A national visa to Spain is an intermediate document in the procedure for obtaining residence permit in Spain with the participation of the Spanish consulate. There are several types of residences that can be applied for directly in Spain (for example, residence by residence, residence for humanitarian reasons, etc.), and for which it is not necessary to obtain a national visa. However, all procedures in which the application is submitted directly to the Spanish Consulate in the country of residence of the applicant, in the event of a positive decision, require a national visa to Spain.

Who needs a national visa to Spain?

To make it more clear, we will divide the procedure for obtaining a national visa to Spain into two stages. At the first stage, the applicant communicates only with the Spanish consulate: submits all necessary documents and pays fees. The consulate, in turn, forwards the package of documents to the migration service, which makes the final decision. If the decision is positive, the applicant will face the second stage: contacting the police and obtaining a plastic resident card in Spain. In order to complete the second stage, a national visa to Spain is required: it is issued for a period of three months, allowing you to enter the country and stay in it while fingerprints are taken and a TIE (Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero) foreigner identification card is issued.

• A national visa to Spain is often called a resident visa (from the word residencia – in Spanish, “residence permit”).
• In some cases, a national visa to Spain may be requested by a current resident of the country. Such cases include:
• Loss of documents, namely the TIE card, outside Spain, as well as its theft or damage. A national visa to Spain will allow you to return and request a new resident card.
• Expiration of the TIE card while the Spanish resident is outside the country. A national visa to Spain will allow you to return and apply for an extension of your residence permit, or to update your resident card.
• Restoration of a permanent residence permit (permanent residence – Residencia de Larga Duración) through the Spanish Consulate. A permanent residence permit may be lost if the maximum period of stay outside the country permitted by current legislation is exceeded. To restore it, you will need to go through a certain procedure, including obtaining a national visa to Spain.

However, most often foreign citizens applying for the following types of residence permits (RP) apply to the consulate to obtain a Spanish national visa:

• Tarjeta de residencia de familiar de ciudadano de la Unión – residence permit for family members of citizens of EU member states (Spain and other EU countries).
• Residencia temporal por reagrupación familiar – Residence permit for family reunification with a resident of Spainhaving citizenship of a third country (not Spain or another EU country).
• Autorización inicial de residencia temporal y trabajo por cuenta ajena – residence permit with the right to work for hire.
• Autorización inicial de residencia temporal y trabajo por cuenta propia – residence permit with the right to work for oneself as an individual entrepreneur.
• Residencia temporal y trabajo de duración determinada – residence permit with the right to work for hire for a strictly limited period: seasonal work in agriculture, projects with a fixed time frame, etc.
• Autorización inicial de residencia temporal no lucrativa – Residence permit without the right to work in Spain (“white residence”, obtained upon purchasing real estate and/or declaring economic viability).
• Estancia por estudios – study (student) visa.
• Movilidad de los trabajadores titulares de una Tarjeta Azul-UE expedida en otro Estado de la Unión Europea – residence permit with the right to work for foreign citizens holding an EU Blue Card.
• Movilidad de los extranjeros admitidos como investigadores en Estados miembros de la Unión Europea – residence permit for foreign specialists planning to engage in research activities in Spain.

The Alegria company provides services for obtaining a residence permit both without the right and with the right to work. Find out the details here:

Оформление ВНЖ с правом на работу в Испании

The process of obtaining a national visa to Spain: application form and documents

An application for a national visa to Spain (application form for a national visa in Spain) is submitted simultaneously with the main package of documents for a study visa or residence permit. The state duty is also paid immediately. The list of required documents can be found on the websites of the Spanish consulates: it is different for each residence permit.

A national visa to Spain is always obtained personally by the applicant. It cannot be obtained by power of attorney, so you need to appear at the consulate yourself, having a valid passport with you. As a rule, from the moment of receiving notification of a positive decision from the Spanish migration services, i.e. to be granted a residence permit, the applicant has a month to get ready and arrive at the consulate. An exception is made only for students and citizens in the process of family reunification – for them the period has been extended to two months. It is very important not to violate the specified deadlines, otherwise the consulate will transfer the case to the archive without any additional notification, which will mean having to start the entire process from scratch.