Spanish Visas from Abroad
300 € – 790 € + VAT · Barcelona
Prices exclude VAT. Spanish VAT (21 %) applies to clients resident in the EU. If you live outside the EU, our advisory services are not subject to Spanish VAT; we confirm it in your quote.
Prefer to go straight to the form? Tell us your case and we will review the next step.
Most residence routes into Spain start at a Spanish consulate in the country where you live, months before the move. Choosing the wrong visa at that stage costs more than any fee: a refused file, a lost course place or a job offer that expires. Our pre-arrival service starts with a case study that sets your plan against every long-stay visa. We then build the consulate file with you and organise the first month in Barcelona.
Pre-arrival visa file
300 € – 790 € + VAT
Case study included · price per visa below
- Case study: which visa fits your plan, and which ones do not
- The document list for your consulate and your route
- Apostille and sworn translation plan
- Means, insurance and criminal record checks before the appointment
- Arrival plan: TIE card, empadronamiento and the next steps
Our fee. Consular visa fees, apostilles, sworn translations and official fees in Spain are paid separately.
What each visa costs with us
| Visa | Our fee |
|---|---|
| Student visa | 300 € + VAT |
| Work visa (employed) | 450 € + VAT |
| Non-lucrative visa | 300 € + VAT · each additional family member 100 € + VAT |
| Digital nomad visa | 450 € + VAT, from the consulate or from Spain · each additional family member 100 € + VAT |
| EU Blue Card / highly qualified | 450 € + VAT · each additional family member 100 € + VAT |
| Self-employed visa | 790 € + VAT |
| Entrepreneur visa | 790 € + VAT · each additional family member 100 € + VAT |
| Family reunification | 450 € + VAT with one family member · each additional one 100 € + VAT |
Every fee includes the case study: if you paid it first, its 100 € + VAT is deducted. Consular and official fees, apostilles and sworn translations are paid separately, and after arrival the TIE card (120 € + VAT) and the empadronamiento (60 € + VAT) are booked separately.
First question: do you need a visa at all?
- EU, EEA or Swiss citizen: no visa. If you stay more than three months you register for the EU registration certificate, which carries your NIE. The difference between the three documents is explained in NIE, EU registration certificate and TIE.
- Stay of up to 90 days: Schengen short-stay rules. Either your passport is enough, or you need a short-stay visa (type C). This covers visits, not living in Spain.
- Anything longer, to live, study or work: a national long-stay visa (type D), chosen according to what you will actually do in Spain.
The long-stay visas, side by side
| Visa | Who it fits | What decides it |
|---|---|---|
| Student | Courses longer than 90 days at an authorised centre; also training, mobility and volunteering | Admission letter, full-time programme, means and insurance. Over 180 days, a TIE card after arrival. |
| Non-lucrative residence | People who will live on their own means without working in Spain | Sufficient and stable means, private health insurance and a clean criminal record |
| Digital nomad (international telework) | Remote workers for companies or clients outside Spain | The work relationship, its length and your qualifications or experience |
| Highly qualified, EU Blue Card, researchers, intra-company transfers | Profiles covered by Law 14/2013, usually hired by a company | The employer and the job; the authorisation is processed by the Large Companies and Strategic Groups Unit (UGE-CE) |
| Entrepreneur | An innovative business project to be developed in Spain | A favourable report on the business plan, issued by ENISA |
| Employed work | A job offer from an employer in Spain | The employer applies for the work authorisation in Spain first; the visa comes after |
| Self-employed work | Starting your own activity in Spain as a non-EU citizen | The viability of the project and the licences it needs |
| Family reunification | Relatives of a foreign resident in Spain | The resident relative applies in Spain first, with means and housing |
| Family of a Spanish citizen | Partners, children and certain relatives of Spanish nationals | The family link and, depending on the relative, dependency |
The investor residence, known as the golden visa, no longer accepts new applications: it was abolished by Organic Law 1/2025 with effect from April 2025. If you were planning around it, the non-lucrative or entrepreneur routes are usually what to compare instead.
Documents that almost every route asks for
- Passport valid for the planned stay, with copies of every used page.
- National visa application form and a recent photo.
- Criminal record certificates from the countries you have lived in during recent years, for adults.
- Health insurance from an insurer authorised in Spain, with no co-payments where the route requires full cover.
- Proof of means, measured against IPREM or the minimum wage depending on the route. Both figures change every year.
- Apostille or legalisation of foreign public documents, and a sworn translation into Spanish by a traductor jurado.
The order matters more than the list. Certificates with a short validity go last, apostilles and translations are booked in advance, and the insurance policy has to start when the file says it should, not the day you land.
For the background on each route rather than our service, see the guides to the non-lucrative visa, the digital nomad visa and bringing your parents to Spain.
How we run a pre-arrival file
- Case study. What you will do in Spain, for how long, with what income and with whom. We compare every route that could apply and tell you which one we would file, and why not the others. We also look at what you want next: renewals, a change of route, or nationality in the long run.
- Consulate checklist. Your consulate’s own requirements, turned into a list you can tick off.
- Foreign documents. Criminal records, civil-status certificates, apostilles and translations, in the order that avoids paying twice.
- Review before the appointment. Means, insurance, dates and consistency between documents.
- Arrival in Barcelona. For stays over six months, the TIE card within one month of entry, and the empadronamiento. Both are part of our residency packs: 300 € + VAT for non-EU citizens, 200 € + VAT for EU citizens.
Where visa files go wrong
- Filing the visa that sounds right instead of the one that matches the plan, such as a non-lucrative visa when you intend to keep working remotely.
- Entering as a tourist to “sort it out from Spain”, when your route has to start at the consulate.
- Bank statements that show the amount on one day but not the stability the route requires.
- Translations done by an ordinary translator instead of a sworn one, which the consulate does not accept.
- Missing the one-month TIE deadline after arrival, which starts at the border.
Frequently asked questions
Can you apply at the consulate for me? In most cases the visa has to be requested in person by the applicant, at the consulate for their place of residence. We prepare and review the file so that appointment goes right the first time.
I am already in Spain. Is this page for me? Probably not. If you are already here and your question is residence, start with our residency service or the TIE card.
Can my family come with me? On most routes, yes, either with you or later, but each route has its own rules on who counts as family and how much income is needed. The case study covers it.
Visa fees, IPREM, minimum wage, document validity periods and consulate requirements change and differ between consulates, so we confirm the ones in force for your case before you file.
Tell us about your move
Say where you live now, why you are coming to Spain and from when, so the case study starts from the right visa.