Procedure · Autorización de trabajo para trabajadores transfronterizos
Cross-border worker permit in Spain (trabajadores transfronterizos)
A work permit without residence, for people living in the border area of a neighbouring state who return home each day. It never turns into residence, however long it is renewed.
Checked at source ·
- Official fee
- Set by the processing fee for the work authorisation
- Official name
- Autorización de trabajo para trabajadores transfronterizos
- Forms
- —
- Steps
- 9
- Documents required
- 5
Source: Boletín Oficial del Estado — Real Decreto 1155/2024, por el que se aprueba el Reglamento de la Ley Orgánica 4/2000 (texto consolidado). Checked .
Who needs one
Non-EU nationals living in the border area of a state bordering Spain who work in the Spanish border area and return home daily.
Step by step
Check the definition — the daily return is the whole point
You are a cross-border worker if you are authorised to carry out paid work, employed or self-employed, in the border areas of Spanish territory while living in the border area of a neighbouring state, and you return there daily. Not weekly, not at weekends: daily. Lose that pattern and you lose the status, and losing the status is itself a ground for refusing and for terminating the permit.
Employed work: what has to be proved
No criminal record in Spain or in your countries of residence over the last five years, for conduct that is an offence under Spanish law. Not being listed as inadmissible in the territory of countries with which Spain has an agreement to that effect. Living in the relevant border area. A labour-market test that allows the hire. An employment contract from the employer, starting when the permit takes effect and guaranteeing continuous work for its duration. An employer registered with the corresponding Social Security scheme and up to date with tax and Social Security. Contract terms matching the rules and the collective agreement for that activity, category and locality. An employer with sufficient economic, material or personal means. And the capacity or professional qualification the job legally requires.
Self-employed work: what has to be proved
The same criminal record and inadmissibility conditions, and the same requirement to live in the border area. Beyond that: meeting whatever Spanish law requires of nationals to open and run the activity, holding the professional qualification and professional-body registration where required, showing the planned investment is sufficient and what it will do for job creation, and a projection that from the first year the activity will produce enough to support you once the costs of keeping it running are deducted.
Where an autonomous community holds the powers, it decides
Where executive powers over initial work authorisations, employed or self-employed, have been transferred to the regional administration, that administration is competent for admitting, processing and deciding applications and any administrative appeals against them. The file does not go through the state administration at all.
One month to register and to get the card
Within a month of being notified of the grant you must be registered with the corresponding Social Security scheme, and within the same month you apply for the foreigner identity card at the competent police station. The card evidences your status as a cross-border worker and allows entry to and exit from Spanish territory for the activity it covers.
The card is issued even for a permit shorter than six months
This is the exception worth knowing. The general rule is that the identity card goes with permits of more than six months. For cross-border workers the Regulation says expressly that the card is applied for and obtained regardless of the permit running less than six months, because the card is what gets you across the border each day.
Duration: the length of the contract, between three months and a year
The initial permit matches the length of the employment contract it is granted for, with a minimum of three months and a maximum of one year. The same criteria apply to the planned activity for self-employed work. Its validity is limited to the territory of the autonomous community or autonomous city whose border area you live next to, and to one occupation for employed work or one sector for self-employed work.
Extensions, for as long as the same work continues
The permit is extended on expiry as long as the same employment relationship or self-employed activity continues and the circumstances behind the grant still hold. Each extension matches the contract or the activity, again capped at one year. It terminates on the general grounds that apply to other permits and, specifically, on losing cross-border worker status.
It does not lead to residence. Ever.
Having held a cross-border work permit, employed or self-employed, generates no right to obtain a residence and work permit. It can be taken into account in assessing an application you make, but no amount of time on this permit converts into residence by itself. If residence in Spain is the goal, this is not the route towards it.
Documents you need
Proof of residence in the border area
Of the neighbouring state facing the Spanish border area where the work will be done.
Criminal record certificates
From Spain and from your countries of residence over the last five years, for conduct that is an offence under Spanish law.
For employed work: the contract and the employer's file
Contract starting when the permit takes effect and guaranteeing continuous work, plus the employer's Social Security registration, tax and Social Security standing, and proof of sufficient means.
For self-employed work: the activity file
Licences and requirements applying to nationals, professional qualification and registration where required, proof of sufficient investment, and a projection of income from the first year.
Proof of professional capacity or qualification
Where the profession legally requires it.
Common questions
What is a cross-border worker permit?
A work permit with no residence attached, for someone living in the border area of a state bordering Spain who works in the Spanish border area and returns home every day. It authorises work, not residence.
How long does it last?
As long as the contract it is granted for, with a minimum of three months and a maximum of one year, and it is extended while the same work continues. It is limited to the autonomous community or city whose border area you live beside, and to one occupation or one sector.
Do I get a residence card?
You get a foreigner identity card, applied for within a month of the grant, evidencing your status as a cross-border worker and allowing you to enter and leave Spain for that work. Unusually, it is issued even where the permit runs less than six months.
Can it lead to residence in Spain?
No. The Regulation says holding this permit generates no right to a residence and work permit. It can be taken into account in assessing a later application, but it does not convert into residence however many times it is renewed.
What happens if I stop returning home each day?
You lose cross-border worker status, and that is expressly both a ground for refusing the permit and a ground for terminating one already granted. The daily return is not a formality.
Who decides my application?
The state administration, unless executive powers over initial work authorisations have been transferred to the autonomous community, in which case that administration admits, processes and decides the application and any appeal.
Sources
Every fact on this page comes from one of these. We do not cite other guides, because a copy gives us no way to notice when the original changes.
- Real Decreto 1155/2024, por el que se aprueba el Reglamento de la Ley Orgánica 4/2000 (texto consolidado)Boletín Oficial del Estado
- Cita previa de extranjeríaMinisterio de Política Territorial y Función Pública
This is information, not advice
Your own case depends on your nationality, your current status and your history with the administration — none of which a web page can see. Confirm anything that matters with the responsible authority or a qualified professional before you act on it.