Applying at the Spanish consulate in your country: US, UK, Canada and beyond

A Spanish national visa is filed at the consular office that covers where you lawfully live, not where you hold a passport. That single rule, in article 26.1 of the immigration regulation, decides which of the nine US consulates or three UK consulates your file belongs to, and it is the reason a British citizen living in Texas applies in Houston while paying the fee set for British nationals.

The second decision is whether you go through a consulate at all. Routes under law 14/2013 — the digital nomad, highly qualified, entrepreneur, investor and intra-company transfer permits — can be filed electronically with UGE from inside Spain instead, and that choice changes your first term from one year to three.

Below: who covers you, what each route costs in 2026 by nationality, how long decisions take, and which documents need which kind of legalisation in the US, the UK, Canada, Australia and the UAE.

Which consulate covers you

Applications are lodged and collected in person at the consular office in whose demarcation the applicant resides (article 26.1, RD 1155/2024). Applying elsewhere is not the applicant’s choice: only the Ministry of Foreign Affairs may designate a different office, and only where there is a reason for it (article 26.2).

Residence, not citizenship, is what counts — which is why every consulate asks non-nationals to prove their status locally. Chicago wants the original Permanent Resident Card; Washington DC accepts a green card or a valid long-term US visa and will not take applications from B-1/B-2 holders; Abu Dhabi requires a copy of the UAE residence permit.

Consulate or UGE: the choice that sets your first term

Two systems run in parallel, and they are not interchangeable.

• At the consulate, from outside Spain: the non-lucrative visa, self-employed work, study, family reunification, employment and the law 14/2013 visas for applicants who do not live in Spain. For the non-lucrative route the visa application itself carries the residence authorisation — one file, assessed partly by the consulate and partly in Spain.
• At UGE, from inside Spain: the law 14/2013 permits, filed electronically by someone already lawfully in the country. The decision takes 20 days and silence counts as approval (article 76.1), filing extends your current status until it is resolved, and renewals run in two-year periods. How that filing works in practice is in the guide to applying online, and what to do when the deadline passes in the piece on UGE silence.

For the digital nomad the difference is not procedural but substantive: the consular visa lasts a maximum of one year and is itself sufficient title to live and work remotely in Spain, while the UGE authorisation runs up to three years (articles 74 quater and 74 quinquies; the government’s own business portal states the same split). Sixty calendar days before the visa expires you may apply for the authorisation. Conditions, income and the paperwork are set out in the digital nomad guide.

How long each stage takes

• 10 working days — the legal decision period for law 14/2013 visas (article 75.5). Houston, Miami, Washington DC and Toronto all restate it on their own pages.
• One month — non-lucrative and self-employed visas, counted from the favourable decision on the authorisation (article 39.5); the same month applies to family reunification and employment from the date of filing (article 40.3). In practice consulates publish longer: Chicago says three months for the non-lucrative visa.
• 10 days to answer a request for documents, extendable by five; 15 days to appear for an interview, after which you are treated as having withdrawn (article 27).
• One month to collect the visa in person once it is granted; miss it and the grant is treated as renounced (article 28.4).
• One month after entry to apply for the TIE card, for any stay over six months. On the one-year nomad visa no card is required at all — the visa proves residence by itself (article 75.4).

Documents: the same list, five different legalisations

Article 38 of the regulation sets the minimum for any residence visa: application form, passport valid for at least a year, police certificates from every country of residence over the last five years, a medical certificate under the International Health Regulations 2005, the fee, and the specific requirements of your route. The non-lucrative route adds means of 400 % of IPREM per month — 2 400 € — plus 600 € for each dependent family member; the nomad route asks for 200 % of the minimum wage, which works out at 2 849 € a month. Several consulates publish their own figure for the nomad threshold, so check the page of the office you are applying to.

• Translation. A translation is official in Spain when it is made by a traductor jurado appointed by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which publishes the searchable list; such translations need no further legalisation. North American practice is looser — Houston names the American Translators Association, and Washington DC states the translation itself does not need an apostille.
• Medical certificate. Chicago: bilingual, stamped, no older than three months. Los Angeles: issued within 90 days.
• Insurance. Full cover with an insurer authorised to operate in Spain, no co-payment and no waiting period; for students Los Angeles publishes a €30,000 minimum. What qualifies is in the article on health insurance.
• Modelo 790, código 052 — the Spanish authorisation fee, paid separately from the visa fee. Which code applies when is set out in the piece on Spanish administrative fees.

Fees: the same visa costs six times more depending on your passport

Two amounts stack. The base national visa fee is the same for almost everyone — USD 106 in the United States, GBP 79 in the UK, CAD 145.50 in Canada — and where a visa centre operates, the consular tariff adds an outsourcing line of USD 20 or GBP 14.85. On top comes a reciprocity charge set by your nationality, which follows you wherever you apply.

