How much money to evidence, the insurance consulates reject, how many hours you can really work and how to stay on afterwards. Every figure with its article of the regulation beside it — and where we could not confirm something in an official source, we say so.
By Suelen Miranda · Product Owner at Aterriza España · Brazilian in Spain
Updated August 2026
Rectorate of the Universitat de València. Photo © Joanbanjo, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).
The student visa is the most accessible way into Spain, and also the one surrounded by the most bad information. The clearest example is how many hours you may work: you will read everywhere that it is now forty, and it is not — it is thirty, and exceeding the limit does not mean a fine, it means losing the authorisation. This article was written with Royal Decree 1155/2024 open, article by article, alongside the requirements published by the Spanish consulates in São Paulo and Bogotá. Where a figure is not in an official source, we say so.
Nearly all the confusion around this visa comes from one simple mix-up: there are two separate procedures, with different requirements, decided by different authorities. One is the long-stay authorisation for studies, which is permission to be in Spain. The other is the visa, the document that lets you enter. Anyone looking for the financial requirements in the article on the authorisation will not find them, because they are not there — and from that point everything looks contradictory.
| Stay authorisation | Visa | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it is regulated | Arts. 52–58, RD 1155/2024 | Art. 35, RD 1155/2024 |
| Who decides | Immigration Office (in Spain) | Spanish consulate in your country |
| What it requires | Admission, paid enrolment, not being a threat to public order, and the fee (art. 53) | Financial means, health insurance, medical certificate and nine further requirements |
Hold on to that idea, because it explains many of the contradictory requirement lists circulating online: the money and the insurance are asked for at the visa stage, not the authorisation stage. And it is why the consulate turns out to be far more demanding than a quick read of the regulation suggests.
They always appear together and mean entirely different things. Worth separating them, because one determines whether you must produce the criminal record certificate — the slowest document in the whole process.
The medical certificate, by contrast, has no threshold: art. 35.l requires it in all cases, regardless of duration, to certify the absence of any disease with serious public health implications under the 2005 International Health Regulations.
Art. 35.h sets the amounts as percentages of the IPREM, the income benchmark Spain uses. In 2026 the monthly IPREM is €600, so the figures work out like this:
| Who | % of IPREM | Per month | One academic year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Student | 100 % | 600 € | 7.200 € |
| First family member | 75 % | 450 € | 5.400 € |
| Each further family member | 50 % | 300 € | 3.600 € |
Source: art. 35.h of Royal Decree 1155/2024. The percentages are in the regulation; the euro figure depends on the IPREM in force, which is updated — check it each year.
The first is the most important and is barely published anywhere. The article itself opens a literal exception:
In plain terms: someone arriving with accommodation sorted and paid up front may be exempt from evidencing the €600 a month. The phrase “duly evidenced” carries its own small print and the decision always rests with the consulate, but the route is in the regulation and it is real.
Second detail: tuition money does not count. The same article states that amounts used or to be used to cover the cost of the studies are not computed. Anyone adding their savings and the course fee into a single total is counting twice.
And the third: the regulation expressly admits grants, subsidies and scholarships, a valid employment contract or a firm job offer where the authorisation permits work, and a declaration of support by the educational institution. You do not have to have the whole sum sitting in an account.
The regulation calls for sickness insurance with an insurer authorised to operate in Spain, with cover comparable to the basic common portfolio of the National Health System, valid for the whole stay (art. 35.i). It sounds simple, but this is where most applications stall, because consulates are far more specific about what they do not accept:
Before paying for a policy, check that the insurer is authorised. You can do it in the public register of the Directorate-General for Insurance and Pension Funds, at rrpp.dgsfp.mineco.es, typing the name into the Denominación → Que Contenga field. It takes a minute and saves you buying a policy the consulate will reject.
This is the most repeated and most misreported fact in the whole subject. The article in force leaves no room:
Note the second half, the part nobody quotes: exceeding thirty hours is not a fine — it terminates the authorisation. That is the difference between a warning and losing your right to be in the country.
You often read that the student visa “already allows you to work”. True, but only for higher education — the case in art. 52.1.a). There, art. 57.1 provides that the authorisation permits employed and self-employed work automatically and without any additional procedure, provided the activity is compatible with the studies. For post-compulsory secondary education, volunteering and training activities, a work authorisation must be applied for. Curricular placements, by contrast, need no procedure at all: they are already covered.
Art. 57.3 provides that the work authorisation is limited geographically to the autonomous community that granted the stay authorisation. You may work in towns of another community only where they border it, and the limit is waived only where the workplace location does not entail continuous travel incompatible with the studies.
This is worth pausing on, because the practical consequences are significant: choosing your city also means choosing where you will be able to work. Enrolling in Valencia and counting on a job in Madrid is not a workable plan on this visa. If work during the course is part of the budget — and for many people it is — the autonomous community stops being an administrative detail and becomes a decision to make before signing the enrolment.
A practical detail that usually goes unnoticed: hiring students authorised to work carries no unemployment contribution (tenth additional provision of the same regulation). It is a useful argument when persuading an employer.
The general rule in art. 55.1 is that the authorisation lasts as long as the programme, capped at one year. But there is a major exception that is widely misreported: for higher education, the validity of the authorisation matches the official duration of the studies. A four-year degree means four years of authorisation, not four annual renewals.
You can, but under three conditions that usually surprise people. First, it is only available to those in higher education (art. 52.1.a): post-compulsory secondary, pupil mobility, volunteering and training activities do not have this route. Second, the holder must have at least ninety calendar days of validity remaining. And third is the hardest to take in:
This changes a family's financial planning entirely, so it bears repeating: household income during the course will be the student's — capped at thirty hours a week — plus whatever has been saved. You cannot count on a second salary. Family members are the spouse, registered partner or stable partner (the bond is presumed with one year of continuous cohabitation, or with children in common), unmarried minor children, and unmarried adult children with support needs due to disability or illness. Children born in Spain acquire the authorisation automatically.
