In case you are traveling to Spain for less than 90 days (as a tourist, no matter if you are planning to visit the country, you come for business reasons or similar), there are several requirements you must meet.
Nevertheless, if you fail to meet any of them, your entry to Spain will be denied at the airport. And in this article, we will explore which are the reasons that could cause that.
Provided that you meet each of them, you will be able to freely enter Spain and enjoy your short-stay.
So, when is the entry to Spain denied? Let’s discover it.
Before starting to explore the main reasons that can cause a rejected entry, this is crucial to understand.
Citizens from many countries can enter Spain without the need to request a tourist visa or a visa of any kind. And that is thanks to treatments with other nations.
Whereas, on the other hand, some others do specifically require a tourist visa in order to stay up to 90 days in the country.
Here you will find a list with all the countries that do need to request one.
Well, no matter under which case you fall into, you must meet certain requirements to avoid getting rejected at the airport.
And that is what we are going to explore next.
Which are the main reasons to get a denied entry to Spain?
Each and every reason that can get your entry rejected is motivated by two main purposes.
First of all, being able to demonstrate that you will really be in Spain for just 90 days (maximum) and then go back to your country. And, secondly, that during that period of time you won’t become a “monetary burden” for the Spanish authorities.
Hence, the most common reasons that produce entry denials at the airport are:
Lack or incomplete of accommodation
One of the main requirements you must satisfy is demonstrating that you will have a place to stay during the totality of days spent.
This means that each and every single day in the country must be properly justified with accommodation.
From the day you arrive in Spain (which can be seen on your flight ticket), from the day you have your flight back, you must have a place to sleep.
And no matter if you are staying at a hotel, apartment or friend’s/relative’s house, you must demonstrate each and every of those nights.
How to demonstrate this?
Hotel booking
If you are going to stay in a hotel (or in several hotels), you should show your reservation for the nights booked, and an invoice demonstrating that the booking has been already paid.
This last statement. If you have a valid reservation but it is not yet paid, your entry can be denied.
Prove through your invitation letter
Another way of demonstrating that you will have a place to sleep is through your invitation letter.
Through the invitation letter, your host declares that you will stay at his or her house during a specific period of time.
And she must commit to making sure that you don’t spend any extra day than those specified.
Hence, this invitation letter becomes a perfect accommodation proof.
The relative or friend that has you at her house will need to go to the police office and request this letter, demonstrating the existence of proper housing.
You can access information about prices and how much an invitation letter costs here.
No sufficient economic means
The second condition that can get your entry rejected is not possessing sufficient economic means to sustain yourself in the country for the amount of time you have planned to spend.
How much money do you need to demonstrate?
According to the Ministry of Interior, the required amount sums up to 90 € per day per person, which is 10% of the minimum gross salary in the Spanish territory.
Hence, if you are spending 30 days in the country, you must show 2700€.
But things are not that complicated. You can combine both cash and bank/credit cards. For example, you can show 1.000€ that you brought with you in cash, and then the possession of additional money in your bank account.
Another important consideration here is that no matter if you get invited to a friend’s or relative’s house via invitation letter, you are still the one who must demonstrate your financial solvency, not them. So in this case the exact same amount applies.
Do you have any doubts? Get in touch with our immigration lawyers and receive personalized legal advice and all your doubts solved:
Not enough guarantee that you will return to your country
Once you enter Spain, it is 100% necessary to have with you (hence already purchased) your flight-back tickets.
This, obviously, guarantees that you will return to your country of origin.
To be more precise, your flight tickets, and especially the return one, make an important difference.
That is because of the total of nights that your hotel booking show plus those that the invitation letter you received depicts must be equal to the total of nights between your arrival flight and the returning-back one.
This means that your entry to the country can be denied as long as during several of the stay days in Spain you have no predefined place to sleep (even though you were planning to find that later on).
Health insurance contract
Even though not 100% required, another nearly must-have would be to be in possession of health insurance that covers you during your short-term stay in Spain.
As we’ve said, you can become a burden for the Spanish economy/government. Hence, your insurance contract must cover you in case of an accident or emergency.
To be more precise, this insurance must cover hospitalization and medical treatments in case of an accident, and body repatriation; totaling up a minimum of 30.000€ coverage minimum.
Usually, airlines offer you the option to hire a similar package when buying your flight tickets. We recommend you to purchase one of those.
Demonstrating the reason why you came to Spain
More generic but still important, you must be really clear when specifying why it is that you are coming to Spain.
No matter if that is to visit a relative, for business purposes, to get medical treatment or any other similar reason, you should properly justify it.
For example, let’s suppose that you are doing this trip for business reasons. If you are attending a congress or business fair, you must show your congress accreditation.
If you are having an important meeting, the invitation from the company will be the valid document here, or any other that justify the economic relationship that motivates the reunion.
On the other hand, if you are visiting the Spanish territory for educational purposes (maybe you are taking a course or similar), you will need the enrollment document edited by the educational institution.
You can't have the entry forbidden to the country
Finally, and even though this may sound obvious, if you have the entry forbidden to Spain, your entry will be also denied.
This happen if very specific cases in which the foreigner had been previously expelled from the country or banned from entering int he future due to judiciary or police reasons.
What happens if your entry has been denied?
Thanks to articles like this one, you should avoid this problem.
If you have been following the before mentioned requirements, your entry to the country will be permitted. But, what happens if for some reason your entry is rejected?
First of all, once the police tells you that you can’t enter the country, you will start immediately to find a way to get back to your country of origin.
This means checking if there are flights available in the near future (ideally on the same day).
Until your return flight, you will be “held” inside the facilities designed for this purpose. If this process takes longer than 72 hours (for example if there are no flights), then an instruction judge will specify where exactly you will be staying.
This place will lack penitentiary character.
The whole situation will be notified to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the consulate or embassy of your country of origin.
Reach out an immigration lawyer
Obviously, if this situation happens to you, you want to have a reliable immigration lawyer next to you so that she can provide the assistance that you need, plus guiding you step by step.
And perhaps more importantly, a lawyer will help you plan your trip and avoid this situation ever happening.
Hence, if you need specialized help or you have any doubt related to your entry to the Spanish territory, our lawyers are at your complete disposal!
Get in touch with our lawyers and let us guide you step by step:
