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Early study

Spain

A parent can come on income alone — which is what actually makes this work.

5/5
ingredients confirmed
Every ingredient this page asks for has a figure and a source.
Tuition
~$12–23k/yr
Madrid international schools, secondary, tuition only. Both schools charge more beside it: Hastings €1,850 once to register, Brains €499 a year to enrol plus a compulsory €2,386 dining hall in secondary. Brains prices its three Madrid campuses differently and this is La Moraleja. Spain’s state schools are free and taught in Spanish, and in Catalonia and the Basque Country in Catalan and Basque.
Living
63.7% of US prices
A comparison of prices, not a budget: it says what things cost here against the United States, not what a month will cost you. Compared at country level, so capital cities and large metros run higher. The price level prices the basket residents buy, and a foreign renter cannot reach the cheap end of local housing — poorer countries may still sit too low here.
Education
Strong
Guardian visa
A parent can qualify on income, not an employer
The visa prohibits working in Spain, so the income has to be in place before the move rather than earned after it.
Safety
1.654 · 27th of 163
Twenty-seventh globally, and safer on the index than Germany or the United Kingdom

What we corrected here

Figures we published, and what reading the source did to them. The old ones were ours, not anyone else’s — this is our record of being wrong, kept where the figure it is about lives.

Tuition

We had ~$13–29k/yrNow ~$12–23k/yr

The $17,500 in the middle of that range was not a figure any school published, and neither were its two ends. The schools quoted in support of it were the city’s most expensive and one of them was quoted from an unnamed source.

Read from the source in 2026-09.

Where these figures came from

One row per ingredient. Open any of them for the source, how far we trust it, and when we last checked.

Tuition~$12–23k/yr

Madrid, secondary years, from two schools’ own 2026/27 price lists. Brains International School at La Moraleja publishes an annual figure by stage — €11,040 for secondary, €11,175 for bachillerato, €14,003 for the IB Diploma. Hastings School publishes a monthly one and says the year is ten instalments: €1,440 a month for Years 7 to 9 rising to €2,120 for the IB Diploma, so €14,400 to €21,200 a year. The previous figure was $17,500 and nothing printed it. Not the American School of Madrid’s €23,245 or €25,072, not the British Council School’s €11,330, not their median, mean or midpoint — €16,168 is a price no school in this record charges. Every other manufactured figure found in this pass was at least a computation of published ones; this was a round number. The "$13–29k" range around it was ours too, and matches no printed figure at either end. The American School of Madrid is out of the sample. It is the city’s top tier, which rule 4 of section 12-4-1 excludes, and its site also refuses the connection from here — one exclusion resting on two reasons, and only the first is a decision. The British Council School was in the old record as "reported at around €11,330", named no source for it, and publishes its own fees only as a document its site would not serve us.

Madrid international schools, secondary, tuition only. Both schools charge more beside it: Hastings €1,850 once to register, Brains €499 a year to enrol plus a compulsory €2,386 dining hall in secondary. Brains prices its three Madrid campuses differently and this is La Moraleja. Spain’s state schools are free and taught in Spanish, and in Catalonia and the Basque Country in Catalan and Basque.

WhatAs publishedPer year, USD
Brains — Secondary (ESO)11,040 EURa year$11,950
Brains — BachilleratoBoth years at the same rate11,175 EURa year$12,100
Hastings — Years 7, 8 and 9€1,440 a month over ten instalments14,400 EURa year$15,600
Brains — IB DiplomaBoth years at the same rate14,003 EURa year$15,150
Hastings — Year 10€1,640 a month over ten instalments16,400 EURa year$17,750
Hastings — Year 11€1,680 a month over ten instalments16,800 EURa year$18,200
Hastings — Years 12 and 13, A-level€1,860 a month over ten instalments18,600 EURa year$20,150
Hastings — Years 12 and 13, IB€2,120 a month over ten instalments21,200 EURa year$22,950

8 figures from 2 separate decisions — a body that publishes its prices in finer detail would otherwise count for more than one that does not. Nothing stands above them, because no one of them is the country’s price.

