Without the signature of whoever holds parental authority, a child gets no visa to travel without their parents.
A child needs the same visa as an adult, but does not apply alone: the form is signed by whoever exercises parental authority (patria potestad) or guardianship, and if the child travels with only one parent, or with neither, the consulate wants written consent from the one not travelling. To stay more than ninety days studying on their own, the 2024 Immigration Regulation (Real Decreto 1155/2024) requires the student to be over seventeen for university and eighteen for post-compulsory secondary education. Below that there are pupil mobility programmes and the humanitarian programmes of Articles 161 to 164, which bring children for holidays, schooling or medical treatment, always through a public administration or a non-profit organisation. Reunification of children with a resident parent is a separate route with its own note.
The two High Court of Madrid judgments that granted student visas to children coming to live with an uncle or aunt were decided under the 2011 regulation. Today that route is closed: Article 52.1 does not cover compulsory secondary education except within a mobility programme, Article 35.f requires eighteen for post-compulsory studies, and the Supreme Court upheld that limit in July 2026.
Updated
Who signs, which visa, which programmes
Short trips: the signature of the parent who stays
The harmonised list of supporting documents for Morocco, published by the Consulate General in Agadir, asks, where the child travels with only one parent, for the other's consent certified in writing, unless the travelling parent has sole parental authority and proves it; if the child travels with neither, consent from both. The form is signed by whoever exercises parental authority or guardianship, and the embassy in La Paz also requires that person to go with the child to hand it in. Children under twelve do not give fingerprints; the fee is €45 between the ages of six and twelve, and nothing below six.
Studies: age decides
A long stay for studies requires being over seventeen for higher education and eighteen for post-compulsory secondary education and training activities; compulsory secondary education only fits within a pupil mobility programme. Where a minor can come, if they will be in the care of someone without parental authority or guardianship, they need the authorisation of both parents, or of the one exercising it alone, stating the school or organisation responsible and the period of stay. The Supreme Court kept the eighteen-year limit (STS 868/2026, 6th legal ground): it protects minors against trafficking and unaccompanied movement.
Humanitarian programmes: who runs them
The promoter (the body that runs the programme, which is a party to the procedure) can only be a public administration or a registered non-profit association or foundation: the family hosts the child, but cannot be the promoter. There must be war, disaster, a refugee camp or treatment that cannot be given in the country of origin. Before the trip, the following are needed: a favourable report from the Government Delegation or Sub-Delegation, requested three to four months in advance (with no answer within a month, it is deemed refused); express authorisation from whoever holds parental authority; a report from the regional child-protection body; criminal record and sex-offence certificates for anyone over fourteen who will live with the child; an undertaking to return the child at no public cost; and a declaration by the family that it does not intend to adopt. The consulate checks the report, the authorisation and the passport before issuing the visa.
Treatment, holidays and school
Medical treatment: up to ninety days, with a parent or guardian if they come in the programme. It can be extended with a report from the health authority and the parents' agreement, followed by exceptional residence for as long as needed, up to one year, renewable. Holidays: from age eight (or six if coming with a brother or sister over eight), for ninety days with no extension, and one supervisor for every fifteen children; within fifteen days the organisation tells the police that each child has returned. Schooling: from age twelve, with a place at an officially recognised school; it is a stay for studies, lasts the school year, and repeating it requires a new programme.
Two judgments and a question no judge has answered
Under the 2011 regulation, no. In STSJ M 12204/2024 of 27 September (appeal 1499/2023), the Consulate General in Santa Cruz de la Sierra (Bolivia) refused a student visa to a girl born in 2011 who was to start the first year of ESO (compulsory secondary education) at a school in Catalonia, in the care of her aunt and uncle, for lack of ties to her country and doubts about where the money came from. There were favourable reports from the Government Sub-Delegation in Barcelona and from the Catalan government's child-protection body. The court said ties to the home country are not a requirement for a minor who is not coming with their parents: the parents' authorisation, stating the school and the period, is enough, and bank statements cannot be dismissed without a single piece of evidence against them. It quashed the refusal, declared the right to the visa and ordered the administration to pay costs capped at €500 plus VAT. Today the same case would have to go through a schooling programme under Article 164, from age twelve and run by an organisation, not by the aunt and uncle.
No, according to the court. In STSJ M 6968/2025 of 23 May (appeal 1287/2024), the Consulate General in Dakar refused a student visa to a boy living in Senegal who had a place in the fourth year of ESO at a state school in Tarragona, where his uncle would take him in. It saw bad faith in the enrolment giving an address in Spain, and added that there was no report from child-protection services or from the Sub-Delegation for a move for schooling purposes. The father had given his consent before a notary. The court answered that access to state schools is not the consulate's business, that a foreign minor may attend a state school whether or not their status is regular, and that the enrolment had to be done by someone living in Spain, so there was no fraud. It quashed the refusal, declared the right to the visa and ordered the administration to pay costs capped at €500 plus VAT. The 2011 regulation applied; under the current one, a minor cannot get a study stay for ESO outside a programme.
We have not found a High Court of Madrid judgment on this point, so what governs is the documentation consulates require. The harmonised list of documents for Morocco asks for the other parent's consent certified in writing, unless you exercise parental authority alone and can prove it; if the child travels with neither parent, consent from both. The application form is signed by whoever exercises parental authority, and some embassies, such as the one in La Paz, want that person present when it is handed in. If the trip is to study and the child will stay with a third party, the rule is in Article 35.g of the Regulation: authorisation from both parents, or from the one with sole parental authority, stating the school and the period of stay.
Tell us the case
Say which consulate you will be applying to and roughly when you want to travel. Those two facts change the answer more than anything else. We reply the same working day.
If you have already been refused and the one-month deadline is running, write to contacto@spainvisaservice.com with REFUSAL in the subject line and the date on the notification.