spain.
In order to qualify for a long-term student visa, you should enrol in a course that is 7-12 months long. You can do a shorter course in order to get a short-term visa, but you won’t be able to work, and you won’t be able to renew your visa from Spain. If you’d like to read more about different types of Spanish visas and their requirements, check out our detailed guide.
Detailed guidance on how to gather all the necessary paperwork.
Help completing the Spanish application form.
Special discount on health insurance for TEFL Iberia students
Fast delivery of your school enrolment letter.
96% success rate in processing student visas and minimal rejections.
We will book your TIE appointment for you (read more about the TIE here). These appointments are notoriously hard to come by and we’ll save you alot of hassle.
A contact from the school will personally accompany you to the foreign office to help with paperwork and translations.
The school will give you ongoing guidance on how and where to get all the necessary documents to get your student card (TIE - Tarjeta de identidad de extranjero).
Student card (TIE) and housing register (empadronamiento) booking and accompaniment to appointments have an additional cost of 160€.
The Spanish consulate requires the following documents:
Passport, valid for 6 months beyond your stay in Spain.
Spanish student visa application form (downloadable pdf)
2 x passport photos.
Enrolment letter from the school (you get this from us once you are accepted onto the course).
Criminal background check.
Proof of course payment in full.
Medical certificate.
Medical insurance.
Proof of sufficient funds to support yourself during your stay.
Proof of address in your home country.
If you would like to discuss the process in more detail you are welcome to contact coordination@tefl-iberia.com with questions or book an appointment to talk at the school / video call.
If you would like to read about recent, first-hand experiences we highly recommend joining the Barcelona TEFL Teachers’ Association page . It is a very active online community with tons of non-EU teachers and TEFL trainees sharing their experiences. If you use its search function on the top right-hand corner of the page to search, for example, ‘student visa’, you’ll find lots of active discussions.