Art. 54 opens both routes. From abroad, the visa is applied for at the consulate at least two months before studies begin. From inside Spain it is also possible, if the person is lawfully on national territory, for higher education and specialised health training; in that case you must be of age and file at least two months in advance. When applying from inside, the decision deadline is two months and silence means refusal.
On criminal records in Spain, there is good news: the applicant does not have to produce them. The Immigration Office obtains them ex officio within five days, and art. 54.4 adds that the existence of records in the police report shall not in itself automatically be grounds for refusal — each case is assessed individually.
This is the part that most changes how you should look at the student visa, and the part fewest people know before deciding. Art. 190 allows the move from study stay to residence and work without leaving the country and without applying for a new visa. And the decisive detail is this: the national employment situation test does not apply. Art. 190.2 requires the conditions of art. 74 except its subparagraph 1.a) — and art. 74.1.a) is precisely the one requiring that the national employment situation permit the hire. In other words, the post does not need to appear on any shortage occupation list.
There are conditions, and they are worth knowing because this route is often badly summarised online:
And two very useful details: while the application is pending, the provisional authorisation allows full-time work (art. 190.7) — the thirty-hour ceiling falls away — and anyone completing studies at Level 6 of the European Qualifications Framework or above (bachelor's, master's, doctorate) can also access the residence authorisation for job-seeking or entrepreneurship (art. 190.10).
The regulation is the same for everyone, but each consulate publishes its own list and the differences are real. These are the two we are asked about most:
| São Paulo | Bogotá | |
|---|---|---|
| Visa fee | Paid in cash, “if not exempt”. The amount is not published in the official source | Exempt. Only the BLS service fee: COP 75,400 |
| Where you file | Consulate | BLS International, authorised intermediary |
| Criminal record | Only if > 180 days. Federal Police, apostilled | Only if > 180 days, covering the last 5 years |
| Medical certificate | Doctor with legible registration number, apostilled and notarised signature | Original and copy |
| Decision time | Stated maximum: one month | Can reach three months, plus one month to issue |
São Paulo is particularly demanding on financial evidence, and it pays to prepare: it asks for all the documents, not a selection — the income tax return and every bank statement from the last three months, signed and stamped by the bank, covering savings, current and investment accounts, and any other account or financial resource held.
None of these mistakes is serious in itself. The problem is that each costs weeks, and once the course has a start date, weeks are exactly what you do not have.
We are a relocation advisory, not a gestoría: on paperwork we guide and the client files; on housing we solve it ourselves. On this route that means two concrete things. First, the roadmap — which document in what order, what your consulate actually asks for, and where this process stalls. Second, the housing: we close the rental contract in the student's name before the flight, with the guarantee sorted — and it is worth recalling what art. 35.h says about accommodation paid in advance. We do not promise approvals or government timelines, because we do not control them. What we promise is that you will not land without somewhere to live.
More about the service on the relocation advisory in Spain page.
Thirty a week, not forty. Art. 57.2 of RD 1155/2024 states that work activity may not exceed thirty hours per week, with the sole exception of intensive-track vocational training. And it adds, in the same sentence, that breaching that limit is grounds for termination of the authorisation. It is not a fine: you lose the stay authorisation.
100 % of the IPREM per month — €600 in 2026 — plus €450 for the first family member and €300 for each of the others (art. 35.h). Two details change the sum: tuition money does not count towards means of support, and the article itself waives the €600 requirement where accommodation is duly evidenced as paid in advance for the whole stay.
It must be from an insurer authorised to operate in Spain, with cover comparable to the basic common portfolio of the National Health System, valid for the whole stay (art. 35.i). Travel and bank policies are rejected, and it must have no waiting periods, no co-payment and no cover limit. Check the insurer in rrpp.dgsfp.mineco.es before paying. If the student works, Social Security registration satisfies this requirement (art. 57.5).
As long as the programme, capped at one year — but for higher education the validity matches the official duration of the studies (art. 55.1). A four-year degree means four years of authorisation. It starts one month before classes begin and extends fifteen days beyond the end. If it runs over a year, proof of enrolment must be filed each academic year.
Come, yes, if you are in higher education and have at least ninety days of validity remaining. Work, no: art. 56.6 states that family members shall not be authorised to work while it is valid. It is a fact that reshapes any family's budget, because household income will be the student's — capped at thirty hours — plus savings.
Yes, without leaving the country or applying for a new visa, and without the national employment situation test (art. 190, which expressly excludes art. 74.1.a). You must have obtained the qualification — final year is not enough — and apply in the two months before or three months after. While it is pending you may work full time. The authorisation granted lasts one year.
Yes, and almost nobody publishes it: art. 57.3 limits the work authorisation to the autonomous community that granted the stay, except for bordering towns. In practice, choosing your city means choosing where you will be able to work.
No. Bogotá states that Colombian nationals are exempt from the fee for this type of visa, paying only the BLS International service charge (COP 75,400). In São Paulo the official PDF says the fee is paid in cash “if not exempt”, but does not publish the amount — which is why we give no figure here.
Read also
The IPREM, the padrón and the one-month TIE deadline →
What a relocation advisory does (and what it costs) →
How to live legally in Spain: every visa route →
Cost of living in Spain: how much you need per month →
Renting in Spain without a payslip: the file that unlocks it →
Sources
This article is informational and does not replace legal advice. Euro figures depend on the IPREM in force and are updated; requirements may vary between consulates. Always confirm with the official source for your district.
Tell us your case and Suelen will tell you what is missing, in what order, and where this process usually stalls. And we close your housing before the flight.
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