Europlanet Science Congress 2022
Palacio de Congresos de Granada, Spain
18 – 23 September 2022
Europlanet Science Congress 2022
Palacio de Congresos de Granada, Spain
18 September – 23 September 2022

Visa requirements & letter of invitation

General information

A valid travel document is required to travel to Spain to attend the EPSC.

Spain is a member state of the Schengen Area. Citizens of the Schengen Area only need an identification card, or a valid passport. Note that some EU countries are not part of the Schengen Area. UK citizens can continue to travel to the EU with their UK passport after Brexit (the only difference is that now, you can only stay in Schengen area countries visa-free for up to three months.)

Besides a valid travel document, visitors from outside the Schengen Area should check whether or not a visa needs to be requested. The travel document must be less than 10 years old on the day you enter (check the 'date of issue') and valid for at least three months following the planned exit from the territory of Schengen Area (check the 'expiry date').

Schengen visa

Being in possession of a valid visa is required of nationals of third countries that have not reached a visa liberalization agreement with the Schengen States in order to enter any member country of the Schengen Area, unless in possession of a valid residence permit or a valid long-term visa issued by another Member State. Participants from third countries with a valid visa for one of the Schengen countries may travel through the territory of the other Schengen States for a maximum of 90 days within any 180-day period. Besides the Schengen visa, travellers may need to present several documents to the border police at the Spanish port of entry (search your closest consulate or embassy at this website and then go to ‘Consular Services' and 'Conditions for entry into Spain').

The Uniform Schengen Visa can be requested at the Spanish embassies and consulates with territorial competence for the country in which you legally reside (search your closest consulate or embassy here and then go to 'Consular services' and 'Schengen Visas'). The basic visa fee is €80. Besides the application form, the Spanish authorities may ask for additional documents. The application must be submitted to the consulate at least 15 days before the intended journey.

COVID-19 entry restrictions for Spain

In order to enter Spain, all passengers, regardless of the country of origin (except children under the age of 12 and passengers in international transit), must show one of these documents:

  • An EU Digital COVID Certificate or EU equivalent of COVID-19 vaccination, a negative certificate of an active infection diagnostic test, or a recovery certificate.
  • Spain Tavel Health (SpTH QR): If you do not have the EU Digital COVID Certificate or equivalent, you must complete the SpTH Health Control Form, manually entering the details of your vaccination, recovery or diagnostic test certificate.

More information can be found at this website.

Note that these rules may be updated depending on new developments of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Letter of invitation

Participants that require an official invitation letter in order to obtain a visa, to raise travel funds or for administrative purposes should apply for such an invitation. Please note that such an invitation letter is not a certificate of participation or certificate of attendance. Those certificates will only be issued upon request after the conference. A request can be submitted during the online conference registration. Please note that invitation letters will only be issued to participants who either have a paid conference registration or an accepted abstract. This invitation is not a commitment on the part of the organizers to provide financial support.

The invitation should be requested online at least 8 weeks prior to the meeting at the very latest. The deadline for requesting a letter of invitation is 15 August 2022. Requests received later than this date may not be processed by the embassies. Letters of invitation will be sent as pdf file by email. If a letter of invitation is requested for visa purposes, a hardcopy will be sent in addition by courier. We would like to point out that invitation letters will be only sent to the address indicated by the applicant. As the hardcopies will be sent by courier, it is the applicant's responsibility to make sure that the indicated address can be used for the delivery. The organizers are not liable for the loss of the document if it cannot be delivered. The organizers will not send invitation letters to embassies. The applicants are responsible to take care of their own visa application and need to directly contact the respective embassy. Please consider that the invitation letter is a standard letter which will not be modified individually. You are responsible for contacting the relevant Spanish Embassy or Consulate and for finding out what kind of visa you require .