The employer applies. That changes everything.
Spain's ordinary work and residence permit for employees is applied for by the hiring company, on a specific job offer, and it has to get past the national employment situation. We check whether a faster route exists first, then run the whole sequence — authorisation, visa, Social Security, TIE.
If you are the candidate rather than the company: you cannot obtain this speculatively. What you can do is have your documents legalised before anyone asks.
The ordinary route, and the doors beside it
This is the hardest of the work permits. Quite often it is also the wrong one for the hire in front of you.
Checking whether this is even the right permit
The employed work permit is the ordinary route, and it is also the hardest one, because it runs into the national employment situation. If the role is highly qualified, or the transfer is inside a corporate group, or the person is already in Spain with years of residence behind them, there is usually a faster door. We check those first — sending a straightforward hire down the ordinary route when a better one existed is the most common and most expensive mistake here.
The national employment situation, and getting past it
As a general rule the employer has to show that the post could not be filled from the domestic labour market. In practice that is satisfied either because the occupation appears on the catálogo de ocupaciones de difícil cobertura, or through a certified vacancy management process with the public employment service, or because the case falls within one of the exceptions. Which of those three applies determines the entire timetable, and it is decided before a single form is filled in.
The employer side of the file
This is a permit the employer applies for, and files fail on the employer's paperwork at least as often as on the worker's. Registration and good standing with Social Security and the tax authorities, proof of the means to sustain the employment relationship, a contract that matches the authorisation applied for, and pay that respects the applicable collective agreement. We prepare that side properly, because a company that gets refused once is slower the second time.
From authorisation to the card in hand
The authorisation is only the first half. If the worker is abroad it is followed by the visa at the consulate, then entry, then Social Security registration and the TIE appointment within the legal window. Each of those has its own deadline and each one is a place where a granted permit quietly lapses. We run the whole sequence, not just the part with the decision in it.
Employed work and residence authorisations are governed by the Ley Orgánica 4/2000 and its regulation, Real Decreto 1155/2024. Requirements and the applicable shortage occupation list are checked against the version in force when your file is submitted.
From the job offer to the card
Route assessment, first
Before anything else we test the hire against the alternatives — highly qualified professional, intra-company transfer, a modification of an existing status. Ten minutes here regularly saves months later.
Clearing the labour market test
We establish which of the routes past the national employment situation applies to this post, and if a vacancy management process is required, we run it properly rather than as a formality.
The application
The employer files the authorisation with the full corporate file, the contract and the worker's documentation — legalised and translated where it comes from abroad. Complete on first submission, because requerimientos are where timetables die.
Visa, entry, Social Security, TIE
The consular visa where the worker is abroad, then registration with Social Security and the fingerprint appointment for the TIE inside the legal window. Then the renewal calendar, so the next one is not a fire drill.
What employers and candidates ask
Who applies — the employer or the employee?
The employer. This is the point that surprises people most often, particularly candidates who have been told to "get a work permit" before applying for jobs. The initial employed work and residence authorisation is applied for by the Spanish company that wants to hire, on the basis of a specific job offer for a specific person. A worker cannot obtain it speculatively and then go looking. If you are the candidate, what you can usefully do is get your documentation legalised and translated in advance, so that the employer is not waiting on you once they decide.
What is the national employment situation, and does it block everything?
It is the requirement that the post could not reasonably be filled from within the domestic labour market, and no, it does not block everything. There are three practical ways past it: the occupation appears on the catálogo de ocupaciones de difícil cobertura, which is published and updated periodically; or the employer runs a certified vacancy management process through the public employment service and it produces no suitable candidate; or the case falls within one of the recognised exceptions. Establishing which applies is the first substantive piece of work in any of these files.
How long does it take?
Honestly, it varies more than anyone would like, and anybody quoting you a firm number without seeing the file is guessing. What is predictable is the shape: an authorisation stage, then — if the worker is abroad — a consular visa stage, then entry and the TIE appointment. Where the timetable actually breaks is on requerimientos, the requests for missing documentation that restart your place in the queue. A complete first submission is worth more to your timeline than any amount of chasing.
The worker is already in Spain on another status. Is that easier?
Frequently, yes, and it is a different application. Someone already resident may be able to modify their existing authorisation to work — a student moving to employment, for instance, or a family member obtaining their own work authorisation — rather than start an initial permit from scratch. Someone with several years of documented residence may qualify for one of the arraigo routes, which are handled by our Spanish-language practice. Do not assume the ordinary employed permit is the only door just because it is the most famous one.
What can go wrong on the employer's side?
More than employers expect. The company has to be current with Social Security and the tax authorities, be able to show the means to sustain the employment relationship it is proposing, and offer conditions — including pay — consistent with the applicable collective agreement. A mismatch between the contract and the authorisation applied for is another common cause of refusal. None of this is exotic, but it does mean the corporate file needs preparing rather than assembling on the day.
Do you act for companies as well as individuals?
Yes, and for this permit the company is normally the client, since it is the applicant. We work with employers across the Costa del Sol — hospitality, health, construction, professional services — in English, and we will tell an employer plainly when a candidate does not have a viable route rather than billing for an application that was never going to succeed.
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.
Tell us the role and the person. We'll tell you the fastest door.
Employers and candidates both welcome. If the ordinary employed permit is not the right instrument for this hire, we will say which one is — before anyone starts collecting documents.
+34 667 77 02 19 · infoglobalextranjeria@gmail.com
P.S. — the shortage occupation list is published and it changes. A role that was outside it last year may be inside it now, which occasionally turns a six-month problem into a straightforward one.