Procedure · Autorización de residencia para formación o investigación
Research and training permit in Spain (autorización para investigación)
For researchers, company R&D staff and university teaching contracts. A hosting agreement can replace an employment contract, and twelve months are available to stay on afterwards.
Checked at source ·
- Official fee
- Processing fee for the authorisation. Registered research entities are exempt from evidencing some requirements at the time of applying
- Official name
- Autorización de residencia para formación o investigación
- Forms
- —
- Steps
- 13
- Documents required
- 5
Source: Boletín Oficial del Estado — Ley 14/2013, de apoyo a los emprendedores — sección de movilidad internacional, arts. 61 a 76 (texto consolidado). Checked .
Who needs one
Researchers, scientific and technical staff, and professors contracted by Spanish universities, research centres, business schools or company R&D units.
Step by step
Check you are one of the four cases
Research staff within the meaning of the Science, Technology and Innovation Act; scientific and technical staff carrying out scientific research, development or technological innovation in company units or R&D centres established in Spain; researchers hosted under an agreement by public or private research bodies; and professors contracted by universities, higher education and research bodies or centres, or business schools established in Spain. Teaching at a Spanish business school is inside this route, which surprises people who assume it is only for laboratories.
Two modalities, and the doctorate is what separates them
The EU research permit is for those in the list above who hold a doctorate, or a higher education qualification giving access to doctoral programmes, and who have been selected by the research entity to carry out a research activity. The national research permit covers everyone else in the list. The EU one carries the European mobility rights; the national one does not.
A hosting agreement can do the work of a contract
For the EU permit you present a hosting agreement or an employment contract. The agreement must state the title or purpose of the research or the research field, your undertaking to try to complete the activity, the entity's undertaking to host you in order to complete it, the start and end dates or estimated duration, and any planned mobility in other member states.
An invitation letter can be the agreement
Where an invitation letter contains that minimum content and has been expressly accepted by the researcher, it may be treated as a hosting agreement for the purpose of this application. That is an unusually practical provision and it saves a negotiation that would otherwise have to happen before anyone can apply.
Three years, then two, then long-term residence
The permit runs three years, or the length of the hosting agreement or contract where that is shorter. After it you can apply to renew for two years, and permanent residence becomes available at five.
The EU permit also lets you teach
An EU research permit authorises teaching classes related to the research activity, alongside the research itself — subject to any specific requirements the sector's own rules impose. It is not a research-only permit.
Research in other EU countries, on a Spanish permit
Holders of a Spanish EU research permit may enter, reside and carry out research in one or more member states, accompanied by their family, after notifying or applying to those states' authorities under their own rules implementing the European directive on researchers and students.
And coming to Spain on another country's permit
Entities established in other member states can move researchers holding an EU research permit issued there to Spain, after notifying the Large Companies and Strategic Collectives Unit, with their families. The notice is given when the application is filed in the first state or, once the researcher has been admitted there, as soon as the mobility is known about. It must include the travel document, the valid first-state permit covering the mobility period, the hosting agreement or contract signed there with the expected duration and dates, and proof of health insurance and sufficient means.
Thirty days for Spain to object
The Directorate-General for Migration may object to the mobility, with reasons, within thirty days of receiving the complete notice — where the conditions are not met, where documents were obtained fraudulently, falsified or manipulated, or where the other state's permit has expired. If it objects, the first state must allow the researcher and family back in without further formalities; if the move to Spain has not happened yet, the refusal prevents it.
If your institution is registered, your file is lighter
Research entities can register with the Large Companies and Strategic Collectives Unit. Registration lasts five years, renewable, and any change of conditions must be notified within thirty days or the entity drops off the register. A registered entity is exempt from evidencing certain requirements at the time of applying, though the administration can still check them — so the entity must hold the documents. The exemption does not apply to entities sanctioned for a serious or very serious immigration infringement in the previous three years.
Registration can be withdrawn, and for five years
Registration is withdrawn or its renewal refused where the entity stops meeting the requirements, where it was obtained fraudulently, or where the entity has signed a hosting agreement or contract fraudulently or negligently. In that case the entity can be barred from applying again for five years from the publication of the decision.
When the research ends: twelve months to stay
Once the research activity is finished you may remain in Spain for up to twelve months to look for work suited to the field you researched in, or to start a business. It is not automatic: you must notify the Unit electronically that you wish to stay for that purpose, and the window to do so runs from sixty calendar days before your permit expires to ninety calendar days after it has expired.
The procedure: twenty days, silence granting
Everything is processed electronically by the Unit and granted by the Directorate-General for Migration, with a maximum of twenty days to decide. If that passes, the authorisation is granted by silence. Filing extends any residence or stay you already hold until the decision. Where the permit runs more than six months you must apply for the foreigner identity card, and for the first six months a passport is enough to register with Social Security if you have no foreigner identity number yet.
Where: Unidad de Grandes Empresas y Colectivos Estratégicos, electronically
Documents you need
Hosting agreement or employment contract
For the EU permit, stating the research title or field, both undertakings, the dates or estimated duration, and any planned mobility in other member states.
Or an invitation letter expressly accepted
Treated as a hosting agreement where it carries that same minimum content and the researcher has expressly accepted it.
Proof of the qualification
For the EU permit, a doctorate or a higher education qualification giving access to doctoral programmes, together with evidence of selection by the research entity.
The general requirements of the mobility section
Including health insurance and sufficient means, from which registered research entities are partly exempt at the time of applying.
For mobility from another member state
Valid travel document, the first state's permit covering the mobility period, the hosting agreement or contract signed there with dates, and proof of insurance and means for the researcher and family.
Common questions
Do I need an employment contract to get a research permit?
Not for the EU modality. A hosting agreement will do, provided it states the research title or field, your undertaking to try to complete the work, the entity's undertaking to host you, the dates or estimated duration, and any planned mobility in other member states.
Can an invitation letter be enough?
Yes, where it contains that same minimum content and you have expressly accepted it. The law allows such letters to be treated as hosting agreements for this application.
Does this cover teaching?
Professors contracted by universities, higher education and research centres or business schools established in Spain are expressly within the route. And an EU research permit authorises teaching classes related to the research activity as well as the research itself.
How long does it last?
Three years, or the length of the hosting agreement or contract where that is shorter. Renewal runs two years, and permanent residence becomes available at five.
Can I stay after my research finishes?
Up to twelve months, to look for work in the field you researched or to start a business. You must notify the Unit electronically, and the window runs from sixty days before your permit expires until ninety days after it has expired.
How quickly is it decided?
Twenty days from the electronic filing, with silence granting the authorisation. Filing also extends whatever residence or stay you already hold until the decision arrives.
I hold a researcher permit from another EU country. Can I work in Spain?
Your host entity notifies the Large Companies and Strategic Collectives Unit, with the travel document, the first state's permit, the hosting agreement and proof of insurance and means. Spain has thirty days to object with reasons; if it does not, the mobility proceeds, and your family can come with you.
Does it matter whether my institution is registered?
It lightens the file: a registered entity is exempt from evidencing certain requirements when applying, though the administration can still check them later. Registration lasts five years and is not available to entities sanctioned for serious immigration infringements in the previous three.
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.
- Ley 14/2013, de apoyo a los emprendedores — sección de movilidad internacional, arts. 61 a 76 (texto consolidado)Boletín Oficial del Estado
- Unidad de Grandes Empresas y Colectivos Estratégicos — movilidad internacionalMinisterio de Inclusión, Seguridad Social y Migraciones
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.