Hi everyone!

I just got a spain student visa to study Spanish in Spain for 4 months. The visa is valid for 90 days. The embassy told me to apply for a student resident card when I arrive Spain before the visa expires.

Now the thing is, there is a remark in my student visa sticker. It says, "ESTUDIOS HASTA 180 DIAS It is type D.

My question is, "Can I extend my visa after six months"?

Muchas Gracias


Thanks..

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Welcome to the board.

There is tons of info here regarding student visas. If you do a search you will find this.

Good luck

Booboo--
You can't extend your visa. A visa is just for entering the country. What you need to do is apply for student residency at the comisaría. Once you have the residency, you can apply for an extension as long as you can prove you are in school full-time(ish) and passing your classes. I hope this helps...

Ah I got it Thanks!

Muchas graciassssss!!!

Hi, I have a question in regards to the student visa. Does anyone know about being "empadronado" and getting a student visa? Let me explain. I have been here 3 years without papers. I was empadronado, but it just expired. So, currently, I am not "empadronado". SO, now I am going to be returning to the US to get my student visa and I am wondering if I should be "empadronado" when I go. My doubts stem from 2 different ideas from friends. One says that I should not be "empadronado" because then they will know that I have been here for 3 years "illegally", and they will know that I know about their great free health benefits!!! The other says, that if I am NOT "empadronado" they will ask what I was doing here for 3 years without registering myself and my location. So, does anyone have a clear idea about this? Has anyone experienced this? Lived here before without papers, then returned home to get papers? I will say, that I have to prove that I have health insurance to get the visa. That means getting a good travel insurance.which means being "empadronado" for the health service is null. although I assume I will do it when I get back, if not before, just to register my location.. Does anyone know about whether I should empadronarme again, or just leave it alone. Thanks! Appreciate your answers.

During the visa process, I have never been asked about empadronamiento. I suppose that it is possible that they check this during the approval process, but somehow I doubt it...

The only time that empadronamiento mattered for us was when we put my son into public school. When we did this, we had to empadronar the whole family. I know that it also matters when you try to take advantage of an amnesty.

From what I gather, they take a closer look at the stamps in your passport for clues about your whereabouts. When I went to renew my student visa yesterday, they were (for the first time) adamant about getting a copy of every stamp in my passport (before it was just the last entry stamp that they were interested in). Of course, when you photocopy an entry stamp in a passport it is entirely illegible, so I don't know what kind of detective work they are hoping to do...

If you do a search for empadronamiento, who will find many threads with quite a bit of information.

Good luck

quote:

If you do a search for empadronamiento, who will find many threads with quite a bit of information.

Yes, but things are definitely shifting here... When it comes to immigration and visas, I don't think that you can trust what happened a year or two ago to be true today. And most folks with a student visa never bother to empadronar (or even know what this means).

Ellis--did you use the health system here without working legally? I didn't think it was possible to get a card if you weren't officially contributing to social security. Must be some loopholes there that I don't know about.

Another possibility--other than travel insurance--would be to sign up for a month or two of the cheapest Sanitas (private insurance) plan (do a search on the board for David Harris.) It think it's around 35 euros a month, depending on your age. When you get the visa and then apply for the residency, they just want to see that your insurance card is "in vigor". They don't check to see that you have the whole year prepaid or anything like that. At least that's how it has always gone for us--including yesterday when I went to renew.

Yes, I did use the health system here. Free. I did the empadronado process, then went to my local clinic and was assigned my doctor. I only went once, but I also went into the ER and they attended me, without questions and payment. It was great. All this is legal, on my papers it says that I am an illegal alien basically, but I still get all benefits.
Sanitas health care will not work for the requirements created by the Spanish embassy for student visas. They require a special "evacuation" insurance that is included in the normal health insurance, but it is still reasonably cheap, about 35-40 $ a month. (ISS is a leading travel insurance group.)

Mariposita, based on your information, I suppose I won't re-empadronar myself, and just go to the Embassy in LA and turn in my paperwork. If, by some chance they ask "why" I haven't been registered before, I will have my papers just in case... WIth a story... I am just hoping they aren't that organized!

Any real life stories from students with student visas really wanted!!! I would like to know if there is reason to worry....and would just like to know what the process is like. SO SPEAK UP!

Hmm, once you get to Spain and apply for residency at the comisaría, the Sanitas insurance will be fine. It's what we have always used with no problems. Sounds like the LA consulate has their own quirky requirements for the visa...typical! The good thing is that you only have to get the visa once and from there on out you will always deal with the comisaría here and they tend to be more flojo about the requirements.

