Before you pack
What you need to come to Spain legally.
An approved exchange is not a permit. This page explains exactly what your nationality and your documents allow, what we will ask you for, and what to sign before you book a flight.
An approved exchange is not a permit. This page explains exactly what your nationality and your documents allow, what we will ask you for, and what to sign before you book a flight.
If you hold a European passport, your part is short and you're done in two minutes. If you don't, there are things you need to know before you book a flight. Every year a participant arrives without realising their legal status doesn't cover the whole stay — and by the time it comes to light, it's usually too late.
So, one single question:
Not sure which group you're in? Send us a photo of your passport and we'll tell you straight away.
No visa, no permit, no paperwork before travelling. You can come to Spain and stay for the whole exchange, whether that's three months or six. There are only four things you need, and none of them is complicated.
| What | Detail | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Valid ID card or passport | Make sure the expiry date covers your whole stay and a bit more. Check it now, not the week before you fly. |
| 2 | Health cover | European Health Insurance Card (free from your own social security) or private health insurance. |
| 3 | Staying over 3 months: EU citizen registration certificate | Applied for here, at the immigration office, within your first three months. Simple and cheap. We point you in the right direction, but you do it yourself. |
| 4 | Send us a copy of your ID | Before we confirm the exchange, so we have it on file. |
Plenty of people skip it and nothing happens immediately, but it is compulsory and it gives you a number (the NIE) that you'll need for almost everything: opening a bank account, signing a phone contract, even some programme paperwork. Book the appointment as soon as you arrive.
Really. The rest of this page is about day limits, visas and residence authorisations — none of it applies to you. You only need to download the declaration, fill in the details section, sign it and send it back.
If you know someone who wants to take part and doesn't hold a European passport, pass them this page. It will save them serious trouble.
“But my sending organisation told me there was no problem.”
They may have said it in good faith. But you, not they, bear the consequences of being in an irregular situation. Check the dates yourself.
| Word | What it actually means |
|---|---|
| Schengen Area | A group of European countries that have removed the borders between them. Enter one and you can move through the others without further checks. Spain is in it. It is not the same as the European Union: some EU countries are outside Schengen, and some Schengen countries are outside the EU. |
| Visa | A permit issued by a consulate or embassy before you travel. It goes into your passport. It lets you enter and, depending on the type, stay for a set period. |
| Residence permit | A card issued by a country where you live, stating that you may live there. Careful: it gives you the right to live in that country, not in all the others. |
You may stay in the Schengen Area a maximum of 90 days within any 180-day period. The key word is any. It isn't 90 days and then the counter resets — it's a window that keeps moving.
Picture it this way: on every day you are here, someone looks back over the last 180 days and counts how many of them you spent in Schengen. If the total goes above 90, you are in an irregular situation.
Nour holds an Egyptian passport and lives in Croatia with a Croatian residence permit. She comes to Spain for her exchange.
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1 January | Nour enters Spain. The count begins. |
| 31 March | She has been here 90 days. Her limit is used up. She must leave today at the latest. |
| 1 April | If she is still here, she is in an irregular situation. From day one. |
| 30 June | She could re-enter: 90 days have passed outside. But she'd be right at the limit, with no margin at all. |
Note that Nour's exchange was approved for five months. Her 90 days ran out in month three.
A quick check of the same numbers we'll ask you for. Fill it in, then send us the result.
The EYE programme includes several countries that are not EU members. There aren't many, so you'll probably find yours below.
| Your country | Visa? | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| Iceland | No | Iceland is in the European Economic Area — none of this part applies. You're in the easy group: go back to Answer A. |
| Albania | No | You enter without a visa on a biometric passport, but the 90-days-in-180 limit applies. |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | No | Same as above: no visa, subject to the 90-day limit. |
| Kosovo | No | Same as above: no visa, subject to the 90-day limit. |
| North Macedonia | No | Same as above: no visa, subject to the 90-day limit. |
| Moldova | No | Same as above: no visa, subject to the 90-day limit. |
| Montenegro | No | Same as above: no visa, subject to the 90-day limit. |
| Serbia | No | Same as above: no visa, subject to the 90-day limit. |
| Ukraine | No | Same as above: no visa, subject to the 90-day limit. |
| Armenia | Yes | You must apply for a visa at the Spanish consulate before travelling. |
| Türkiye | Yes | You must apply for a visa at the Spanish consulate before travelling. |
You can enter freely, but the 90/180 rule applies. If your exchange lasts more than three months, you have a problem to solve before travelling — see the options below.
You must apply for a visa before travelling, and of the right type for the planned duration.
A tourist visa is no good for a five-month exchange. It is a short-stay visa: it lets you stay 90 days maximum, exactly like someone who needs no visa at all. If your exchange is longer, you need something else.
Example: Deniz holds a Turkish passport and lives in Istanbul. His exchange is approved for five months. He books an appointment at the Spanish consulate, but a tourist visa will only give him 90 days. He needs to consider one of the options below from the outset, or shorten the exchange.
Your residence permit from another European country does not let you stay in Spain as long as you like. It only lets you move around Schengen for 90 days in any 180. And EYE exchanges last between 3 and 6 months.
This is Nour's case: Egyptian nationality, Croatian residence. It would equally apply to someone with Moroccan nationality living in Italy, or Indian nationality living in Germany.
Many people assume that because their card is European they can move around Europe without limit. Not so. The card gives you the right to live in the country that issued it. Everywhere else, you are a visitor.
Look closely at which category your card states:
Send us a photo of both sides and we'll look at it. It could change everything.
These are the options we know of. We are not telling you which to choose, and we cannot guarantee any of them will work in your particular case: that depends on your personal situation, and you should discuss it with an immigration lawyer.
The simplest, the cheapest, and the one most people should use. No procedure and no cost. Instead of coming for five months straight, you come for under 90 days, go home for a while, and return to finish. The programme allows this.
Count 180 days from the day you first ENTERED. From that point you can start the second block with complete peace of mind. Note carefully: you count from the day you entered, not from the day you left. That's the most common error.
| Block | Dates | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Block 1 | 1 Mar – 24 May | 85 days. Five days below the limit, to leave herself margin. |
| Break | 25 May – 27 Aug | She returns to Croatia. She can keep working on her project remotely if she wants. |
| Block 2 | 28 Aug – 20 Nov | Another 85 days. 28 August is day 181 from her first entry, so the first block no longer weighs on her. |
| Total | 170 days | Spread over roughly nine months of calendar time. |
Why 85 and not 90? Because the margin is what saves you. A cancelled flight, a strike, a one-day counting error — and you'd be in an irregular situation. Five days of buffer costs you almost nothing and spares you a problem that could mean years of being barred from entry.
The programme allows the stay to be split into blocks, with a minimum duration per block and within a maximum period from the start. But the specific dates must be approved beforehand by your Intermediary Organisation and reflected in your agreement. If you leave and return on your own initiative without agreeing it, you may lose the funding for the unrecognised days.
Two things before fixing dates: any days spent in a Schengen country in the six months before your first block count too and must be subtracted; and any trip to another Schengen country during the break (France, Italy, Portugal, Germany…) adds days and throws off your calculation.
If you enrol in an in-person Spanish course at a centre accredited by the Instituto Cervantes or at an official language school, you can apply for a stay authorisation covering the whole course.
If you completed a degree, master's or higher vocational qualification within the last two years, or you are still studying, there is a specific residence authorisation for formative traineeships.
If you already have your own company or clients outside Spain and can work remotely, there is an authorisation designed for exactly that. It gives you between one and three years, so it solves the problem comfortably. But the requirements are demanding — look at them before getting your hopes up.
| Requirement | What it means |
|---|---|
| Age of company or clients | The company you work for, or your clients, must have been operating for at least one year. |
| Length of the relationship | You must have been working with them for at least three months. |
| Qualification or experience | A university or higher vocational qualification, or three years of professional experience in the sector. |
| Source of income | Most of your income must come from outside Spain. If self-employed, there is a cap on the share that may come from Spanish clients. |
| Health insurance | Full health cover in Spain. |
| Criminal record certificate | From the countries where you have lived in recent years, apostilled and translated. |
The apostilled criminal record certificate takes the longest — start there, it can take weeks. It is processed by the UGE-CE (Large Companies and Strategic Groups Unit), which is fairly fast compared with provincial offices.
Who it really works for: entrepreneurs who are already invoicing. If your project is still at the idea stage, this route isn't for you yet — look at options 1, 2 and 3.
It isn't that we don't want to. For some of it, the tool simply doesn't exist.
This happens often, so it's worth knowing who to turn to — and above all, that two different documents get confused.
| Document | What it is and who issues it |
|---|---|
| Hosting or support letter from the Intermediary Organisation | A letter in which the organisation managing your mobility confirms that you are taking part in the programme, the dates, the purpose of the stay and the hosting arrangements. This is what consulates usually accept for European programmes. Your Intermediary Organisation issues it, not us. |
| Spanish invitation letter (the formal one) | A different document altogether: an individual applies for it at a police station when accommodating someone in their home, and it is processed in Spain. It is not a letter issued by a company or an association. |
Your Intermediary Organisation, in coordination with the Intermediary Organisation on the Spanish side. There are four parties in the programme: you, your sending organisation, us as mentors, and the Intermediary Organisation on the Spanish side. Practical management of your mobility at destination is that last one's job, not ours.
Write to them stating exactly which document the consulate wants, in what format and by when. If they say they don't issue that kind of letter, ask them to confirm it in writing and to say what alternative they propose. That usually unblocks things.
