Student Visa Issue

If this works like what my son had with his program in St. Petersburg, then this is likely correct, the reason being that for the student visa to be granted the person must actually be there for the purpose of the academic program. Your daughter will not be a student from July 27 through August 30, hence she can't have a student visa. I realize Russia has its own issues, but it was the same principal, and the students in that program were not allowed to stay 1 day later than the ending date of the program, nor arrive even 1 day earlier.

I do not know if there is any way to get a regular visa, as would otherwise be required as the stay is not only over 90 days in a 180 day period, but the period itself is over 180 days. Perhaps others can offer some information as to whether anything is possible.

One further note - the first semester is under 90 days, so a visa should not be needed for that portion alone, nor to stay through late August -under 90 days. Those here who understand the Schengen stay rules better than me should be able to answer whether if she leaves and goes home for a day or two (or possibly leaves Schengen for a couple days in London) whether the reentry for the Sept 1 semester then counts as a new period and a student visa could then be issued for that alone. If that were the only period involved it would require a visa of some kind since it exceeds 90 days. When my son was in Russia the initial Russian visa was issued for 90 days only. All the students had to turn in their visas to the program for a couple weeks after arrival while they were sent to the Russians to then extend the visa to the end date. As I said, Russia is its own red-tape problem, but the basic issue is the same.

I'm not an expert, but I would disregard what Larry said about not needing a visa for the first part since it is less than 90 days. It is my understanding that when you are going over there to study, you need a visa (just like you can't go over there and work without a work visa). I had to get an Italian student visa for my study abroad that was less than 30 days. (I also did a 120 day study abroad there, so I have a little bit of experience applying for the visas etc).

My first thought is that your daughter will need to apply for two separate visas since she is studying abroad in two separate programs. Then, during the July 27-Aug 30, I believe (you will want to confirm this with the Spanish consulate) she could remain in Spain and basically use her 90 days tourist Schengen travel to cover her during that period. I did something somewhat similar - I had my 120 student visa days but traveled before and after as a tourist in the Schengen area.

That is correct, the fact that it's less than 90 days has nothing to do with it. If you're there as an officially registered student, you need a student visa.

Thanks all for your responses. After gathering comments from a variety of travel forums we are going to forego either the summer program or the fall program, but not do both. Consistent reports are the consulates have become more difficult to deal with in terms of even the simplest requests and fees have gone up. If she chooses the summer program she can use her passport without need for a student visa as long as she stays 90 days or less. This has been confirmed from a variety of resources. If she opts for the fall program she will need a student visa. Expense of obtaining the student visa, inclusive of fees, photos, health statement, police report and trip to chicago consulate is at $1000. A pretty steep price to obtain the right to stay 20 extra days past the 90 allowed by the passport. To a large degree a disappointing response by spain since she wants to immerse herself in a deep dive of studying spain.

What kind of program will she be pursuing during summer session?

Many countries don't require student visas for short-term language student programs or cultural exchange programs. Some universities capitalize on that by structuring short summer or winter sessions under that umbrella (I'm not sure about Spain's specifics). However, that usually means no official credit (ECTS) might be issue for aforementioned student.

The usual way around multiple-institution studies is to change the visa once she's in Spain. Again, I'm not sure how this works in Spain, but in some European countries the student would enter under a visa for first institution, and then, once there, change and extend the visa for the second one (in Spain, without the need to return to US for that). The tricky part is in case the summer session is a non-credit study activity.

Andre seems to have some specifics on when a student visa may not be needed, but when you say you heard from "a variety of sources," Steven, does that include an official Spanish source? Be cautious of what you've heard on travel forums or other sources. Most times (although there do seem to be some exceptions that Andre has indicated, I can't confirm) a student does need a student visa. I needed one for mine that was less than a month long.

After doing a shorter summer program and a semester long program in the fall, I also just wanted to give my two cents that I think you really get more out of a longer one. I, fortunately, did not have to visit a consulate (I could send the paperwork with my school) but my visa costs were nowhere near $1000.

Unfortunately something else is going here on and it may be because of CEA. CEA is a not a standard, university sponsored study abroad program. CEA is more of a broker and is not associated with a university. There is no way a Spanish student visa should cost a $1000. Our son spent a spent a semester (Jan-June) at the Univ of Madrid (Univ of Syracuse program). The visa was $45 and bunch of hoops for health insurance, financial support, etc. Took about 4 months for the paper work. Interesting part was he was actually given two, three month visa, and had to renew the second visa by showing up at a police station, say Ola, get a stamp and good for three more months. No interviews or additional costs. Since all of this was coordinated by his university (Univ of CO) study abroad office, perhaps there are less hoops. I don't see how the Spanish consulates would have time to interview all the applications.

It may be too late, but I would encourage her to look at a university sponsored program. About 20+ years ago while on the faculty at Ind Univ. I have a less than satisfactory experience with CEA and would not endorse them at that time. Twenty years later I have no idea what they are doing today. Twenty years we thought of them as no more than a travel agency trying to wrap themselves in a cloak of education. Could be very different today.

Continuing what Frank said, I'll throw in the organization CIEE. We had no issues whatsoever with them, course credits were handled by them, and all aspects of this other than plane tickets and the cost of the Russian visa was included, they have an account for this with Travisa. They also have connections with most of American colleges.

Everyone's responses are appreciated. I agree CEA is more if a travel agency than a real study abroad experience. Unfortunately there appears to be a trend of universities aligning themselves with companies like CEA. Our daughter attends a smaller university in Indiana where only a few students study abroad so the process is more self propelled than other universities. We did check on using I.U.'s well established study abroad program, but there are issues w/ the coordination and acceptance of credits from I.U.'s program to the other. Suffice to say there appears to be petty academic political and personality issues involved.
We have communicated with the Spanish consulate to attempt to affirm information. There is a surprising amount of leeway for interpretation between consulates. We have used state department contacts to confirm information about the process. A long term study abroad student visa, greater than 180 days in spain, costs are: visa $160, fedex return mail $20, background check $20, med cert $40, photos $10, mandatory visit w consulate (chicago) gas $50, hotel $100, food $50. There are a few incidentals which round up to $500. I have a spreadsheet and did not realize i had doubled the numbers (in the spreadsheet) to $1000. My bad. The consulate does not accept email inquiries and is not cordial about phone inquiries.
We have decided to explore workarounds from the university's practices to determine if we can create a better study abroad template for the university's future use. This is a challenge, but worth exploring as we are not satisfied w the status quo.
Your additional input is welcome and greatly appreciated!

If you can make the CEA work AND see that the necessary academic credit is issued, then the real cost-comparison point for the additional $500 charges and time to make this work is your total costs (tuition, fees, books, room and board) for the academic sessions for that time period at her school vs. the total costs for this program.

So now I get to brag......
She is an honors student on a full ride!
She also fell in love with Spain and is fluent in the language. So she has said, "I know I will return for other trips, so lets make this option work."
We are blessed.

Congratulations! That does change the equation. In our case, even with some extras, the semester in St. Petersburg , all costs added up, cost about the same as the semester in U of Vermont. And that included the costs of a few extra days in London visiting a high school friend at LSE on the way home, and a side trip to Istanbul over his spring break there.