Spain historically has great cities well crafted to the excitement of visitors. Some of these cities are: Oviedo, Madrid, Barcelona, Almeria, Santiago de Compostela, Mallorca etc. A Spain Short-Stay Tourist Visa is a permit that allows you to travel to Spain for the main purpose of performing touristic activities, like vacation, sightseeing, exploring and visiting friends or family members living in Spain and staying there for a maximum of 90 days within 180 days.
Eligibility
Foreign nationals will not need to apply for a Spanish tourist visa if they are from:
- EU (European Union) or EFTA (The European Free Trade Association )member countries.
- The 62 world countries under the Schengen visa-free regime
- Or, you are residing in any of the Schengen countries with a residence permit, as long as your residence permit is valid.
However, if you are a national of any of the world countries not listed above will need to apply for a visa in advance, before taking a trip to Spain for any of these two purposes.
SPAIN TOURIST VISA APPLICATION STEPS
- Step 1: Prepare all the required documents.
- Step 2: Select “Tourism” as the reason for travel on the visa application form.
- Step 3: Decide the number of entries needed to Spain or the Schengen area.
- Step 4: Fill out the application form.
- Application procedures for a Spanish Schengen visa may vary, depending on where you are applying from. Applicants may have to download, complete, and print the online form which can be from the Spanish website.
- Submit the paper copy to the Spanish consulate or visa processing center.
- Step 5: Schedule a visa appointment, if applicable.
- Most applications require an in-person appointment at the nearest Spanish Consulate or visa center to apply. Alternatively, applications may be submitted without prior appointment during normal operating hours. Contact the Spanish consulate or visa center to determine if there is a need to schedule an appointment.
- Step 6: Submit your Spain Schengen visa application.
- Note: Applications must be submitted at least 15 days before the date of travel but not earlier than 6 months before the date of travel.
- Generally, applications must be submitted in person to the Spanish Consulate or visa processing center. However, there may be a few differences in the submission procedures, depending on the Spanish consulate or visa processing center.
- Visit the website of your selected consulate to check the submission procedures of visa applications.
- Applicants will likely be required to submit their fingerprints (biometric data). Children below the age of 12 are exempted from fingerprint data collection. Applicants who have submitted their fingerprints within the last 59 months will most likely not be asked to resubmit.
- Applicants may also be asked to come back on another date for an interview regarding their trip.
- Step 7: Pay the visa application fee.
SPAIN TOURIST VISA FEES
The standard fee for the application of a Spanish tourist visa is 80 EUR. However, there are particular applicants who are exempted from fees, such as most student visas and visas for children below the age of 6. Applicants will probably have to pay a separate, non-refundable service payment with their application.
SPAIN VISA PROCESSING TIME
Generally, it takes approximately 15 days to process Spain Schengen visa applications. However, in some cases, it might take as long as 45 days.
WHERE TO SUBMIT THE APPLICATION
The Spanish authorities are responsible for the admission and the processing of your application only if Spain is your main Schengen destination, which means:
- You will only visit Spain and no other Schengen country.
- You will visit other Schengen countries aside from Spain, but you will stay in Spain the longest.
- You will visit several Schengen countries and you will spend the same amount of days in each, but you will enter the borderless territory through Spain.
Once you make sure that Spanish authorities are the ones responsible for the admission of your visa application, check at which Spanish representation in your country you should lodge your application. This could be:
- The Spanish embassy or consulate in your country of residence.
- A Visa Application Center, to which Spain has outsourced visa processing in your country.
- One of the three listed above, located in a neighbouring country, in the absence of them in your country of residence.
VALIDITY PERIOD OF SPAIN TOURIST VISA
A Spain Tourist visa can be valid for a maximum period of three months within half of a year. Yet, it is the authority that grants you the visa that decides on the validity of your visa, depending on how they see it as reasonable. While you can get a visa valid for three months, you can also get one valid for three days. When you receive your passport with the Spain visa sticker on it, pay attention to the following tags:
- FROM – stands for the first day you are permitted to enter the Schengen Area.
- UNTIL – stands for the last day when you will have to leave the Schengen Area.
- DURATION OF STAY
CAN VISITORS WORK WITH A TOURIST VISA IN SPAIN.
Visitors on a tourist visa are not allowed to work in Spain but the Spanish authority has made an opportunity for visitors to work only if they apply for a work visa or Working Holiday visa. The application of such a switch is available on the Spanish site.