Barcelona Visa Support Service

Maybe. Visa requirements depend on your passport. We recommend checking your country’s requirements in this page:  Who Needs a Schengen Visa.

If you are a Canadian, Australian, or New Zealand citizen, you may be eligible to apply for one-year Youth Mobility Visa/Working Holiday visa. Spain has an agreement with these countries that allows people under 35 to live and work in Spain for up to one year.

The requirements for this type of visa will change a bit depending on which country you’re from, but this visa is generally easy to acquire.

There are three main ways you can come to Barcelona to study with us. The option you choose will depend on your goals and the amount of time you are planning to stay in Barcelona.

1. No visa required (up to 90 days)

Citizens of many countries (e.g., Australia, Brazil, Singapore, UK, USA) can visit Spain for up to 90 days without a visa (visit Who Needs a Schengen Visa for the full list). This is enough time to take your 4-week Cambridge CELTA course in Barcelona and still have enough time to enjoy the city, travel freely within Spain or visit other countries in Europe before / afterwards. It is not possible to work legally on this visa.

This visa is usually stamped on your passport upon arrival in Spain.

2. Schengen Visa (1 month)

For citizens of some other countries (visit Who Needs a Schengen Visa for the full list) you will require a visa to visit Spain for up to a month. This is enough time to take your 4-week Cambridge CELTA course in Barcelona, but you would need to leave Spain immediately afterwards.

This visa application will take around 4–6 weeks (2 weeks to gather the required documents + 2–4 weeks for your visa application to be processed)

3. Long-term student Visa (7-12 months)

For those who would like to live and study in Barcelona with as much flexibility as possible, this program is ideal for you. On this visa, you would take your 4-week Cambridge CELTA course in Barcelona and then our Developing Teacher with Spanish course. This means that you will be able to gain your teaching qualification, develop your skills, learn Spanish and work legally for up to 30 hours per week.

This visa application will take around 4 months (2 months to gather the required documents + 2 months for your consulate appointment and to process your visa application)

Highly unlikely. Finding an employer to sponsor a work visa as a non-EU citizen without residency through birth, ancestry, or marriage is unlikely due to EU hiring laws.

Employers would need to prove that no suitably qualified EU citizen could do the job before hiring a non-EU citizen. This work visa is more feasible in areas of labour shortage (e.g. the nautical and maritime sector) but highly unlikely in foreign language education.

This is why we recommend applying for the long-term student visa instead. On this visa, you can work legally for up to 30 hours per week.

If you are able to find an employer to sponsor your work authorisation, you will need to wait for the approval to be processed before you can start working. Once approved, you will be able to work legally for up to 30 hours per week.

However, remember that on the long-term student visa, you will be studying with us for 20 hours per week. So, most likely, you will be able to work between 15 – 25 hours per week which allows enough time for your studies as well.

In order to be able to do most things in Spain, you will need to register for your foreign identity card (TIE). To make the application, you will need to physically go to a local council office. So, upon arrival in Spain, we recommend making an appointment for this.

Ideally, the appointment would be within the first month of your arrival (your appointment day / time must be outside of your CELTA course schedule). This is because it may take time to find an appointment. 

Once you have your TIE card you will be able to do things such as open a bank account, join the gym, and most other things.

If you have trouble making an appointment for your TIE card, we work closely with a partner who can assist you with this (there will be an extra fee for this service but due to the high demand for these appointments, we highly recommend using the service to help ensure there are no delays).

Some schools in Barcelona are willing to hire you by doing one of the following:

1. Sponsoring your Work Authorisation (once you have been offered a job with them)

This means they fill out a request with Spanish immigration to allow you to work up to 30 hours per week while you study. Oxford TEFL provides a guide and support to our partner schools in Barcelona so that it’s as easy as possible for them to hire our graduates. This work authorisation application is simple and can be done online in 1-2 hours. 

2. Hiring you on a Convenio de Prácticas contract (Internship Agreement)

Many schools we work with prefer this contract as it’s much easier for them to hire our graduates fast, seeing as you don’t need a separate work authorisation. Oxford TEFL provides a guide and support to our partner schools who opt for this contract and many of our graduates who are staying long-term with us in Spain have been hired in this way.

