Not just English: Spanish, Italian, French and German schools had a great 2025

English is the first language most Latin American students go abroad for, and for many it stays the only one. But a second group is growing fast: students who already have their English and want a European language, and students for whom Spain or Italy is simply the destination they can afford and get into. The 2025 results of the European language school associations tell that story.

The numbers

• Spain: Fedele, which groups the country's Spanish schools, reported its fifth consecutive year of growth in 2025 and a record: 168,567 students, 977,490 student weeks (35 per cent more than in 2024) and an economic impact of EUR 716 million. Individual students stayed eleven weeks on average, up from eight.
• Italy: schools in the ASILS association enrolled 5.3 per cent more students in 2025, close to 30,000, with shorter and more intensive stays.
• Germany: the fifteen schools surveyed by the German association FDSV taught 22,623 students, a small rise, but revenue jumped 40 per cent because stays lengthened to 6.6 weeks on average. Latin America was a visible market: Central America accounted for 7.3 per cent of students and South America 5.3 per cent.
• France: schools grouped in Groupement FLE, about fifty of them in thirty destinations, teach more than 30,000 students a year, and the country refined its international education strategy in May 2026.

Entry: ninety days free, then a national visa

For citizens of Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Chile and Peru, all four countries sit inside the Schengen area: 90 days in any 180 without a visa. A course of up to twelve weeks needs only your passport, proof of funds and accommodation, and the school's enrolment letter. Beyond 90 days each country has its own student visa, applied for before you travel:

• Spain: courses of at least 20 hours a week; funds of 100 per cent of the public income indicator, about EUR 600 a month in 2026; since May 2025 student visa holders may work up to 30 hours a week without a separate permit, but switching from tourist to student status inside Spain is no longer possible for language students, so apply from home.
• Italy: courses of at least 20 hours a week over 90 days; funds of roughly EUR 10,180 for a year per the consular table; some consulates ask for a basic level of Italian; work up to 20 hours a week on the residence permit.
• France: since 1 August 2026 the financial requirement for a student visa is EUR 877.50 a month, up from EUR 615, indexed to the minimum wage from now on; students may work up to 964 hours a year.
• Germany: a language course visa requires at least 18 lessons a week and a blocked account of about EUR 1,091 a month (EUR 13,092 for a year); work rights depend on the permit issued, so read the sticker.

Which language, for whom

• Spanish in Spain, for Portuguese speakers and for Spanish speakers who want Business Spanish, exam preparation (DELE, SIELE) or a combined programme. The schools' quality mark comes from the Instituto Cervantes; Fedele membership is the second thing to look for.
• Italian, for students who want a European year on a budget and for anyone with Italian family roots and a citizenship application in progress; many programmes accept beginners.
• French, for careers in international organisations, tourism and the growing Canadian route, where French opens doors that English alone does not.
• German, for engineering and health careers and for students who plan a German degree later; the blocked account is the hurdle, the longer stays in 2025 show that students are clearing it.

A route that works: English first, then the second language

Two Schengen windows of 90 days, separated by at least 90 days outside the area, allow a student to do twelve weeks of English in Malta or Ireland, go home, and return for twelve weeks of Italian in Florence or Spanish in Salamanca within the same year, both without a visa. Schools in all four countries offer beginner groups every month, so the second language does not need a head start.

The lesson of 2025 is that the doors to Europe's other languages are wide open, and that the schools behind them are competing for exactly the student who is reading this.

Keep reading

Two giants closed in five days. Here is what accreditation actually buys youA big language school just closed. Here is what protects you when that happensAustralia's 2026 rulebook for language students, in plain language