Updates to Spanish Immigration Law make It easier for highly qualified workers to obtain work permits

This week, a modification of the Spanish immigration law has been published. Now the authorizations for highly qualified workers regulated in the Entrepreneur's Law has two different processes and here are the key changes:

Authorization for highly qualified workers holders of a EU-Blue Card:

• Workers will need a university degree related to the job position or at least 5 years of related work experience.
• For IT professionals, the needed work experience is reduced to 3 years.
• Blue Cards will now be solved by the Unidad de Grandes Empresas (central immigration office) in all scenarios, not being regulated in the standard immigration law anymore.

Authorization for national highly qualified workers:

• Workers will need a university degree or vocational/professional education related to the job position or at least 3 years of related work experience.
• This is the one that we have known until now a work and residence permit for highly qualified workers, that was already regulated in this law and solved by the Unidad de Grandes Empresas.

Other important details:

• The minimum salaries to apply for those permits are not published yet, but the regulation says that they will be referenced to the minimum professional wage.
• The legal timeline to solve the permits is maintained as it was (20 working days, with positive silence if they do not solve in that time).
• Blue Card holders in other EU country will be able to be posted to a Spanish entity for up to 180 days without the need of a special permit.
• Blue Card holders in other EU country for more than a year will be able to directly apply for a Blue Card in Spain and they will be able to start working from the moment of the submission of the file.
• Both permits will be initially approved for 3 years, being possible to renew them for a period of 2 more years, so the talent can apply for a long-term residence permit once they have been 5 years in Spain.

Overall, these changes to the Spanish immigration law are aimed at making it easier for highly qualified workers to obtain work permits in Spain and attract top talent from around the world.