No labour market test. Family in the same file.
Moving an employee into a Spanish entity of the same group runs under Ley 14/2013 and through the large-companies unit — exempt from the national employment situation, faster than the ordinary permit, and able to include the spouse and children in the same application. We run it for HR teams in English.
One condition cannot be fixed retroactively: the prior relationship with the group. Check it before the internal announcement.
Four checks, in this order
The advantage of this permit is real. It is also the advantage most easily thrown away by an incomplete corporate dossier.
Confirming the group relationship
The permit exists for movement inside a single undertaking or group of undertakings, so the first thing that has to be evidenced is that the Spanish entity and the sending entity genuinely belong to the same group. Corporate structures that look obvious in an org chart are not always obvious on paper, and a file that assumes the relationship rather than documenting it is a file that comes back with a requerimiento.
The prior employment requirement
The transferee has to have an existing professional or employment relationship with the group, of a minimum duration, and hold the qualifications or experience the role requires. This is the requirement that quietly disqualifies people: a candidate hired last quarter specifically in order to be transferred is not, in the eyes of the file, an intra-company transfer at all. It is worth checking before the internal announcement, not after.
Using the fast-track unit properly
Applications under Ley 14/2013 go through the Unidad de Grandes Empresas y Colectivos Estratégicos rather than the ordinary provincial route, and that is the whole point of using this permit: no national employment situation test, a shorter and more predictable decision, and a single file that can include the family. The advantage is real, and it is lost by submitting an incomplete corporate dossier.
The family, in the same application
Spouse or registered partner and dependent children can be included with the main applicant rather than waiting for a separate reunification process later. For a transfer that is often the deciding factor between an assignment that happens and one that quietly falls through, and it is the part HR teams most often discover too late to use.
Intra-company transfer permits are governed by Ley 14/2013, de 27 de septiembre, de apoyo a los emprendedores y su internacionalización. Requirements are checked against the framework in force when your file is submitted.
From the org chart to the TIE
Eligibility check on the transferee
Length and nature of the existing relationship with the group, qualifications, the role in Spain. We tell you in the first conversation whether this is an ICT or whether the hire needs a different instrument.
The corporate dossier
Evidence of the group relationship, the activity of the Spanish entity, and its standing with Social Security and the tax authorities. Prepared once, and reusable for the transfers that follow.
File with the UGE, family included
The application goes to the large-companies unit with the transferee and the accompanying family in the same submission, along with the assignment letter and the terms of the posting.
Arrival, TIE and the renewal calendar
Entry, Social Security position, the fingerprint appointment inside the legal window, and a diarised renewal date — so the second year is administration rather than an emergency.
What HR teams ask us
How long must the employee have worked for the group first?
There is a minimum period of prior professional or employment relationship with the undertaking or group, and it is the requirement that most often disqualifies an otherwise sensible transfer. Because the exact period and the way it is counted depend on the profile and on the rules in force when you file, we check it against the current framework rather than quoting a number that may have moved. The practical advice is simple: raise it with us before the assignment is announced internally, because it is the one condition that cannot be fixed retroactively.
Is there a labour market test?
No, and that is the principal reason to use this route. Permits under Ley 14/2013 are exempt from the national employment situation, so the employer does not have to demonstrate that the post could not be filled domestically — which is precisely the requirement that makes the ordinary employed permit slow and uncertain. Combined with the fast-track unit handling the file, it is a materially different experience from the general regime.
Can the family come at the same time?
Yes. Spouse or registered partner and dependent children can be included in the same application as the main applicant, rather than going through a separate family reunification process once the transferee is settled. For assignments this matters more than anything else on the page: a transfer that requires the family to wait a year is a transfer many employees decline. Tell us about the family at the outset so they go in the same file.
What is the difference between this and the highly qualified professional permit?
Both sit within the Ley 14/2013 framework and both go through the fast-track unit, but they answer different situations. The intra-company transfer is for moving someone who already works for the group into a Spanish entity of that same group. The highly qualified professional permit is for a Spanish company hiring a qualified person into a senior or specialist role, whether or not there is any prior relationship. If your candidate does not meet the prior-relationship requirement, the highly qualified route is usually the alternative to look at first.
Does the Spanish entity need to be a certain size?
The unit handling these files is called the large-companies unit, which leads people to assume there is a size threshold. What actually has to be shown is that the Spanish entity carries on real activity, belongs to the same group as the sending entity, and is in good standing with Social Security and the tax authorities. A modest Spanish subsidiary of a larger group is a perfectly ordinary applicant here.
We move several people a year. Is there any efficiency in that?
Considerably. The corporate half of the dossier — group structure, activity, compliance certificates — is substantially the same for every transfer, so the first file is the expensive one and the subsequent ones are largely the transferee's documents plus an updated assignment letter. We keep the corporate pack current for companies that move people regularly, which turns each new transfer into days of work rather than weeks.
Reviewed by a lawyer
Reviewed by Alberto García López
Immigration lawyer · ICA Málaga, reg. no. 11.441
We check every page against current Spanish law. This is general information, not advice on your individual case.
Globalium is an independent law firm, not a government agency, and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any public administration. Visas, permits and identification numbers are granted solely by the Spanish authorities, and you are free to apply to them directly yourself. Our fees pay for legal advice and representation, and are separate from any official fee or tax.
Send us the profile. We'll confirm it qualifies.
Length of service with the group, the role in Spain, the family. Fifteen minutes tells you whether this is an intra-company transfer or whether the highly qualified route fits better.
+34 667 77 02 19 · infoglobalextranjeria@gmail.com
P.S. — if you move people to Spain more than once a year, the corporate half of the dossier is worth building once and keeping current. The second transfer should not cost what the first one did.