Rates are revised quarterly with the exchange rate, so take the figure from the tariff of the office you are applying to: Houston 2026, London from 01.01.2026, Toronto 2026. Payment methods are local and inflexible — Toronto takes money orders or bank drafts only, Los Angeles takes money orders on the day of the appointment, and BLS centres in the US no longer accept USPS money orders.

Three ways applications are actually taken in 2026

• Through a BLS visa centre, in person. Chicago, Los Angeles and London take national visas this way; BLS runs centres in eight US cities, three in the UK and two in the UAE. Washington DC is mid-transition and publishes two different start dates — 1 September and 1 October 2026 — on two of its own pages, so confirm before booking.
• By post to the consulate. Miami accepts the telework visa by tracked mail, and Houston describes the same.
• By e-mail to the consulate. Toronto, Sydney and Abu Dhabi have no visa centre for this: you write to the consular address and are given an appointment.

Booking is free and done by the applicant. BLS states plainly that appointments must be booked on its own site and that buying slots through intermediaries is fraudulent practice (US, UK). Postal applications are not accepted at the UK centres.

What goes wrong most often

• Applying where you are a citizen rather than where you live. The file is simply not admissible outside your demarcation.
• A state police check instead of the FBI one, or a state apostille instead of the federal one. Chicago rejects both outright.
• Trying to e-Apostille an ACRO certificate. gov.uk excludes it; the paper route takes longer and needs to be started earlier.
• Sending a representative. The rule is personal appearance; representation is exceptional, and collection is stricter still — Washington DC lets only the applicant collect a national visa.
• Letting the collection month lapse. An uncollected visa is treated as renounced and the file is closed.
• Filing for a nomad visa abroad when you are already lawfully in Spain and could file with UGE for three years instead of one.

Read next

A Spanish residence permit on your own or with a lawyer: where the line runs

20.09.2026

Frequently asked questions

Do I apply at the Spanish consulate for my nationality or for where I live?

Where you live. Article 26.1 of RD 1155/2024 says applications are lodged and collected in person at the consular office covering the applicant’s place of residence. A different office can be designated only by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where there is a justified reason. Non-nationals are asked to prove lawful residence locally — a green card, a long-term visa or a national residence permit.

Why is the Spanish visa fee different for each nationality?

The base fee is USD 106, GBP 79 or CAD 145.50, but a reciprocity charge is added according to the applicant’s nationality and it applies wherever you file. In 2026 a British national pays GBP 516 for a non-lucrative visa in London, and an Australian pays USD 3,020 for a telework visa in the United States. The tariffs are revised quarterly.

Is it better to apply for the digital nomad route at the consulate or at UGE?

If you are outside Spain, the consulate is the only option and the visa lasts at most one year. If you are already lawfully in Spain, UGE gives an authorisation of up to three years, decided in 20 days with silence counting as approval, and renewed in two-year periods. The same file therefore produces a very different first term.

How long does a Spanish national visa take?

Ten working days for law 14/2013 routes such as the telework, highly qualified and entrepreneur visas. Up to one month for the non-lucrative visa, family reunification and employment. Consulates publish longer practical estimates — Chicago states three months for the non-lucrative visa — and a request for documents or an interview extends the period.

Which police certificate does Spain accept from the US and the UK?

From the United States, the FBI Identity History Summary with the federal apostille issued by the Department of State; state-level checks and state apostilles are rejected. From the United Kingdom, an ACRO certificate apostilled by the FCDO — on paper, because the e-Apostille service excludes ACRO certificates. Both need a Spanish translation.

Can someone else submit or collect the visa for me?

Rarely. The law requires personal appearance, with representation allowed only where Spanish or EU law provides for it, or exceptionally where distance, transport or health make the trip genuinely burdensome. Law 14/2013 routes are more permissive at the filing stage — Washington DC and Miami accept an accredited representative with a power of attorney — but collection of a national visa is usually reserved to the applicant.

Sources

• RD 1155/2024, articles 26–28, 37–40, 54, 62, 208–209; Ley 14/2013, articles 61, 74 bis — 76; government business portal on international teleworkers
• Consular demarcations: United States, United Kingdom and the UK map, Canada, Australia, UAE
• Consulate pages: Chicago, non-lucrative visa, Washington DC, telework visa, Washington DC, place of submission, Houston, telework visa, Miami, telework visa, Los Angeles, student visa, Toronto, telework visa
• Fees and legalisation: Houston tariff 2026, London tariff 2026, Toronto tariff 2026, FCDO legalisation, ACRO certificates, Canadian documents, Hague Convention status table, sworn translators