Students not from the EU, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland

If you already have your internship accepted by the EHU, get in touch with the International Welcome Centre. We will provide you with information about the procedure to follow and, if necessary, with the collaboration of the EHU organizational unit willing to host you, we will carry out the relevant steps so that you can travel to Spain to do your internship.

Depending on the length of your internship stay:

• Less than 90 days: in principle, you will be in one of these two situations:
  • 1) You are a national of one of the countries exempt from the requirement to apply for a visa for stays of up to three months.
    • See Annex II of (EU) Regulation 2018/1806 for a list of such countries.
    • Further information is available on the information sheets of the Immigration Portal.
  • 2) You are a national of one of the countries that requires a residence visa (type C).
    • See Annex I of (EU) Regulation 2018/1806 for a list of such countries.
    • Schengen visa
    • Request a Schengen visa at the Spanish Consulates (Service category: "Visas"; Consular services: "Short-stay visa – Schengen visa").
• More than 90 days: You and the EHU may need to carry out the procedures to issue a residence permit for internships. The duration of this authorization will be twelve months or the same as the duration of the internship agreement, if shorter.

In order to clarify what your situation is, please, write to info.welcomecentre@ehu.eus. Specifically, we will evaluate whether your internship stay (depending on your nationality and country of residence, and the duration and characteristics of the internship) should or should not follow the procedure established for residence authorization for internships (detailed information on this second procedure is on Sheet 21 of the Migration Portal).

• Stays lasting less than 90 days:  If you are planning to stay for less than 3 months and you have been able to enter the Schengen area without a visa (because you are exempt) or with a type C visa (valid for tourists, business, and family visits), for now, you don't need to do anything else during your stay.

At the end of 2026, the ETIAS authorization will be implemented, which will be an entry requirement for nationals exempt from the visa requirement traveling to any of these 30 European countries.

• Stays lasting more than 90 days: 

Entry evidence to Schengen area or Entry Declaration into Spanish Territory

Remember that at the border control you should join the line for non-EU, EEA, or Swiss citizens.

Starting in spring 2026, it will no longer be possible to get an "Entry Stamp" in your passport at the airport Police Station. Instead, the Entry/Exit System (EES) has been activated, a new digital border management system at the EU level that records the entry and exit of third-country nationals crossing the external borders of the Schengen area for a short stay.

If, for any reason, you have entered Spain from another Schengen State (without border control) and your entry into the Schengen area has not been registered by the SES, or if you are traveling to Spain for a temporary mobility with an authorization from another EU member state, you should make an "Entry Declaration into Spanish Territory" within the first 72 hours of your arrival in Spain, at the National Police Station in Vitoria-Gasteiz,  Bilbao  or  Donostia/San Sebastián ).

If you do not obtain the stamp or make the declaration, we recommend that you keep proof of your journey to Spain (boarding passes, bus and train tickets, etc.), as you may be required to produce them by the Spanish immigration authorities.

Depending on the length of your internship stay:

• Less than 90 days: in principle, with your 3-month permit (see the "Before traveling" section), you can enter Spain and stay in the country without having to do anything else during your stay.
• More than 90 days but less than 180 days: if you and the EHU had to process a residence authorization for internships, the authorization granted will cover your entire stay without you having to do anything else.
• More than 180 days (6 months): if you and the EHU had to process a residence authorization for internships, the consulate will have issued you an authorization that requires you to apply for a Foreigner Identification Card (TIE) within the first 30 days after arriving in Spain.

Application for the Foreigner Identity Card (TIE)

You can apply for and collect your TIE at the Police Offices in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Bilbao or Donostia/San Sebastián.

When you apply for your TIE, you will receive an official receipt. You will then receive your physical card between one and two months later.

INSTRUCTIONS on how to make an appointment and what documents to submit (PDF, 1,7 MB).

Once you have applied, follow these INSTRUCTIONS to check the status of your application and collect your TIE (PDF, 1,3 MB).

For more information, see the National Police website.

ATTENTION: Except for justified exceptions, no funding will be provided by the EHU to students from other institutions doing internships at this university. Compliance with tax and Social Security obligations will correspond to the students' home institution, a situation that must be expressly reflected in the corresponding agreement.

In the section about “Legal Stay” for international students, you can find more information applicable to people who do not have nationality of an EU state, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, or Switzerland.