Spain forms part of the European Union; in other words, it is a member of the Schengen Convention. Any legal resident from a Schengen country, plus citizens of the UK, Ireland, Iceland & Norway, do not need a visa to enter the country. The pre-2004 Schengen members are: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.

The countries integrated in 2004 - Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia - do not need tourist or residence visas to enter the country but will not have the full rights of other EU citizens for the next 7 years or so.

Citizens of many other countries do not need a visa to enter for a stay of less than 90 days: Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, New Zealand and the US are among them. If you are planning on staying for longer than 90 days, you must check with the Spanish consulate nearest you.

Student visas are not all that difficult to obtain, as long as your program provides you with the necessary paperwork. Even in this case, however, you can plan on the process taking at least a month. (Spanish bureaucracy can be frustrating, to say the least).  In order to work in Spain it is necessary to have an official offer from a company in Spain. These types of visas are not easy to get for non-EU citizens.

Any member of a country not mentioned above should check their local consulate for visa requirements.

Most countries' Spanish embassies are located in Madrid, which is easily reachable via airplane from the Canary Islands. However, most countries conveniently also have a consulate in the Canary Islands. You'll find the majority of these consulates located in the city of Las Palmas on the island of Gran Canaria, although many countries have an additional consulate in Tenerife. Below you'll find an abbreviated list of the numerous consulates found in the Canary Islands. Again, this is a shortened list, therefore if your country isn't listed, don't panic- chances are that your country does in fact have a consulate in the Canary Islands.

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