Has anyone ever tried to get a visa from the consulate to spain in Boston?
I'm trying to get a student visa to go to school in Barcelona, and the website is not exactly specific about everything. I know it varies from consulate to consulate, so I was just wondering if anyone knew what, exactly, you need in terms of proof of health insurance. Their customer service is completely useless, they just don't want to give me any information.
Thanks :-)

I don't know anything about the Boston Consulate.

Does the school provide insurance for students? Usually, health insurance, through an employer, does not transfer to a foreign country.

I do know that my daughter was able to get a foreign student residence card after she was in Madrid. Her school provided health insurance.

Can you call them ( Boston Spanish consulate ) directly by telephone ? That would be better . I know that if you have a credit card such as Visa or Mastercard that often travel insurance ( worldwide ) is included if you book your travel using their card . That might be something you can look at . I doubt very much whether the school will actually automatically provide insurance though when I was studying at a company called Canterbury English , based in Central Madrid , they gave you details of how to get insurance using a company that specialises in insurance for foreigners .. I believe their speciality was for people travelling in from North America .
I have a lot of experience in getting visas to travel to Russia and know that , in generl , consulates and embassies are not very helpful .. infact they discourage you calling them ... HOWEVER .. The US Consulate in Madrid ( and probably Barcelona ) is a big organisation in Spain and may be able to give advice .

http://www.maec.es/subwebs/Consulados/Bo..._emblondon.aspx

lmcco8. I have used that consulate many times. I used to live in Boston. When I studied abroad in Spain, I went through that consulate. It is best to call them and make an appointment (they are very helpful). Once you are there, they will tell you the proper documentation that you will need. This is important, so there are no mistakes. They need time to verify and process the information and it can take weeks, depending on if you have an american passport(which I do not) or not.They will want to know the dates that you are going. This is not the type of thing you want to do if today is monday and I want to go to spain thursday. You will not get the visa. Not sure about the health insurance. Your study abroad program should provide you with that, I used Academic Programs International (college credit at Umass Amherst with univeristy of Seville. My school did not have a one year program in Spain they had a summer programs in Salamanca, granada and semester programs in oviedo. I want to go for one year) based in texas and insurance was provided in the program.I could have gone to any hospital in spain and I could have gotten reimbursments for medications (medications in spain are much cheaper than the usa).

The boston consulate is pretty good. Good luck.i am assuming this is to study and not to work.

Wow Matador - it's been awhile! Nice to see you back as I am sure others will echo Where are you living now?

Hi Puna, It has been a long time. I am living in NYC. Yeah, this site brings back great memories. It took me from vacations in spain to study abroad and good friends in spain. I was reading my old posts the other night, it was like traveling through time. What are you up to these days?