Confidence
printed in the source
Last checked
2026-09
Living63.7% of US prices

World Bank, 2024, CC BY 4.0: the PPP conversion factor for household consumption is 0.5885 local currency units per international dollar, against an official exchange rate of 0.9239 to the US dollar. Their ratio, 0.637, is the price level against the United States, whose own ratio is 1 by construction. Both figures are theirs; the division is ours. See the Pathoff method, section 12.

A comparison of prices, not a budget: it says what things cost here against the United States, not what a month will cost you. Compared at country level, so capital cities and large metros run higher. The price level prices the basket residents buy, and a foreign renter cannot reach the cheap end of local housing — poorer countries may still sit too low here.

Confidence
made by us from the source
EducationStrong

Pathoff judgement, no rubric yet: placed against the other countries here from general knowledge of the international-school sector. Under review — see the Pathoff method, section 9-3.

Confidence
made by us from the source
Guardian visaA parent can qualify on income, not an employer

Pathoff outcome rubric (the Pathoff method, section 10-1), early outcome band "Partial or conditional access": No dedicated guardian status, but the non-lucrative visa lets a parent qualify on passive income — 400% of the IPREM, €28,800 a year, plus 100% (€7,200) for each dependant — with no employer needed. High in the band because the threshold is published and the route leads to long-term residence in five years.

The visa prohibits working in Spain, so the income has to be in place before the move rather than earned after it.

Confidence
made by us from the source
Rule
No change known to us
Last checked
2026-09
Safety1.654 · 27th of 163

Global Peace Index 2026, Institute for Economics and Peace: score 1.654, ranked 27 of 163. Both figures are theirs; we publish them as they are.

Twenty-seventh globally, and safer on the index than Germany or the United Kingdom

Confidence
printed in the source

What it is like here

Spain has the thing most of Europe lacks: a published, non-employment route in. The non-lucrative visa asks for passive income rather than a job offer, which means a family can move for a child’s schooling without either parent finding an employer first. Against it, the international-school market in Madrid is expensive, and the visa itself forbids working — the income has to already exist.

How the process works

1

Apply for the non-lucrative visa at a consulate

Filed in the country of residence, with income or savings evidence and private health cover.

⏱ 1–3 months
2

Get the TIE card after arrival

The visa is the entry document; the residence card is issued in Spain.

⏱ 1–2 months
3

Register on the padrón, then enrol

Municipal registration is what unlocks school places and, later, health cover.

⏱ 1–2 weeks

What the first year asks for up front

Money a government or a school requires before the year starts. Listed one at a time and never added together: some of it is spent and some of it only has to exist.

Not a single amount here: A parent coming with a school-age child applies for the non-lucrative visa, and its requirement is a multiple too: 400% of the IPREM, plus 100% of the IPREM for each family member. The consulate states the rule and says it gives no static euro or dollar amount. The figure of about 28,800 euros that circulates online is that rule multiplied out, twelve months of 600 euros taken four times, and Spain publishes the rule rather than the product. The child’s own study stay is set the same way, at 100% of the IPREM for each month of it.

The insurance requirement is a specification and not a price. The consulates ask for cover of at least 30,000 euros valid in Spain, with no deductible and no copayment, and say it may not be a travel policy. What that costs is left to the insurer, so there is no amount for us to record. The fee order was read for the two flat state charges recorded under the university and vocational routes here; which of its lines apply to a parent’s non-lucrative permit we did not confirm, so none is recorded on this page.

The consulates publish the financial requirement for both routes a family needs, and both are multiples of the IPREM rather than amounts. Neither page gives a euro total, and for the non-lucrative visa the accompanying parent applies on, the consulate says so in terms.

Where families cluster

Madrid (Pozuelo, La Moraleja)
The largest international-school cluster, and the prices with it
Barcelona / Sitges
Coastal, international, and Catalan in the state schools
Valencia
The cheapest of the three big international-school cities

Open any ingredient above to see where its figure came from, how far we trust it and when we last checked. Nothing here is a substitute for the official source. Last reviewed 2026-09-04.

Photograph of Spain by Zarateman, licensed CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.