Studying in Belgium as a Spanish citizen.

Does a Spanish student need a visa for Belgium?

No, free movement applies. The only formalities are municipal: a declaration of presence within ten working days, then a request for a registration certificate (annexe 19) from the municipal administration of the place of residence, no later than the expiry of the three months following entry into Belgium. Exceeding the deadline exposes you to an administrative fine of EUR 200. The commune asks for an enrolment in an organised, recognised or subsidised institution, health cover (European Health Insurance Card, private insurance, S1 form or Belgian health insurance fund), proof of sufficient resources and proof of citizenship.

The Immigration Office then has six months to rule: the student receives an annexe 8ter and then an EU citizen residence card. Since 1 September 2025, a rule has changed and it is paid for in cash: the file must be complete from the very first visit to the counter, failing which the application is not taken into consideration. In Brussels, allow about three weeks and two payments, EUR 25 and then EUR 30.

How do you get the título de Bachiller recognised in Belgium?

Through an individual equivalence application. No national diploma of the European Union opens automatic access: only the European baccalaureate, the baccalaureate issued by the International Baccalaureate Office, the SHAPE CESS and schools following a Belgian curriculum abroad are exempt from equivalence, and the former ministerial order of 15 March 1967 concerning Spanish secondary diplomas was repealed by the Government order of 17 May 1999.

The Equivalence Service publishes a "Spain" sheet which asks for two school documents: the título de Bachiller and the transcript of the two years of Bachiller, as a certified true copy. In other words, the transcript of a single year is not enough. It should be recalled that the título de Bachiller is obtained, under Real Decreto 243/2022, through a positive assessment in all subjects of the two years, one failed subject remaining exceptionally admissible if the average for the stage reaches 5. The fees are EUR 400, non-refundable; the reference of the transfer must read "équivalence de" followed by the applicant's surname and first name, and the proof enclosed must be an original document attesting the debit; filing opens around mid-November and closes on 15 July preceding the start of the academic year (from 15 November 2025 to 15 July 2026 for 2026-2027, the 2027-2028 dates to be confirmed on equivalences.cfwb.be), for a processing time of four to twelve weeks minimum.

As Spain often issues the diploma late, the sheet provides for a regime by year of leaving school. Those graduating in June 2026 obtain a provisional equivalence on the basis of the transcripts of the two years and a certificate of success, valid until 15 May 2027, before which date they must produce either the título de Bachiller or a certificate of non-issue from the Consejería de Educación. Those graduating in June 2024 and June 2025 must provide the diploma or a certificate of non-issue dated in the current calendar year. For those graduating in June 2023 and earlier, production of the final diploma is compulsory. The Service does not publish a standard decision by country: the decision states the access it opens, and an equivalence may carry restrictions, which can be lifted by the DAES, the secondary school examination board of the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles; that situation concerns first and foremost files from outside the European Union.

Do you need an apostille, a translation, and proof of your level of French?

The apostille is the general regime for any copy drawn up in a country party to the Hague Convention, and the Spain sheet is one of the few to say so in black and white: if the true copy is drawn up in Spain, it must be done by a competent official of the municipal administration or of the town hall, and the signature of that official must then be apostilled in accordance with the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961, to which Spain has been a party since 1978. The competent authorities are in particular the government secretaries of the High Courts of Justice, the unit of the Ministry of Justice responsible for assistance to citizens, its territorial offices, or the deans of the notarial colleges.

On the translation side, the official exemption covers "Spanish (Castilian)". A transcript or a diploma drawn up in Catalan, Basque or Galician is not among the languages expressly exempted: as a precaution, a file coming from Catalonia, the Basque Country or Galicia is prepared by anticipating a sworn translation, or by having the point confirmed by the Service before filing. This is exactly the kind of detail that costs a session: we settle it beforehand, not afterwards.

As for French, no decree imposes a level for entry into a bachelor's degree: article 108 of the décret paysage only covered three teacher training bachelor's degrees (agrégé de l'enseignement secondaire inférieur, primary school teacher, pre-school teacher) and its effects were limited to the academic years 2019-2020 to 2022-2023; for those programmes, B2 was expected, with proof such as the DALF, DELF B2, TEF level 4 or TCF B2. Each university may nevertheless ask for proof of French, often B2, when the diploma was not obtained in French: the ULB does not require it at bachelor's level, other institutions include it in their admission file.

Does the non-resident quota change anything for a Spaniard?

Yes, as soon as the student does not have their main residence in Belgium. The decree of 16 June 2006 classes them among non-residents, whose number is capped in the quota-limited programmes. Selection does not bear on the Bachillerato marks: it is a draw supervised by a sworn bailiff, or an entrance exam for medicine and dental sciences.

The order of magnitude, to situate the competition: at the ULB, 64 non-resident places in physiotherapy for 184 applications and 28 in speech therapy for 37 applications in 2026-2027; at ULiège, 76 places in physiotherapy for 196 applications. These figures apply to all non-residents, as ARES does not publish a breakdown by nationality. Resident status, which takes you out of the quota, is acquired after five years of uninterrupted residence in Belgium, proven by an E+ or EU+ permanent residence card and a residence certificate with history.

Two procedures not to be confused, and falling almost on the same day: the filing for the programmes selected by draw takes place on 25, 26 and 27 August 2026, with the chosen institution, without prior registration; the entrance exam for medicine and dentistry is held on 27 August 2026, but you must have registered between 18 May and 5 July 2026 on concoursmd.be. You may lodge only one application, in a single quota-limited programme and in a single institution: two applications in parallel count as a duplicate and eliminate the candidate.

How much does a year of study cost for a Spanish student?

The registration fee is that of European students: EUR 1,194 for 2026-2027, set by the programme decree of 5 June 2026 published in the Moniteur belge of 24 June 2026, indexable from 2027-2028 within a limit of 3% per year. No supplementary fee is due: the EUR 4,175 added to the minerval targets non-European students who are not treated as residents. The reduced rates on the scale (EUR 835 in the intermediate bracket, EUR 374 in the modest bracket, EUR 0 for a grant holder) depend on the household's resources, assessed under the rules of the study grants, to which a European national has access only if they hold permanent residence, work in Belgium or have a family member in Belgium who meets one of these conditions. A student arriving from Spain for a full programme therefore pays the full rate. The application for a reduced rate is lodged with the Direction des allocations d'études, from 1 July to 31 October.

The study grant of the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles obeys the same logic: a European national alone on their household composition must hold the right of permanent residence (E+ or EU+ card) or work in Belgium, student jobs being excluded, or have a family member in Belgium meeting one of these conditions, and prove that they receive no financial aid from another country. The first year therefore has to be budgeted without it. To that are added the EUR 400 of equivalence fees, non-refundable, and, where applicable, the cost of the apostilles. For health cover, the European Health Insurance Card is accepted at the commune.

Why get support

A Spanish file is rarely decided on academic level: it is decided on form. A true copy made in Spain without an apostille, a transcript for a single year, a certificate of non-issue that no one thinks of requesting until April, a document in Catalan that nobody had translated. As with the many international students we support, we take these points one by one, before filing. You lodge your own admission application and your own municipal file, with your own contact details; we prepare, check and keep to the calendar.

• Check of the documents required by the Spain sheet, título de Bachiller and transcripts of both years included
• Arbitration between a true copy apostilled in Spain and certification in Belgium, according to your calendar
• Check of the language of the documents and anticipation of a sworn translation if necessary
• Analysis of your resident or non-resident status and strategy on the quota-limited programmes
• Follow-up of the provisional equivalence up to the 15 May deadline and of the certificate of non-issue