A non-EU student in Castellón, term by term
A student visa, a room near the campus, fingerprints in the first days. What a non-EU student at the Universitat Jaume I can plan before the first lecture.
An admission letter from the Universitat Jaume I is a happy email. For a student from Peru, Morocco or Vietnam, it is also the start of a paper trail. The good news: the trail is short, if you take the steps in order.
The first step happens at home. With the admission letter, you ask the Spanish consulate for a student visa. It gives you an authorisation of stay for studies. The consulate will want proof of the course, of health insurance and of the money you will live on.
The second step comes in your first days in Castelló. If your course lasts more than six months, you need a TIE card, and its fingerprint appointment (toma de huellas) is booked for the province of Castellón. Take your EX-17, the passport that carries your visa, a photo, your enrolment and the paid Modelo 790 código 012.
Then the padró. The Ajuntament de Castelló keeps the city’s register of residents, and your address on it will help with the bank, the health centre and later procedures. Valencian is an official language here, so you will see the Valencian word padró next to the Spanish padrón.
The third step is the one people forget: the extension. When the course goes on, or you start a new one, you ask for a prórroga (extension) of your stay before the current one ends. The Delegación del Gobierno’s page says that in Castellón the request is handed in at the premises of the Comisaría Provincial, and that the decision comes from the Oficina de Extranjería.
Work is a question we hear every term. A stay for studies can allow some work alongside the course, under conditions. Read the conditions of your own stay before you say yes to an employer.
The university is not an immigration office, but it gives you the enrolment papers each step needs. Keep copies of everything in one folder, and the semesters will be about your studies, not your papers.