How to earn money while you study in Spain

Sun, fiesta and siesta. If that’s what comes to mind when you think of Spain, you’re on the right track. Known for its gorgeous weather, Mediterranean beaches and, of course, the food and music.

In Barcelona, the second-largest city in Spain, you’ll be at the home to some of the best festivals in the world like Primavera Sound.  Over 400 top artists, from Dua Lipa to Megan Thee Stallion, perform every year.

However, all of these things don’t come free. So, now that we’ve got your attention, we’ll take a look at how you can enjoy all of these perks by looking for jobs in Spain as an international student.

From what you can do with a student visa to getting a post-study work visa and what your options are to earn extra income, we’ll take you through the whole process below:

Visas

On a student visa, you can work up to 20 hours per week. If you’re a non-EU student, there are obviously more procedures to go through as you have a time limit once your student visa expires. 

To do this, you must obtain a work permit from your employer and have a main source of income. As for the post-study work visa, you’ll be allowed to apply after you graduate and stay in Spain for a year. 

For this post-study work visa, you’ll need your uni diploma, sufficient means of financial support, health insurance and proof of payment of application fee. 

Jobs in Spain

The options for jobs in Spain are plenty. Even if you don’t speak Spanish, you can apply for a babysitting role which typically pays eight to nine euros an hour. 

If you’re a fitness freak, getting certified as a trainer shouldn’t be hard and with this, you can earn up to 16 euros an hour. The good news is there are also options for the social media experts which doesn’t really require you to speak Spanish. Getting paid 16 euros an hour putting up posts for a company doesn’t sound bad at all. 

As a student, we’re sure you have a lot of knowledge in your subjects of interest. Sharing that knowledge through tutoring subjects like maths or languages is another great option and with this, you could get 15 euros an hour.

The supreme choice here, on our list of jobs in Spain, would be IT support specialist roles. You can earn 20 euros an hour on a part-time basis. 

Resources

EURES is the website to use if you’re from the EU since it’s a network by the European Commission. As jobs in Spain vary in different regions, this will make your search much easier. 

Expatica Jobs is an up-to-date platform  for foreigners and the best part is they have different categories for English-speaking and multilingual options. Other websites to check include The Guardian, The Local and ThinkSpain. If you’re looking to work with children, Au Pair International is where you should look for opportunities. 

Teaching English in Spain, much like anywhere else, will require you to have qualifications like TEFL. Spainwise and Lingobongo are two websites you can check out for teaching jobs. If you don’t have a TEFL, you can try your luck via the British Council who often only require the minimum of AS Level Spanish. 

If you’re opting to look for jobs in Spain as a graduate with a post-study work visa, you can visit Graduateland (opportunities for graduates in multinational companies), iAgora and Primer Empleo.