applying for a student visa through the Spanish Consulate in Chicago: tips and tricks

If you are applying for a student visa through the Consulate General of Spain in Chicago… ReAd mE!

Applying for a visa to teach English as an Auxiliar de Conversación in Spain can either be simple and smooth or a frustrating rush depending on your understanding of how to complete the list of required documents.

Completing the steps to apply for a visa is easier said than done if you have never done it before…as I quickly found out! I searched all over google looking for more detailed instructions for the Chicago consulate and hopefully my experiences can make your process a little easier.

**I applied as an Auxiliar de Conversación through the program ConversaSpain for a placement in Madrid. My visa is classified under a student visa (under North American Language and Culture Assistant on the visa website) for a stay over 180 days. They will grant you a multiple entry visa for 90 days and after you arrive in Spain there are steps you must take to arrange for the over 180 day duration. **

Which States Fall Under the Chicago Consulate:

The Spanish Consulate in Chicago processes visas for thirteen states: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin. You must make an appointment on their website and show up in person to the consulate in Chicago on your appointment day. I made a two-day trip out of it and enjoyed my time in Chicago for all the traveling since the appointment is only expected to last about twenty minutes. You should make your visa appointment as soon as you are accepted into your program because spots may be filled up two months in advance. Once you have your appointment, the clock starts ticking to get your documents in order.

Below I have numbered the most challenging documents by the order they should be completed so that they are ready in time for the visa appointment.

1. FBI Background Check; Apostilled and Translated by Certified Translator

This is a multi-step process. The first step is to get a hold of your FBI background check, and you can find the website to do so here. You must get fingerprints and send them in via mail, and there is a new electronic method of sending them in as well, which you can find here. Once you send in your fingerprints along with the required documents, you can sit back and relax until you receive an email from the department of state and using the pin number in the original email you will have access to your results.

You can simply download and print the resulting document right away and there is no need to wait for the document in the mail as it will come a week or two later. As soon as you get that bad boy printed you will need to get it both apostilled and translated into Spanish (by a certified translator) per the requirements of the Chicago consulate.

An apostille (pronounced ‘apple-steal’) is simply a separate document that verifies the validity of your FBI background check. The apostille must be the official Apostille of the Hague Convention which can only be issued by the US Department of State in Washington D.C or channelers that go through the US Department of State in D.C. This is the part I found tricky because I had never heard of an apostille and I wasn’t sure which methods of getting a hold of it would be accepted by the consulate. Some other consulates make it simpler to obtain an apostille or translation, but unfortunately for the Chicago consulate, there are no short cuts (besides the channelers) to get the apostille through D.C.

What I recommend: There are several ways you can obtain an apostille and translation and it all depends on how much time you have to prepare for your visa appointment but the cheapest and fastest way to do this is to upload your document to Monument Visa services (I have used this myself so I can verify that it is not a scam unlike some other websites out there). It will be just under $100 to get both the apostille and certified translation and this price includes expedited shipping back to your home address with an included tracking number.

While $100 may seem like a lot, it comes out about even when you consider the average cost of an independent certified translator, shipping costs, and time spent wondering when your documents will arrive. If you have plenty of time to spare (about a full month for the ‘traditional’ process), you can send it directly to Washington D.C. for $8 processing and your shipping costs.

When I called the D.C. office they told me the documents must go through an up-to 12-day security process before processing which can also take up to 12 days. When I heard this, and because I only had about a week and a half left until my visa appointment, I went and sent my FBI document into Monument and received emails throughout the process letting me know where they were in the stages and received my completed apostille and translation in a little over a week.

A few days later I also received my original document I had sent in directly to D.C. but that would mean I would still have to get that translated and it’s much easier to not have to coordinate yet another service. So my advice would be to go through a channeler to expedite the process, specifically Monument Visa because I had great success with this company and absolutely no problems once I handed it over to the consulate.

2. Medical Documents

Another slightly confusing process is getting a hold of medical certificates only because the visa document offers a sentence or two of guidance on how to complete the process correctly. My family doctor had never filled out a form for this specific document so you should be prepared to explain exactly how it needs to be filled out and bring along your visa requirement form.

The doctor should type up the following specific sentence on their doctor’s office letter head: “the applicant (identified by Passport’s First and Last name) has been examined and found free of any contagious diseases according to the International Health Regulation 2005” and must be signed by your M.D. The visa requirements website also offers this template.

My doctor was comfortable signing the Spanish translated version of the medical document they provided so I did not have to get my medical certificate translated. My doctor’s office only had a sticker instead of the required stamp from the office, but I did not experience any issues at the consulate. (If your doctor’s office does have an official stamp that would be ideal to eliminate any concerns).

3. Additional Documents (The Easy Ones)

Passport sized photo: I did not want to take any chances so I got my passport-sized photo from Walgreens. Make sure it’s a white background, in color, and it must be glossy, not printed out on printer paper.

Money order: You must bring a money order to the consulate rather than cash, check or card. This is a simple step in the application and took me less than a few minutes at Kroger to complete. Money orders are also available through credit unions and banks. You can check here for the most recent student visa application fees. Mine was $160 as of July, 2019.

4. The Day of Your Appointment

Once you arrive in Chicago, you will need to catch a cab to the consulate from the airport or Amtrak train station. The consulate is located in an office building on 180 Michigan Avenue on an upper floor in suite 1500. The consulate consists of a waiting room with three windows to take applications. There is no need to go up to the window to check in, they will call you up when they are ready.

Once you’re there, and if you checked all of the documents listed on the visa website off the list, you can sit back and relax. If you are missing anything, they will give you a ten day grace period to get it to them, so no worries!

After they collect the copies of your documents and your passport, they will ask for your return to sender envelope and will tell you when to expect your visa. My passport came back in the mail with my visa sticker even quicker than expected. All of that work for a cute little sticker… and many great memories ahead in Spain.

Buena suerte, good luck! If you have any other questions I’d be happy to try and help! Leave a comment below.

**I received my visa August 5^th, 2019 so be aware that some details may have changed since if you are reading this post much later. It’s better to be safe than sorry so always check the updated website to be sure you are completing your application process correctly and check if there are any additional requirements for your program.**