Studying on Gran Canaria from outside the EU: visa, card, extension

Before you travel: the student visa

With your admission or enrolment letter, you ask the Spanish consulate in your country for a student visa. Expect to show the consulate your place on the course, health insurance and the means to support yourself. Amounts are set by the administration and change, so we do not quote them.

In some cases, a student who is already in Spain legally can apply from here instead. Whether that fits you depends on your current status, so ask before you let any permission run out.

In your first weeks: the TIE

If your stay for studies is longer than six months, you also need a TIE card. Reserve your fingerprint appointment, the toma de huellas, in your first days here: the request is due within a month of your entry into Spain.

In the city, the police directory places students and the issue of TIE cards at Plaza de la Feria 24. Take along the EX-17, the passport carrying your visa, a recent photo, proof of enrolment and the receipt for the Modelo 790, código 012.

Staying on: the extension

Your stay is tied to your course. When you move on to a new year or a new programme, you ask for a prórroga (an extension) before the current stay ends. Do not let it lapse: putting right an expired stay is much harder than extending a valid one.

Extensions of stay (prórrogas de estancia) appear in the police directory under Calle Luis Doreste Silva 68, and the Delegación del Gobierno’s page counts extensions among the matters of the Oficina de Extranjería on Plaza de la Concordia. Your booking or your file tells you which desk handles yours.

Work alongside your studies

Some paid work next to your course may be allowed, within the limits of the regulations. Read the conditions of your own stay, or ask us, before you accept evening shifts in a bar on Mesa y López or a summer contract in the south.