Harsher Deadlines for Student Visas
- Melcart Abogados
- Feb 6
- 4 min read
The Situation Until Now.
Since Royal Decree-Decree 11/2018, of 31 August, Spanish immigration law has allowed applicants to request student stay permits (colloquially —and mistakenly— called "student visas") while within Spain, provided that the applicant was in Spain legally and had at least one month left* of legal status.
* People often interpret this requirement as "at least 30 days left." This is incorrect. If the last day on which you can legally remain in the country is 28 February, barring días inhábiles, your deadline to file is 28 January, not 30 January; similarly, if your last day is 31 May, your deadline is 30 April, not 1 May.
Our still current, outgoing immigration regulation, RD557/2011, provided a relatively comfortable —if slow— means for many applicants either to sidestep [rogue] consulates and private visa processors such as BLS in order to avoid arbitrary requirements or to experience Spain before deciding whether to remain in the country.
We warned on several fora that RD1155/2024 is a double-edged sword: while the new immigration regulation does offer new opportunities and resolve important legal issues created by shoddy regulatory language —e.g., under RD557/2011, filing an in-country application for a student stay permit does not, despite popular belief, provide the applicant with a regular immigration status while waiting for a resolution— RD1155/2024 also creates new problems —for example, Auxiliares de Conversación will be worse off.
This is one such case.
What changes does RD1155/2024 make?
While RD1155/2024 will still allow folks to apply for student stay permits from within Spain —albeit for fewer types of study programs— applications must be filed with at least two months left on the applicant's legal status.
This does not mean your application must be filed within the first 30 days of your arrival in Spain. (See above). What it means is you must have at least two months left of legal status in the country, rather than one.
Why does RD1155/2024 introduce this change?
The first official position is that RD1155/2024 aims to speed up processing of immigration cases. This explanation is absurd: a harsher deadline only speeds up processing inasmuch as many would-be applicants will fail to file their applications on time, leading, in theory, to a reduction in cases filed.
The second official reason is that, because of delays in processing, a minus one-month filing deadline, coinciding with a one-month resolution deadline, placed many, many applicants in irregular, precarious situations while waiting for a resolution. We are unmoved by the government's magnanimity, not least of all because, with the power of the pen, they could simply have explicitly provided for extensions of legal status during ongoing procedures.
The real reason, in our opinion, is that one month, which was both the minimum for the applicant and the maximum for the government to resolve and notify their resolution to the applicant, has proven to be a pie-in-the-sky timeframe. On 1 February 2025, the Delegation of the Government in Madrid was resolving initial, in-country student stay applications filed on 18 September 2024: 5.4 months!
Rather than repeal absurd requirements —does anyone have a disease which is a serious public health risk according to the International Health Regulation of 2005?— or crack down on administrative torpor —the rich benefited from favorable administrative silence after 20 business days when applying for so-called Golden Visas— the government has simply increased your administrative burden.
What should you do to avoid being harmed by the change?
Think quick(ly). If you are coming to Spain with the intention of finding a suitable program of studies for your stay, be efficient in searching for schools. You will have time to enjoy a relaxing cup of café con leche in Plaza Mayor once your application has been filed. Until then, work diligently to find a school and put together a case file.
Prepare as much documentation as possible before traveling to Spain. You know you will very likely need a background check, legalized or apostilled, and possibly translated. Get it as soon as possible. (Promo: If you need professional assistance in getting fingerprinted for, requesting, legalizing or apostilling, and translating criminal records certificates, you should reach out to Continentalis). You know you will very likely need a medical certificate in case you have yellow fever, the plague, or cholera. Rather than wasting time finding a US doctor who knows what the International Health Regulations are, get a medical certificate from a Spanish physician as soon as you arrive —as a bonus, you will not need notarizations, legalizations, apostilles, or translations. (Our Madrid clients have nothing but good things to say about Dr. Borrás).
Scan all of your physical documents with a scanner. Your lawyer, agent, or other representative, will not only appreciate it, but they will also have an easier time preparing and filing your application if your paperwork is adequately scanned. Case files built with photos taken by an iPhone 16 Pro Max take time to piece together and compress.
Know your deadline. Computing deadlines is less straightforward than you think. To begin with, people conflate "one month" and "two months" with "30 days" and "60 days," respectively, when these are not the same thing. People mistakenly exclude days spent in Spain or elsewhere in the Schengen Area in the previous 180 days when they should include them, or vice versa. For peace of mind, consult with a professional.
File your application —even if incomplete— before you exceed your deadline. An incomplete application is better than no application. You can always add documents later. Just make sure your filing, if incomplete, includes at least the most basic elements necessary to initiate an administrative procedure.
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