Seasonal work permit in Spain (residencia y trabajo de temporada)

Official fee

Set by the processing fee for the seasonal residence and work authorisation

Official name

Autorización de residencia y trabajo para actividades de temporada

Forms

—

Steps

12

Documents required

9

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 27 August 2026.

Every immigration fee, with the official Spanish wording

Step by step

1. 1

   Understand what the permit is now: four years, not one season

   A seasonal permit runs four years and allows work for a maximum activity period of nine months in each calendar year. It is granted for a single employer, subject to the rules on chained contracts, extensions and changes of employer, and — unless the labour-market test does not apply — is limited to one autonomous community and one occupation. Temporary employment agencies cannot hold one, cannot be authorised through a change of employer, and cannot appear in a chain of contracts.

2. 2

   You must be outside Spain, and the contract must be fijo-discontinuo

   Two requirements shape everything else. The worker must not be resident or present in Spain. And the contract has to be a written permanent-seasonal contract under article 16 of the Workers' Statute, stating at least the place and type of work, the length of the season, the hours and the start date. A written copy in a language the worker understands must be handed over at the same time.

3. 3

   The employer must house you — and the rent is capped

   The employer must guarantee adequate accommodation for at least the whole activity period, habitable, hygienic and meeting sanitary conditions, and compliance has to be verified. Accommodation is to be offered free of charge by preference. Where rent is charged it cannot exceed 15% of the IPREM. Utilities such as water and electricity may be passed on, but rent and utilities together cannot exceed 22% of the IPREM, unless abusive use is proved, in which case the real cost of supplies is charged. The employer must give you a document setting out the terms and the actual supply costs, and neither rent nor utilities may be deducted automatically from your wages — payment follows that document.

4. 4

   The employer also pays the journeys and the insurance

   The employer organises the trip to Spain and back to the country of recruitment and bears the cost of both, unless the commitment document expressly says otherwise about the return. In every case they cover transport between the point of entry and the accommodation, between the accommodation and the point of departure, and between the accommodation and the workplace — for each annual journey across the life of the multi-year permit. They must also take out and pay for health insurance covering you from the start of the journey to Spain until your Social Security registration begins.

5. 5

   Apply at least two months before the work starts

   The employer files the application, following the ordinary employed-permit procedure, at least two months before the planned start of work unless there is good reason otherwise. The file adds proof that the worker has been informed of their rights and obligations, proof of the health insurance, proof of the accommodation, the travel commitment, a responsible declaration of solvency, and the worker's own declaration undertaking to return home and to comply with health, internal-order and occupational-risk rules.

   Where: Oficina de Extranjería of the province where the workplace is

6. 6

   One month for the decision, and silence means refused

   The Immigration Office must decide and notify within one month. If that passes with no decision, the application is refused by silence. Once granted, the worker has one month to apply for the visa at the competent Spanish consulate, and the employer must register them with Social Security within three days of their arrival in Spain.

7. 7

   From the second year on, you are called back rather than reapplying

   This is what makes it a circular migration permit. From the second year, the employer notifies the authority of the call-back at least three months before the planned start, again unless there is good reason otherwise. The authority checks that no ground for terminating the permit applies and that you returned home at the end of the previous year's activity. The decision is due within one month and, unlike the first application, silence means granted. Your foreigner identity card together with the call-back decision are enough to enter Spain, carried with your passport.

8. 8

   Changing employer: after three months, decided in fifteen days

   A change of employer is allowed after three months of work in each call-back, and the new employer must apply before the period agreed with the previous one ends. The new activity may be in a different region and occupation provided the labour-market test allows it in the same sector. A change is also allowed at any point after a call-back if the employer seriously breaches the contract in a way that would justify resignation under article 50 of the Workers' Statute, or if circumstances outside the employer's control stop the work. Where there is a change of employer the decision takes fifteen days; other cases take a month, and silence means refused.

9. 9

   Nine months is the ceiling however many employers there are

   Where you change employer, the activity periods with the different employers added together cannot exceed nine months in the year the change happens. The annual activity period can also be extended when your relationship with the employer who hired you ends — with the same or a different employer, in the same or a different region, but always in the same occupation and sector, and always subject to the nine-month ceiling, with continuity between one period and the next.

10. 10

    The return commitment is the condition everything hangs on

    You must undertake to return to your country of origin and notify it as required. Breaking that commitment during a previous seasonal permit blocks a new one for two years, and so does abandoning the work early without justification, or working for a different employer or activity than the one authorised. The same two-year block applies on the employer's side for serious breaches of employment or Social Security obligations, for being wound up or carrying on no economic activity, and for sanctions for serious breaches of the guarantees in this Regulation.

11. 11

    What happens if the employer fails you

    If the employer does not register you with Social Security in time, the permit can be withdrawn — but the office must first ask them to justify the failure. Where the permit is terminated through the employer's fault and you have acted diligently, you can change employer and use the protections in article 110 instead of losing everything. And where a permit is terminated for the employer's breach, they owe you compensation under the applicable rules. The Labour Inspectorate supervises all of this, and trade unions may enter the accommodation, with the workers' permission, to check the housing conditions are being met.

12. 12

    Renewal, and the way out of the seasonal cycle

    The permit can be renewed for further four-year periods, by the same employer or a different one, in the same sector of activity, with the occupation and the region free to change. The decision takes a month and silence means granted. And after the four years, if you have respected every requirement including the return commitment, you can move to an ordinary two-year residence and work permit — employed or self-employed — without a visa, applying in the three months before the seasonal permit ends or within six months of returning home.

Common questions