FULBRIGHT SPAIN ONLINE GUIDE

FULBRIGHT SPAIN ONLINE GUIDE

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FULBRIGHT SPAIN ONLINE GUIDE

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PRoject funding & side projects

PREDOCTORAL RESEARCHERS:
PROJECT ALLOWANCE

Predoctoral Researchers have access to a project allowance of up to 500€ during their grant, pending Commission authorization. This project allowance may only be used for expenses approved in advance and all grantees must submit receipts to the Commission to justify any amount spent. These funds can be used for a variety of Fulbright-related expenses, including but not limited to:

  • Expenses necessary for your Fulbright grant activity, such as travel to archives or a second city of residence, photocopies of archival material, a specific reagent, secondary literature difficult to access in the U.S.
  • Language classes (castellano or the co-official language of the region of residence) – 250€ maximum, see section below
  • Expenses related to conference attendance (registration fees, travel to/from, accommodation). Please note that if the conference is located outside your host city, upon completion of the conference, you will need to submit a report to the Fulbright Commission about your experience and participation at the conference.
  • Expenses for community involvement or volunteering activities (there must be an intercultural exchange component)

Generally speaking, food and drink purchases, hardware/technology expenses, and ground transportation (metro, taxi) are not eligible for reimbursement.

Authorization for the use of project funds depends on your grant activity and the scope and feasibility of the funding request. Grantees must submit all expenses to the Commission for review by completing their individual preojct allowance spreadsheet. Please review the information below prior to submitting a requst to ensure that you are providing all of the required information.

Please address any specific questions to your main contact at the Commission.

Fulbright Spain: 2025-26
Project Allowance & Receipt Submission Instructions

Predoctoral Researcbers: Project Allowance Key Deadlines

All predoctoral researchers will receive 250€ in project allowance funds with first stipend payment (issued once you have opened a Spanish bank account). 

  1. This is an advance from your 500€ project allowance. The Commission is advancing these funds so that you can begin language classes, purchase required textbooks, or pay conference registration fees (as applicable) as soon as you are ready, without needing to pay out of pocket and then wait for reimbursement.
  2. All grantees must submit receipts to the Commission (see below) to justify the initial 250€ received or any additional funds requested for project allowance expenses (up to 500€). Any amount not used on approved expenses by the end of the grant will be subtracted from your final stipend payment
  3. June 1, 2026 = date of final stipend payment (0.5 months’ payment).
  1.  

November 21st: submit an initial budget via your individual project allowance spreadsheet. 

  1. Include any eligible project-related expenses (i.e.. required textbooks/software, conference attendance (registration fees, accommodation, and travel to/from), photocopies at archives, etc.).
  2. For language classes, include information about the language classes you plan to take (Spanish and/or co-official languages, as applicable). Note: Grantees may spend a maximum of 250€ on language classes and these must be begun no later than February 1, 2026.

By December 11th: The Fulbright Commission will approve/decline your initial budget/funding requests. Any approved funding requests totaling more than 250€ (what you will have already received as an advance with your first stipend payment) will be confirmed with Accounting and, if approved, added to the next stipend payment.

If your funding requests submitted by November 18th are approved, the Commission will tick the corresponding box in your personal project allowance spreadsheet in your individual Google Drive Folder.

  1. You will not receive an email to notify you of your approval and you are responsible for checking your individual folder regularly (or you can set up your spreadsheet to send you notifications when there is a change made)
  2. The same procedure applies to updates to your budget or new funding/language classes requests throughout the grant period.

If more information is required from your proposal and budget and/or your request is not approved, the Commission will: add an explanatory note and/or follow-up questions to the corresponding field in your spreadsheet. The grantee should then add a new line with an updated justification/explanation of the expense.

If you are ever in doubt if an expense is eligible for the project allowance, you should reach out to your main contact at the Commission before making any purchases.

Throughout the grant: If there are changes to your initial budget and/or you require additional funds, you must submit a new funding request via your personal spreadsheet, explaining the changes and your updated budget. This will require approval from both your Program Officer and the Accounting Department. If the changes are approved, any additional funds that have been requested will be included in the following stipend payment.

Deadline to receive Commission approval and begin language classes.

Please see the language classes section below for more information.

ALL RECEIPTS MUST be uploaded to your individual Google Drive folder by May 19th, 2026. Of course, the earlier you upload your receipts to your individual Google Drive folder, the better! Please refer to the receipt guidelines above to ensure that yoru receipts will be accepted by the Commission.

A deduction will be made from your final stipend payment in the following cases:

  1. You have not uploaded all of the receipts for your approved expenses to your personal Google Drive folder by the deadline, or
  2. You have not spent some of the funds you received in advance on approved expenses (the 250€ advance received with your first stipend payment upon arrival in Spain or additional funds issued after project funding expenses approval).
Funds will be added to your final stipend payment if you have spent more funds on approved project allowance expenses (up to 500€) than that which you received from the Commission in previous payments.

Receipt Guidelines

  1. You will receive the link to your individual Google Drive Folder from your main contact at the Commission and it is your responsibility to upload all receipts to your Google Folder and keep track of your budget through the spreadsheet provided.
  2. Receipts should be saved as: Last name, First name_brief expense description_date on receipt. Examples:
    • Abad, Sara_SEC Conference travel_Oct. 15
    • Keyes, McKenna_Gallego classes_Nov. 22
    • Valenciano, Ana_Copies at AGI_March 2
  3. Receipts should have a CIF or NIF (number that shows it is registered officially). It is usually near the top of the receipt under the business’s name. (Many airline, hotel, or AirBnB receipts do not have a Spanish tax ID number, and this is usually fine. If you have a specific question about whether or not a reciept is acceptable, email your main contact at the Commission.)
  4. Receipts should be itemized. Receipts that do not list the specific items purchased will not be accepted. If an itemized receipt is impossible to procure (*sometimes the case with purchases at bazaars or corner stores), please reach out to your main contact at the Commission for further guidance.

Reminder: To keep track of all stipend payments and reimbursements issued to you by the Fulbright Commission, check the “Bank and Payment” tab on your Fulbright Spain portal.

LANGUAGE CLASSES

Language classes must be started by February 1, 2026 and must be taken at an academy, not privately with a tutor (clases particulares). You will be  able to submit a request to take language classes via your individual proejct allowance spreadsheet, which will be shared with you shortly after Orientation in September. 

Predoctoral Researchers may use up to 250€ of their 500€ project allowance on Spanish classes or classes in the regional language of the city in which you are living (Catalan, Basque, Galician, etc., as applicable). When available, a list of language academies recommended by past grantees has been included in each city guide, and a quick Google search will bring up a list of language academies in your host city. Of particular note is that past grantees consistently recommend the group classes at local Escuelas Oficiales de Idiomas for both Spanish and regional languages, but if you are interested in this option you may need to sign up for these classes as soon as you have arrived in September.

Grantees may use project allowance funds to purchase textbooks required for language classes.

Remember that there are many ways to further develop your language skills; if you are looking for something more informal, check out the information on intercambios in the Language section of the Living in Spain page.

DELE Exam

Unfortunately, the 250€ from the project allowance eligible for use for language classes cannot be used to cover DELE exam costs. (The DELE exam is the official accreditation of the degree of fluency of the Spanish Language, issued and recognized by the Ministerio de Educación y Formación Profesional of Spain. The Instituto Cervantes is the institution in charge of organizing the exams, while the Universidad de Salamanca is in charge of the preparation, correction, and final evaluation of all the tests. The exam is administered various times throughout the year, usually from April to November. For more information, please visit the Instituto Cervantes’ website.)