There are some types of Spanish visa application, such as study visas, that require a sponsorship letter. In this post, we explain the typical content of a sponsorship letter for a study visa and the requirements it needs to meet for acceptance by the Spanish visa authorities.
Visas generally require the applicants to proof they have financial means to sustain themselves in Spain. In the case of students, they may still be financially dependent of their parents or legal guardians. Therefore, to proof financial means they may need to submit a sponsorship letter. This letter would confirm that the parents or guardians commit to take care of all the costs and expenses that the visa applicant may face during the stay in Spain.
Content of the sponsorship letter for a Spanish visa application
Typically, a sponsorship letter for a Spanish study visa will start by identifying the signatory of the letter (i.e. the sponsor) with some personal details. It will then confirm the relationship to the visa applicant (e.g. parent or legal guardian). And then it will need to contain a statement to the effect that the signatory takes responsibility for the applicant’s expenses in Spain.
At the time of writing, the exact wording that the Spanish Consulate in London uses in their page about study visas is that the parent or legal guardian ‘assumes all the costs associated with their studies in Spain’. There is, however, no prescribed wording or template provided by the Spanish consulate or authorities for the sponsorship letter. For that reason, many sponsors choose to expand the wording further to make it clear that the sponsor will take care not only of study fees but also any accommodation, maintenance, travel, and any other costs. If certain expenses are covered by other means (e.g. by a scholarship) or have been paid in advance, this might be evidenced through other documents, such as the letter of acceptance from the university or the scholarship documentation. Make sure you read the guidance from the Spanish authorities about what to present in your specific case.
The letter would then need to be dated and signed by the sponsor or sponsors, but it is important you read the next section about how to sign the letter.
Together with the sponsorship letter, the Spanish authorities (at least the consulate in London) also request certain documents as evidence of the connection between the sponsor and the student, as well as the financial means of the sponsor. In particular, at the time of publication of this post, the consulate requests these documents: ‘the student’s birth certificate or legal custody, passport of the parent or legal guardian, letter from their employer specifying qualification, starting date and remuneration, and 6 months of bank statements (originals and stamped by bank)’.
Notarisation
It is a requirement of the Spanish authorities in the UK (i.e. the Spanish Consulate) that the sponsorship letter must be notarised. This means that the person or persons signing the letter will need to sign it in the presence of a notary public. For this, the signatory or signatories would usually need to book an appointment with a notary, present some personal documents (typically, proof of identity and proof of address) and then sign the letter in the presence of the notary. The notary then adds a certification confirming the signatory’s identity.
Spanish sworn translation
As the Spanish consulate or visa authorities need to receive a Spanish version of the letter, they request that the letter is translated by a Spanish sworn translator. This is where we can help. You can find more information about our Spanish visa translation services on our Services page.
Legalisation (apostille)
There has been some confusion in the past as to whether the notarised letter (this is, the English version) needs to be legalised with an apostille issued by the UK government’s legalisation office. The general rule is that a document notarised in the UK would need to be apostilled before being presented to the Spanish authorities. In spite of that, we have had a number of reports from applicants that they were able to submit notarised letters of sponsorship to the visa processing centre without the need for an apostille. However, it is important to note that both the website of the Spanish Consulate in London and the checklist from their external partner handling study visas (BLS International) currently state that the sponsorship letter or ‘notarized document’ needs to be legalised/apostilled as well as notarised.
You can find a quick start guide on apostilles on our Services page.
Help with the translation of your sponsorship letter for Spanish visa
If you need the sworn translation of a sponsorship letter as part of your application for a Spanish visa, you can send us a good scan of the notarised letter via email to info@spanishvisatranslations.co.uk or using the contact form on our Home page. You can also use these channels to ask us any questions. We look forward to hearing from you.
If you have found this informative, you can find other posts on our blog about criminal record certificates, birth certificates, medical certificates, the apostille procedure, and more.