This is in addition to whatever the programme platform requires. Without it we cannot confirm your exchange.
So we know which case you're in and can tell you early if there's a problem.
So we can match the exchange duration to what you can actually comply with.
So everyone knows where they stand. Download it below.
If your case requires one — so you don't spend money on a ticket before the permit is sorted.
So we can work out your real deadline together.
So we can react in time.
This is the most expensive piece of advice we'll give you: do not book the flight until you have the visa or authorisation granted and have sent it to us. Cheap tickets are almost never refundable. If you book first and the permit is delayed or refused, you lose the money and have to rebuild the whole calendar.
If the consulate requires a flight reservation to process the visa, use an unpaid or cancellable reservation. Never an issued, paid-for ticket.
We'd rather tell you now than once you're here. If your time runs out while you're in Spain:
That fourth point isn't there to frighten you. It's there because we'd rather be transparent from the outset about how we operate — and because we want to explain why.
We have been hosting young people from many countries for years and we want to keep doing so for many more. That depends on one thing: our relationship with the Spanish authorities being impeccable.
When we accommodate someone we have legal reporting obligations. We meet them, for everyone. If a single irregular situation reflected on us, we could lose the ability to host anyone at all — and the people who'd suffer are all the participants coming after you.
For you the consequences are worse still. An irregular stay can cost you years of being barred from entering Europe, and can jeopardise the residence permit you already hold. It can complicate any visa you apply for in future, for any country.
All that for a few extra weeks of exchange. Nobody wins by overstaying — not you and not us.
And leaving on time doesn't mean it's all over. You go home, apply for the right visa calmly, and come back with papers for as many months as you need. The exchange is delayed, not lost.
If things get complicated at any point, tell us as early as you can. With time, almost everything has a solution; at the last minute, almost nothing does.
Everything on this page also exists as a document you can keep, print or forward. The Declaration is the one that must come back to us signed — by you and by your sending organisation — before we can confirm an exchange.
The full guide to keep, plus the declaration to sign.
PDF Before you pack — the full guideEnglish · everything on this page, to keep or print PDF Declaration of understanding and acceptanceThe sheet you and your organisation sign · to print DOCX Declaration — editable versionWord · fill it in on your computer, then signReturn it scanned, together with a copy of your passport and — if you have one — your residence card. If you hold a European passport, fill in the details section only and sign: the declarations about legal basis don't apply to you.
Our hosting conditions, to read before proposing a candidate.
PDF Hosting conditionsEnglish · what we require before confirming an exchange PDF Declaration of understanding and acceptanceSigned by both the participant and the IO PDF The participant guideEnglish · to forward to your candidateIn one line: we confirm no exchange without prior evidence that the participant may legally remain in Spain for the whole planned duration.
No. Approval on the platform means the programme is funding your exchange. Nothing more. Immigration authorities have no connection to that platform and do not recognise the EYE programme as grounds for a stay.
No. Your permit gives you the right to live in that specific country. In the rest of the Schengen countries you are a visitor with 90 days out of every 180. It is by far the most common misunderstanding.
Generally no. Most authorisations are applied for at the consulate in your country of residence, before travelling. There are some exceptions, but they require filing well before your stay expires — so they only work if you move very fast on arrival. Don't leave it to the end.
They do check. Schengen exits are recorded, and the European entry-exit system does that calculation automatically. The day you try to re-enter Europe, or renew your card, it will show up.
Not us. We are your mentors within the programme, not the body organising your mobility, and that document isn't ours to issue.
Ask your Intermediary Organisation, which should coordinate with the Intermediary Organisation on the Spanish side. And note: the Spanish invitation letter proper is a different thing — a document an individual applies for at a police station. Clarify with your consulate exactly which document they want before chasing the wrong one.
No, and it isn't a question of permits but of the nature of the programme. EYE does not fund traineeships or work placements: it is a collaboration between two entrepreneurs. You come to learn and to develop your own project, not to work for us.
It depends on the route. Shortening the exchange to 90 days costs nothing. A Spanish course runs €1,500–€3,000 depending on the centre and the length. Administrative fees are in the tens of euros. The remote-work route has almost no procedural cost but requires proving around €2,849 a month in income, which is a different kind of barrier. An immigration lawyer for a one-off consultation usually costs far less than people imagine, and it's worth it.
Great — but ask them in writing and get them to specify which procedure exactly and on what dates. Then send it to us. If they really have it sorted, confirming it will take them two minutes.
We adjust the exchange to what you can legally do, normally up to 90 days. It is still a complete experience. And if you later obtain a broader legal basis, we can talk about extending it.
Write to us anyway. We'd take a badly phrased question three months in advance over a perfectly phrased problem once you're already here, every single time.