How we can help you: We will offer you a lot of support, including advising your employer on how to employ you in one of the above ways, but we cannot guarantee that you will be hired immediately after graduation from your CELTA course. As one of our graduates, you will be able to take advantage of our lifelong comprehensive careers service to help you find teaching work.

A recommendation: If your student visa is for a longer period (12 months as opposed to 7 months, for example), employers will feel more reassured that you will be able to work throughout your contract.

Note: applying for work authorisation while on a student visa (quite common) is not the same as applying for a work visa (near impossible). 

The cost of living in Barcelona can vary considerably depending on your lifestyle and living arrangements. Accommodation tends to be the most costly thing to consider when budgeting for your time in Barcelona. We recommend reading this blog post for a general idea: How much does it cost to live in Barcelona?

English teachers in Barcelona are not high earners. For this reason, we recommend coming with plenty of savings.

The average salary for full-time (20-25 hours per week) teachers is around €1400 – €1500 gross per month, if you are working for a reputable company and teaching some private classes (which pay fairly).

Since 1998, we have been helping aspiring teachers from outside the EU come to Barcelona gain their CELTA qualification and live, study and work. This is how we would help you:

Before arriving in Spain:

• Support from our Visa Support Officer with replies in one business day.
• Step-by-step guidance applying for your visa.
• Fast delivery of your enrolment letter.
• Providing bilingual templates to help you save time and reduce translation costs.
• Special discount on health insurance exclusively for Oxford TEFL trainees.

After arriving in Spain:

• Support from our Visa Support Officer with replies in one business day.
• Step-by-step guidance applying for legally required documentation. (registering your address, getting your foreigners ID card (TIE) and social security number).
• Liaising with potential TEFL employers to help them sponsor your student work authorisation (we cannot guarantee that they will agree to do so).
• Helping you find the best possible position teaching English via our comprehensive careers service.

Before your visa expires:

• Step-by-step guidance renewing your student visa (if you are taking another course with us). You can extend your student visa for up to 18 months in total with us.

To make your long-term student visa application, the following documentation will need to be provided to the Spanish Consulate (this may vary slightly from country to country):

• Passport (valid for at least 6 months beyond your stay in Spain).
• Student visa application form.
• 2 x passport photos.
• Enrolment letter from Oxford TEFL (we will provide this once you have secured your place on the program).
• Criminal background check.
• Receipt to prove the full payment of the program.
• Proof of accommodation in Spain (we can provide an accommodation service for up to 3 months, if you need it).
• Medical certificate.
• Health insurance.
• Proof of sufficient funds to support yourself during your stay (at least €600 for each month you will be in Spain).
• Proof of address in your home country.

Since 2024, all student visa applications must be made from your home country, at the embassy or consulate closest to you. We will advise you of where your closest embassy is located.

Yes. If you are enrolled in the program with us and you would like to extend your visa with us, we will provide the letter and guidance you need to do so. The visa extension can be applied for from Spain (you do not need to return to your home country to do so).

The maximum length of time you can study with us on the long-term student visa is 18 months. The fee for providing the documentation needed for your visa extension is €60.

It is a requirement of the Spanish consulate that all course fees (CELTA + Developing Teacher Course with Spanish in this case) must be paid in advance of providing any documentation needed for your visa application.

If you prefer to reduce the initial fees, you could reduce the number of months on your visa application (to 7 months minimum) and extend while you are in Spain (in which case, the full fees for this extension would be needed before providing the documentation for your visa extension).

If your previous course was related to teaching or Spanish, we will be able to renew your visa. In this case, your previous school will need to provide a certificate of completion (certificado de aprovechamiento).

Yes, but you would need to leave the EU for a minimum of 3 months to be able to obtain a new tourist visa. This visa will be stamped on your passport on arrival back in Spain.

The total fees will depend on the type if visa you apply for and the length of stay in Barcelona. Take a look at this table for a full summary.