Procedure · Autorización de residencia temporal y trabajo por cuenta ajena
Employed work and residence permit in Spain (cuenta ajena)
The permit for coming to Spain to work for an employer. The employer applies, the first permit is capped at a year and tied to one occupation, and the renewal is four years with no restrictions at all.
Checked at source ·
- Official fee
- Set by the processing fee for the authorisation, paid before filing
- Official name
- Autorización de residencia temporal y trabajo por cuenta ajena
- Forms
- —
- Steps
- 12
- Documents required
- 8
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 over sixteen coming to Spain to work for an employer for more than ninety days, and the Spanish employers who have to file the application on their behalf.
Step by step
Understand who applies — it is not you
The employer files the application, personally or through a representative, at the Immigration Office of the province where the workplace is located. A worker abroad cannot start this procedure alone: there has to be a signed contract and an employer willing to put their own tax position, solvency and record in front of the administration. This is the single biggest difference between this permit and the non-lucrative or digital nomad routes, where the applicant is the individual.
Where: Oficina de Extranjería of the province where the workplace is, not where the company is registered
Check the job against the national employment situation
The post has to clear a labour-market test. There are two ways. Either the occupation appears in the Catalogue of Hard-to-Fill Occupations, which the State Public Employment Service redraws every quarter for each autonomous community and for Ceuta and Melilla — in which case the application simply proceeds. Or the employer proves the vacancy cannot be filled from the domestic labour market.
If the job is not in the catalogue, run the vacancy through the employment service
The employer lodges the vacancy with the public employment service for the area, worded precisely and without requirements unrelated to the job. The service works it for eight days, putting candidates in touch and publicising it. The employer then reports who was accepted and who was rejected and why, and the service issues a certificate of insufficient candidates within three days. That certificate goes into the file.
Check the contract terms, including the part-time trap
The contract must provide continuous work for the life of the permit, on terms matching the collective agreement for that activity, professional category and locality, and must start when the permit takes effect. If the job is part time, the total pay must still equal or exceed the full-time minimum wage measured over the year. A part-time contract paying a pro-rata minimum wage does not qualify, which is where a large share of refusals come from.
The employer proves it can afford the contract
The employer must be up to date with tax and Social Security and must show means covering the business plan and the gross salary in the contract. Where the employer is an individual, they must additionally show they can support themselves: 50% of the minimum wage a month with no dependants, 100% for a two-person household, plus 25% per additional member — all calculated after deducting the salary they are undertaking to pay. Non-contributory subsidies and grants do not count as income, with a narrow exception for dependency care and childcare.
File, and wait three months
The office checks the file, gives ten days to correct anything missing, and pulls the tax, Social Security, criminal-record and police reports itself, each within seven days. A police record is not automatically fatal: the office has to weigh the individual case rather than refuse on sight. The decision is due within three months, and if nothing arrives in that time the application is refused by silence.
Get the visa, enter, and register with Social Security within three months
The permit is granted but its effect is suspended until you are registered with the corresponding Social Security scheme, which has to happen within three months of legal entry to Spain. Until that registration, the authorisation does nothing.
Apply for the TIE within one month of registration
Anyone holding a permit valid for more than six months must apply for the foreigner identity card in person within a month of the Social Security registration. That is a separate appointment at the National Police, not something the Immigration Office does for you.
Know what the first permit does and does not allow
The initial permit lasts as long as the job, capped at one year, and is limited to one autonomous community and one occupation. It does carry one freedom people miss: it also authorises self-employment while it is in force, provided the employed work remains the main activity. If the employed job ends through no fault of yours, you must tell the Immigration Office that granted the permit within three days.
You can change employer after three months
After three months of validity and during the first year you may move to another employer in the same occupation. You may move at any time 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 from starting or continuing. In the last two cases there is a deadline: fifteen days to report the circumstances, then three months for a second employer to notify the change.
Renew in the two months before it expires
Filing in that window extends the old permit until the decision. Filing up to three months late still extends it, though it opens a penalty procedure. Renewal is granted if the job continues, or if you worked at least three months a year and have a new contract or stayed registered as a jobseeker after losing the job through no fault of your own, or if you worked nine months out of twelve, or if a family member meets the income test to have reunified you. You must also prove any school-age children in your care are enrolled.
The renewal is where the restrictions disappear
A renewed permit runs four years and allows any activity anywhere in Spain, employed or self-employed. No occupation limit, no regional limit, no labour-market test. Its effects backdate to the day after the old one expired, so there is no gap. And on renewal, unlike the first application, three months of silence means granted.
Documents you need
Official application form, filed by the employer
Submitted at the Immigration Office of the province where the workplace is.
Employer's tax identification number
Plus, for a company, the public document proving the signatory's authority to represent it. An individual employer can instead consent to identity verification.
Copy of the employment contract on the official model
Signed by both parties, with the start date conditional on the permit taking effect.
Proof of the employer's economic, material or personal means
Registration and enrolment documents for a company; last year's income tax return, or consent to check tax and Social Security data, for an individual.
Complete copy of the worker's passport
Or valid travel document.
Proof of professional capacity or qualification
Where the profession legally requires it, together with professional-body registration if that is required too.
Certificate of insufficient candidates, where it applies
From the competent public employment service, unless the occupation is in the Catalogue of Hard-to-Fill Occupations or an exemption applies.
For renewal: proof of children's schooling
A report from the regional education authorities covering any dependants of compulsory school age.
Common questions
Can I apply for a Spanish work permit myself?
No. The employer files the application, at the Immigration Office of the province where the workplace is. You need a signed contract and an employer prepared to document its own solvency and tax standing first.
How long does the first work permit last?
As long as the job, up to a maximum of one year, restricted to one autonomous community and one occupation. The renewal is a different animal: four years, any occupation, anywhere in Spain, employed or self-employed.
Can I change jobs on a Spanish work permit?
Yes, after three months, to another employer in the same occupation. You can change immediately if the employer seriously breaches the contract, or if circumstances beyond their control stop the work — but there are short deadlines in those cases: fifteen days to report, three months for the new employer to notify.
What happens if the Immigration Office does not answer?
It depends which application. Three months of silence on a first application means refused. Three months of silence on a renewal means granted. The Regulation sets those opposite defaults deliberately.
Does a part-time job qualify?
Only if the total pay reaches the full-time minimum wage over the year. A part-time contract paying a proportionate share of the minimum wage does not meet the requirement, however lawful it is as an employment contract.
What is the catalogue of hard-to-fill occupations?
A quarterly list drawn up by the State Public Employment Service for each autonomous community, and for Ceuta and Melilla. If your occupation is on it, the labour-market test is satisfied without advertising the vacancy. If it is not, the employer has to run the vacancy through the employment service and obtain a certificate that no suitable candidate came forward.
Can I be self-employed on an employed work permit?
During the initial permit, yes, provided the employed work stays your main activity. After renewal the question disappears: the renewed permit covers both without conditions.
When does the permit actually start working?
When you are registered with Social Security, which must happen within three months of legally entering Spain. Until then the authorisation is granted but suspended. Once registered, you have one month to apply in person for the TIE.
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.