Language assistant visa, pay and placement, what to expect

Key rules

• Visa: Non-EU assistants need a student visa before travelling; EU citizens do not.
• Hours: Language assistants work 12 hours a week in most regions and 16 in Madrid.
• Placement: Region preferences are not guaranteed, and your school and town are assigned only after you accept.
• Health cover: The programme's private policy is not public health care, and cover starts after you arrive.
• Renewal: A second year needs your region's approval and an application in early spring.

Which visa you need

If you are not from the EU or EEA, you enter Spain on a long-stay student visa issued for the programme. The consulate does not charge you a visa fee for it. Your placement letter (carta de nombramiento) from the regional education authority is the basis for the application. If you are an EU citizen you need no visa; if you stay longer than three months, you register in person within three months of arrival (what EU citizens must do).

Apply from July to September, once you have accepted your placement and received the letter, so your visa is ready before the 1 October start. After a written refusal, you can ask for reconsideration within 1 month or go to court within 2 months, as alternatives. If nobody answers your application, reconsideration has no deadline and you have 6 months to go to court.

After you arrive, you need a foreigner identity card (TIE) if you stay more than six months, and you apply within 30 days of arrival. The fee for your first TIE is 16 EUR, paid with modelo 790 code 012 before your fingerprint appointment. If you are a UK citizen with Withdrawal Agreement rights, you hold a Withdrawal Agreement residence card under your own rules; other UK citizens follow this page as non-EU citizens.

Pay

The stipend is paid monthly from October to May: €700 in most regions, for 12 hours a week, and €1,000 in Madrid, for 16 hours.

Health insurance

You are not enrolled in Spanish public health care as a matter of course. The programme gives you a private health and accident policy, arranged by the Ministry or your region, which covers you during the placement.

The programme's policy starts only after you arrive, so for the visa application you buy your own private health insurance, valid in Spain with no co-payments or excess, from your arrival until the programme cover begins.

Placement regions

In the online application you list up to three regions in order of preference. You can also say whether you prefer a city or a rural placement. Placement depends on demand, the places each region offers and the order in which applications are processed. Some people are placed in a region they did not choose.

Staying a second year

You can renew for a second year. Apply in the renewal window in the online system, in early spring. You can ask to stay at the same school or to move.

The maximum is two consecutive years.

If you bring family

Your partner and relatives need their own visa or permit; the language assistant visa covers only you. Family rules by relationship.

Documents you need

• Visa application form, from the consulate for your residence area

• Valid passport

• The letter confirming your school placement

• Background check from your home country, with an apostille (an official stamp that makes it valid abroad)

• Medical certificate

• Private health insurance policy

• Passport-style photos

The apostille, legalisation and translation rules for the background check follow where it was issued, as set out for the criminal record certificate in the working holiday documents.