Non-EU citizens: Common procedures
- Temporary residence and salaried work
The initial temporary residence and salaried work permit allows foreign nationals residing outside Spain, who were granted the corresponding visa, to engage in salaried professional activities. The temporary permit is issued for a maximum period of one year and may be limited to a specific geographic area or employment sector.
The procedure must be initiated by the entrepreneur or employer interested in hiring a foreign worker who is not in an irregular situation in Spain.
The entrepreneur or legally authorised representative must personally apply for the residence and salaried work permit with the register of the corresponding competent organisation in the province where the employment will take place.
Once the application has been granted, the foreign worker must register with the Social Security Administration within one month after entering the country. Failure to do so will result in cancellation of the permit.
- Official application form: EX01
- Employment contract or Offer of employment. Official form: EX06
- Temporary residence and fixed-term salaried work permit
This temporary permit allows the holder to engage in the following activities:
- Seasonal and harvesting work.
- The validity of the permit is limited to the duration of the contract, with a maximum of one year. It can be extended depending on the duration of the activity that is object of the aforementioned contract. Requirements.
- Specific work or services.
- Allows the holder to engage in labour activities involving the assembly of industrial or electrical plants, the construction of infrastructures, buildings and power supply, gas, railway and telephone networks, the installation and maintenance of production equipment, as well as the corresponding start-up and repair works. Requirements.
- Temporary employment.
- Senior management staff, professional sportsmen and artists engaged in public performances. Requirements.
- For training and development of professional practices. Requirements.
- Official application form: EX02
- Employment contract or Offer of employment. Official form: EX06
- Contingent
Every year, the Government, with the agreement of the Council of Ministers, may employ a contingent of foreign workers, which allows for the programmed recruitment of workers who are not living or residing in Spain, who are called to occupy jobs with a high degree of stability, and who are selected in their countries of residence based upon the generic job offers presented by the employers.
Employment offers can be presented by business organisations, on behalf of companies that want to hire no less than ten foreign workers. Single companies that want to hire not less than ten foreign workers or groups of companies who jointly want to hire the aforementioned number of foreign workers are eligible to file an application.
These employment offers guarantee contingent workers uninterrupted employment for a minimum period of one year.
There are two different types of offers: generic offers and nominative offers.
- Based upon the generic offers presented by the employers, the selection of foreign workers will be made in those countries with which Spain has entered into Agreements concerning the regulation and management of migration flows. However, this does not exclude that the Directorate-General of Immigration of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, in cases provided for in the Agreement, may authorise the processing of employment offers to other countries, at the applicant’s request.
The selection will be made in accordance with the terms set forth in the applicable Agreement, with the participation, where appropriate, of the Directorate-General of Migration Management and/or of the corresponding Diplomatic Mission.
The aforementioned process is also open to the participation of job offering companies, either directly or through representatives listed in the annex accompanying the employment offer, or through representatives of the business organisations, who can be authorised by the Secretary of State for Immigration and Emigration.
–Application for stable employment offer management and residence and work permit for selected workers. Official form: Annex II-A.
–Stable generic employment offer. Official form: Annex II-B.
- With regard to nominative offers, foreign workers who are not living nor residing in Spain, must meet the following requirements:
- Workers selected abroad by companies belonging to the same group as the hiring company, provided that the aforementioned companies are legally constituted and are dedicated to the same business activity as the Spanish company.
- Workers who have been holders of a work permit in Spain, and have afterwards returned to their country of origin in which they are currently residing.
- Exceptional assumptions that have been expressly authorised by the Directorate-General for Migration Management of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.
– Application for stable employment offer management and residence and work permit for selected workers. Official form: Annex II-A.
–Stable nominative employment offer. Official form: Annex II-C.
- Change of situation: change from a residence situation to a residence and salaried work situation.
Foreign citizens who have been legally residing in Spain for at least one year are entitled to a residence and salaried or self-employed work permit.
Foreign nationals residing in Spain as a result of family reunification, as well as the spouse applying for a temporary independent residence permit as defined in article 41.2 (Royal Decree 2393/2004, of 30 December), are entitled to a residence and salaried or self-employed work permit, irrespective of the one-year limitation period.
ApplicantThe entrepreneur or employer interested in hiring a foreign worker who is not in an irregular situation in Spain must file the application either personally or through his legal business representative.
In the case of legal persons, those individuals who are connected to a company through an employment relationship and who have been granted a general delegation of authority or a delegation of authority for specific functions, which expressly include the submission of applications for residence and work permits, provided that the delegation of authority has been registered with the Trade Register, will be considered comparable to the company’s administrator.
The only exception from the obligation of individual employers to personally file the application is limited to cases of documented impossibility to personally appear (illness or physical impediment, attested to by a medical certificate or clinical report signed by a qualified physician), in which cases a power of attorney of representation will be accepted as valid.
The labour or professional activity can under no circumstances start before the issuance of the permit.
- Temporary residence and self-employed work
In order to be granted a temporary residence and self-employed work permit, the following requirements must be met:
- Meet the requirements imposed by current legislation on national citizens for the development and implementation of the proposed professional activity.
- Be in possession of the necessary professional qualification or have sufficient demonstrable experience for the exercise of the professional activity, as well as the necessary academic qualifications for professions that require specific certification and, where appropriate, professional association membership, if required.
- Provide evidence that the investment projected for the implementation of the project is sufficient and meets the requirements, where appropriate, of employment creation, under the terms established by order of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.
- Be in possession of the certification of association membership, if required for the exercise of independent professional activities.
- Provide evidence that the professional activity will generate sufficient financial resources from the first year of operation to cover at least the costs of maintenance and accommodation of the applicant, after deducting all costs necessary for the performance of the professional activity.
- Have a clean criminal record in Spain and previous countries of residence for offences punishable under Spanish legislation.
- Not be recorded as in an irregular situation in Spain.