HOW TO GET A SPANISH STUDENT VISA FROM INDIA
(With Special reference to the Delhi Consulate)
(All - Really, ALL The information you could possibly need, in ONE place)
So you?ve decided to go to Spain to study, got admission in a University and have the University?s acceptance letter in hand. And you?re an Indian/ Stay in India. Congratulations! Not to be a buzz kill, but that?s like running around in a room full of candy compared to whats next. Unless you don?t like candy, in which case I?m not sure you should be here. By ?here? I mean ?On Earth?.
Admission was a cakewalk compared to what the visa application process was for me. Half baked information on the internet pieced together bit by bit, a (frankly) incomplete and confusing visa website, complete lack of procedural knowledge, multiple trips to the embassy at very short notice with documents I had no idea were anywhere NEAR those that would be required to send you abroad, all formed the most ridiculously harrowing couple of months of my life.
I?m hoping listing ALL the information in ONE place will make the job easier for others like me in the future. So here it is. It?s a long list, with a lot of details, but just read it from start to finish in order to get a complete idea of what you need to do. Trust me, it?s easier than doing it the way I did.
There are some documents which you?ll believe will be over-egging the visa pudding, but I thought the same? and I regretted it. Remember what Mark Twain said? ?In twenty years you?ll regret the things you didn?t do, rather than the ones you did?. He was talking about his visa. GOLDEN RULE: Always err on the side of more papers than less. The worst they?ll do is make little paper planes out of the extras which they will then aim at your heart like knives.
Before that mysterious list, just a few important things:
? You?ll be applying for a ?Long Term Stay Visa?, so you?ll have to apply directly at the embassy itself (i.e., you can?t go to the IVS centre which handles Short Term Visas - http://www.ivs-spainvisa.com/.). Also, you?ll have to apply in person; you CANNOT go through a travel agent, no matter what they tell you. So be prepared to take time off work/ travel to Delhi/ Mumbai etc.
? Don?t apply more than 3 months before the beginning of your course because - well, they won?t let you. So if your course begins on 1st September, you can?t give in the application before 1st June.
? They visa wont be granted for the entire duration of your stay, it?ll be given to your for approximately 3 months, starting from the date of your departure for Spain (usually not more than a couple of weeks before your course begins). Once you reach Spain, you?ll have to apply for a Student Residence Card, which, being valid for the whole time you?ll be studying in Spain, will count as your legal residence document.
? There are two Spanish consulates in India- one in Delhi, one in Mumbai. The Mumbai consulate handles applications from Gujarat, Maharashtra, Chattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Karanataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa plus Daman & Diu. The Delhi Consulate handles applications from all the remaining Indian states, Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
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Once you?ve managed to read this list and get together ALL your papers, (a process likely to be supplemented with weeping, a string of annoying friends [with the best of intentions, nevertheless] saying ?Of course you?ll get it! Like obviously!?- because no ones ever been denied a visa in the history of the universe, and a petrol bill like never before), then congratulate yourself, you?ve managed a feat of titanic proportions. Heres what?s next:
1. When you go to the consulate, they?ll probably ask you a few questions, specially designed to instill in you a rock solid belief that you will never, ever be allowed to set foot in Spain as long as you?re alive (and, as you?ll find out upon reading further, not as long as you?re DEAD either). Don?t worry about it, its part of the fun. You cry inside, they laugh outside, it?s called life. Just keep your calm and answer honestly (unless the plan?s to carry out systematic annihilation of their government, or worse, their football team). Know clearly things like your tuition fees amount, your accommodation scene, your future plans after finishing your studies, why Spain, etc.
2. Now you may get an email or a call within a week asking for additional papers, a personal interview, a blind date with the ambassador?s son/ daughter or some such thing. Just go with it, give them what they want. Don?t bother arguing, they take special pleasure in seeing how finely they can shred the applications of people who argue with them.
3. If your applications complete from the start, and I?m hoping this list will help facilitate that, then they should call you within 3 weeks to let you know if it?s been granted or not. If you?d like, you can call (after at least 2 weeks) with a status inquiry or, you know, just to ask what the ambassador?s offspring said about you.
4. When they do call, they (of course) ?cannot disclose? whether it has or not over the telephone, because the lines may be tapped, and there may be nuclear war if someone else finds out the status of your visa. So get prepared for a journey to the embassy on the verge of a breakdown (you?ll have to go in person to collect your passport).
5. If upon reaching, they finally reward you for all your effort, then Congratulations! In all your life, never will any adversity compare to what you just managed to beat. Make sure all details like name, date, etc. are correct, and that the ?Type of Visa? is written as ?D?.
CONTINUED IN ?HOW TO GET A SPANISH STUDENT VISA FROM INDIA - PART 2?
