Probably almost everyone associates Spain primarily with sunny beaches and warm seas. It is the birthplace of paella, bullfighting, castanets, and flamenco. The country with its rich history and culture has been one of the cultural centers of Europe for many millennia. Work residence in Spain is a dream of a lot of immigrants around the world. If you are planning to work and live in Spain, then read that article carefully.
How to get a working residence permit?
Obtaining a working residence permit in Spain begins with the search for an employer who has already submitted an application to the Spanish labor exchange and could not find anyone based on its recommendations.
It will be very difficult for the employer to obtain a certificate confirming the absence of suitable specialists in the country. Therefore, only a small number of managers will generally agree to begin the process of hiring a foreigner.
Only after successfully receiving the above-mentioned certificate, the Spanish employer has the right to conclude an employment contract with a foreigner who, at the time of signing the contract, lives abroad. But such a contract is rather conditional and is conditioned only by the registration of the employee with the social insurance authorities.
The signed contract and some other papers are submitted by the employer to the local Ministry of Labor and Immigration. This will be a petition to hire a foreign citizen.
It is worth noting that you can count on a positive answer only if the non-resident’s specialty is listed in a special catalog of positions that foreigners can hold. In Spanish it is called Catálogo de ocupaciones de difícil cobertura.
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About the Catalog for specialists
This catalog is compiled according to the need for specialists in each province and is published by the National Institute of Employment every three months.
The catalog brings together all job offers in Spain, for open vacancies for highly-demanded professionals in Spain. For example, Asturias, the Canary Islands, Castile and Leon, Catalonia, Valencia, and Murcia require medical specialists. Besides, Murcia and the city of Ceuta lack specialists in many medical specialties – cardiologists, traumatologists, pediatricians, psychiatrists. In Asturias, Castile, Leon, Galicia, and the city of Melilla, there is a need to recruit occupational therapists. Besides, there is a demand for a variety of engineering professionals (agronomists and computer scientists).
Professions in demand are those that are registered in the national classification of valid professions. If you, as a specialist with your services, find yourself in the sector of in-demand professions, theoretically you have a much better chance of obtaining a residence permit in Spain for contract work than, for example, teachers, lawyers, designers.
Also, the employer himself must provide evidence of the impossibility of recruiting such a specialist in Spain, i.e. show negative search results for a specialist in the state employment service. After providing evidence of the impossibility of hiring such a specialist in Spain, the public employment service prepares a certificate within 15 days, which indicates that the need for such a specialist cannot be satisfied through the use of the national human resource.
Who can apply for a Spanish work permit?
The employer must himself contact the delegation of the Spanish government in his/her province and request permission to hire a foreign specialist, as well as attach an invitation to work. The request for a residence and work permit will in this case be classified as an offer of work in Spain in demanded specialties in the autonomous province.
As soon as permission from the government delegation in the autonomous province is received, in this case, it will be possible to prepare a package of documents for the Spanish consulate to apply for a residence permit for residence and work in Spain.
Of course, there is an opportunity to apply for a position not recorded in this document and obtain a residence permit in Spain. But in such a situation, you will have to prove for a long time the exclusivity of your case and the inability to find a Spanish citizen who can do this job.
After the employer receives the above permission, the foreigner, having a copy of this document, must apply to the consulate for a special type D visa. Moreover, this must be done within just one month from the date of signing the permit at the Ministry of Labor.
Residence permit in Spain: required documents
The list of documents for submission to the consulate consists of:
- photocopies of all pages of the employee’s foreign passport;
- work contract, necessarily signed by the employer. In this paper, you must indicate the size of the salary and the planned duration of cooperation (at least one year);
- copies of employer’s registration documents;
- In some cases, it is impossible to obtain a visa without providing a legalized diploma.
Next steps
Further, an applicant for a residence permit in Spain will have to go through the following stages:
- After receiving a D visa, the employee must register with the social insurance authorities within three months after crossing the border of the kingdom;
- Within one month from the date of registration, an immigrant must submit a personal request for a resident card – this is the main identity card of a foreigner. This is done at the immigration office at his/her place of residence.
- If the employee is not registered within the specified period, he/she must leave the country. Otherwise, the migrant will receive illegal status. Even in a situation where the employer has died or simply refused to cooperate, within 3 months the foreigner must either register by signing an employment contract with another manager or leave Spain.
