Where and how to file
You will know which door your application goes through, whether you can start inside Spain, and what happens when you file.
Where you file depends on where you are and which route you use. Abroad, every national visa is filed at a Spanish consulate. In Spain, the national unit for large companies and strategic groups (UGE-CE) takes the mobility routes online, and the provincial foreigners' office takes the rest. EU…
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Where to file: consulate, immigration office or online
Where you file depends on your route and on where you are when you apply.
Can you apply for Spanish residence from inside Spain?
If you are in Spain as a visitor and want to stay, you can file from inside Spain only for the mobility routes and for arraigo; for every other route you go back to the country where you legally live and apply at its Spanish consulate.
Which Spanish consulate handles your application?
You file at the Spanish consulate that covers the place where you legally live, and many consulates take the papers through an outsourced visa centre.
Which office in Spain handles your application (oficina de extranjería)?
Inside Spain you file at the foreigners' office of your province or, for the mobility routes, online with the national unit.
Can someone else file your application for you?
You can always have a representative file for you, with your signed authorisation; filing online through a lawyer or gestor with a digital certificate is common. You attend in person yourself where fingerprints or identity checks are needed, as at a consulate and for the TIE.
What happens at your consulate filing appointment
Your consulate appointment is where your file is accepted, corrected or refused, so most of what goes wrong happens here.
Will the consulate keep your passport while it decides?
Your passport matters twice in a consular visa application: you hand it in with the application, and the visa sticker goes into it at the end.
Filing as a family: several applications, not one
A family files one linked application per person.
About this topic
Key rules
- Where: You file where you legally live: abroad at the consulate that covers your place of residence, in Spain in your province (an employer-filed work permit goes to the province of the job).
- How in Spain: In person with a cita previa or online with a digital certificate or Cl@ve; both work.
- Notices: In Spain, check your electronic notices at least every few days, because one you leave unopened counts as served after 10 calendar days; consulates write to you by email.
Where and how to file: the whole process, step by step
If you are applying from abroad
- Check that your route is filed at a consulate, not in Spain (can you apply from inside Spain): before you start
- Find the consulate that covers where you legally live and its booking system: before you book
- Attend your consulate appointment, hand in the file and pay the 80 EUR visa fee: on the appointment date
- Plan for many consulates to keep your passport while the visa is processed (passport custody): until the visa is ready
- Travel to Spain once the visa is issued: within the 90 days the visa is valid
If you are already in Spain
- Find your door (provincial office or national unit) and choose how to file, including what to do with no certificate or no appointment: before you file
Whichever door you use
- If a lawyer, gestor or relative files for you, sign the authorisation they need: before you file
- With family, each person files their own linked application (filing as a family): before you file
- Reply to any request for more documents: within 10 working days of the request, or the application can be treated as withdrawn
- Read your electronic notices: at least every few days until you have a decision
- Book your fingerprint appointment for the residence card (TIE): within one month of arriving in Spain on a visa, or within one month of approval if you were approved in Spain
Documents you may need
- To file at a consulate: your original passport and a copy of its data page (consulate appointment), and proof of legal residence and address in the country where you live (your consulate).
- To file in Spain: a digital certificate or Cl@ve for online filing, or your appointment confirmation for in-person filing (office or national unit).
- If someone files for you: your signed authorisation and a copy of the representative's ID (who can file for you).
- For your family: proof of relationship for each family member, plus each member's own form and documents (filing as a family).
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Always verify important information with the relevant official authority or a qualified adviser before acting. This website uses large language models together with various public data sources, official government documents and other established sources. Due to the amount of data on this website, some information might be wrong. Information may also be incomplete or outdated.