Good to know about the local clinic... another case of "the rules" being different from "reality" here in Spain.

One thing about the student visa, you will need to have a plane ticket purchased to go (back) to Spain. They are absolutely adamant about that.

Regarding health insurance for student visas - I agree with Mariposita. You can purchase a "Schengen" travel policy (must be worth at least 30,000 euros) from David Harris. This policy was from the BUPA company (is a Spanish company and the policy is good in the Schengen countries. I purchased the coverage for one month (105 USD per month) and will convert to a Sanitas (cheaper!) policy upon arrival in Spain when I have a Spanish bank account to pay for it. I paid for the Schengen policy by credit card. David Harris was kind enough to provide me the documentation that the policy will cover me for my entire stay in Spain (11 months) but I only paid for the first month. (You can pay monthly instead of all at once),


If you are already in Spain, purchase the Schengen policy there, obtain the insurance card, letter from the company,and insurance policy. Then you can take those documents to the LA Consulate. Be sure to have the insurance card and a letter and/or policy that explains the terms and limits of the policy. The Consulate will not accept only the insurance card, they will want some additional documentation. (e.g. letter or copy of the policy). Luckily, I had brought the letter from the company that came with my insurance card, and it states that the policy covers me in the Schengen states, and is good for coverage up to 50,000 euros. My policy is more than the minimum of 30,000 euros. And the consulate accepted that letter.

Interestingly, I was required to have a similar policy when I went on a tour last year in Croatia. My Polish friend made our travel arrangements through a Polish travel agency, and evidently all the Europeans on the tour were eligible for the insurance that was included. But the travel agency required that I purchase my own insurance, (since I wasn't European citizen, I didn't qualify for the group insurance).

I think the insurance requirement has something to do with the Schengen agreement business.

I just went to the LA Consulate today and I have the student visa requirements in my hand. Please let me know if you have any more questions about the LA Consulate.

hey CaliforniaGirl.

for the record, bupa is a u.k. company ("b"ritish "u"nited "p"rovident "a"ssociation) www.bupa.co.uk but they are multinational in that they offer coverage services in many countries ( www.bupa-intl.com ).

their presence in spain is mostly geared towards ex-pats since it is more expensive than the spanish companies like sanitas.

the ease of doing things in english via david certainly has its price. it is good to start out but $105 a month is steep to continue on long-term.

saludos,
jer...

Thanks, Jer, for the clarification regarding BUPA. You are correct, their products are geared toward foreigners.

I suppose the price (at $105 USD) per month is expensive for Spain. But you forget that I am from the land of outrageous health insurance premiums, so I thought that 105 was a pretty good deal. And was really to happy to find out that Sanitas is even cheaper. I guess everything is relative.

hey CaliforniaGirl.

yes, i am from that same land as you are so if you look at it that way, $105 is nada!

i guess i have been here so long that i can't remember (thankfully) what health insurance costs in the good old u.s. of a.

saludos,
jer...

Ok, I just got off the phone with the Complutence here, and I have an "official" word from the foreigner department that you do NOT have to be empadronado, they won't even look for that. So, that deals the first issue.
The second issue at hand is aboot (canadian accent ) health care. I already have a plan! I will buy my 35 euro a month plan from ISS or ISI or one of those travel insurances. Then when I get back here, I am going to cancel and empadronar myself, therefore I need PAY NOTHING!!! Am not keen on wasting my money on insurance when I never go to the doc. (now watch, I'll get sick and have to go.) BUT, really, in 3 years, I have only used the dr's here 2 times. Really, I should take advantage of the great system set up for immigrants. Thank you Spaniards! Really, I am putting money back into your economy, and not taking out. I get paid in $$$ and spend all my money over here. But, perhaps I am a rare case.

California Girl: You said that you just got back from the Embassy in LA. Can you tell me what is the best way to get in and out it? I mean, should I show up at 6am to get in line and wait, etc... and what time do you think I will be getting out, should I pack a lunch?

Also, I have a concern that if I have been here 3 years illegally, depending on which customs officer I get, they may quiz me on what I have been doing here, etc... Would it be best to "lose" my passport and get a new one without stamps?
Do you think that it will pose a problem that I have already been here?


Mariposita: Thanks for the heads up on the return ticket thing. Never thought about that.

Signing oot: Caroline