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Will my Spain student visa be revoked if I don't attend class all semester? I had a changes of plans and will be backpacking through Europe instead.

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    Do you otherwise need a visa to visit the Schengen zone? If not, it might not matter if your student visa is valid or not. – Roddy of the Frozen Peas Aug 31 '17 at 00:32
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    This "change of plans" could very easily be interpreted as fraud by immigration authorities. –  Aug 31 '17 at 00:38
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    Your "change of plans" invalidates the visa on its own - backpacking is not an activity covered under a Student Visa. – Moo Aug 31 '17 at 00:42
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    Does your college have an international student office or similar? If so, check with them. – Patricia Shanahan Aug 31 '17 at 01:04
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    @Moo its true that the change of plans invalidates the visa But if the OP were to study their visa would not prevent them from backpacking during their holidays – Hanky Panky Aug 31 '17 at 07:42
  • @HankyPanky they outright say they are planning to not attend class all semester... Either it's a diploma mill and thus should be shut down, or attending class for a certain proportion of the time is a requirement and they plan to breach it, and in turn their visa conditions... – Moo Aug 31 '17 at 09:37
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    Is your visa a type C or type D visa? Are you a citizen of a country whose nationals are visa-exempt for stays of up to 90 days in any 180-day period? Will you be in the Schengen area for more than 90 days in any 180-day period? Will you be leaving and reentering the Schengen area? – phoog Aug 31 '17 at 10:50
  • Arguably, there are two issues here. One is whether a semester not studying will invalidate the student visa. The other is whether the OP is permitted to backpack around Europe. – Patricia Shanahan Sep 01 '17 at 14:35
  • @PatriciaShanahan Not exactly, the question about the visa being revoked can be divided into: a) Is it a motive for being invalidated?; b) Is it likely that they will be caught? It is a bit like "will I go to jail if I steal?" – Miguel Sep 02 '17 at 09:06
  • Are you a regular student who pays their fees, or are you enrolled in an exchange program with a grant? There would be an economic issue here... – Miguel Sep 02 '17 at 09:09

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I can't speak for Spain in particular but people taking student visas and then not attending school is regarded as a huge problem in the UK.

Though actual numbers of people doing this are believed to be quite low there is nonetheless a large dose of right wing hysteria that tens of thousands of people are doing this every year. It's why in recent years things have been made so difficult for would-be students from India and others.

As such in the UK at least this would be a very bad idea.

Though I'm not familiar with the hysteria being so high in other European countries it is still not allowed and very poorly regarded.

Nonetheless... it likely depends which country you are from. If you're from a the US or other related countries that don't need a visa to visit then it's unlikely to cause a big fuss with the immigration authorities. If you're from a developing country from which visas are required however then alarm bells will probably ring that you've decided to go off the radar and work illegally.

Regardless of the immigration authorities reaction there will likely be a big reaction from the university (your home school and the host). They are responsible for you and you've just gone missing. This could cause a massive panic unless you explicitly tell them you won't be attending the classes you had planned.

Basically don't do this.

Skip a lot of classes to travel a lot if you want. Its fine. Wealthy students do this all the time.

But skip the whole semester? Bad idea.

the other one
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