🇪🇸 Spain — Work & Study Visas, Wages & Jobs
Last verified 2026-09-26 · 4/7 visa categories confirmed from official sources
Work Visas
EU Blue CardUnconfirmed figure — verify before relying on it
For highly-qualified employment, no labour market test required. A newer 2026 order (Orden PJC/44/2026) reportedly raises the threshold, with a reduced rate for shortage occupations/recent graduates, but this hasn't been confirmed directly against the BOE.
Threshold/salary: ≈€38,844/year (2024 reference); reportedly updated to ≈€39,269.92/year standard or ≈€31,415.94/year reduced (shortage occupations/recent graduates) per Orden PJC/44/2026 — unconfirmed against primary legal text
Duration: 3 years initial, renewable in 2-year increments
National work visa/permit
Standard salaried-employment route: employer applies at the Provincial Aliens Affairs Office, authorised via the Shortage Occupations List or a labour market test, then the worker applies for a work-and-residence visa at the consulate.
Duration: 1 year initial, renewable
Job Seeker VisaUnconfirmed figure — verify before relying on it
Spain does not appear to operate a dedicated standalone job-seeker visa for applicants outside Spain. The nearest equivalent is the post-study 12-month job-search residence permit for graduates.
Duration: 12 months (post-study route only)
Digital Nomad VisaUnconfirmed figure — verify before relying on it
Available: the 'Visado de teletrabajo de carácter internacional' (international teleworker visa) under the 2022 Startup Law, for remote employees/freelancers working primarily for non-Spain-based clients.
Threshold/salary: ≈€2,849 gross/month (2026, tied to 200% of Spain's minimum wage/SMI), plus 75% SMI for the first dependent and 25% for each additional dependent — exact current SMI-linked figure needs cross-check
Duration: Up to 3 years (permit route from within Spain) or 1 year (consular visa route)
Study Visas
Student Permit
National long-stay student visa (Type D) for programmes over 90 days, requiring admission to a recognised institution and proof of funds (100% of IPREM/month, ~€600 for 2025/2026).
Duration: Matches course length, renewable annually
Post-Study Job Search Permit
Graduates can apply for a 12-month job-search residence permit to look for work or set up as self-employed; alternatively, full work authorisation becomes generally available after 3 years on a study permit.
Duration: 12 months
Researcher/PhD Permit
Hosting agreement scheme under Directive 2016/801, governed by Law 14/2013; researcher must be hosted by a public or private research organisation, with a fast 20-day processing time via the Large Business/Strategic Groups Unit where applicable.
Duration: Matches hosting agreement
Wages & Earning Potential
- Statutory minimum wage: 1221 EUR/month (effective 2026-01-01) — source
- Derived hourly estimate (not an official rate): 7.90-8.20 EUR/hour (effective 2026-01-01) — source
Top Employers
| Company | Industry |
|---|---|
| Inditex (Zara, Bershka, Massimo Dutti) | Fashion Retail |
| Banco Santander | Banking / Finance |
| BBVA | Banking / Finance |
| Telefónica (Movistar/O2) Job listings load mixed Spanish/English depending on locale filter | Telecom |
| Iberdrola | Energy / Utilities |
| Repsol | Energy / Oil & Gas |
| Iberia | Airline / Aviation |
| Ferrovial Re-domiciled to Amsterdam in 2023 but remains a Spanish-founded, Spanish-run infrastructure giant | Construction / Infrastructure |
| Amadeus IT Group | Travel Tech / IT |
| ACCIONA Used in place of Mercadona, whose careers portal is Spanish-only | Renewable Energy / Infrastructure |
Second/Extra Job Rules for Existing Permit-Holders
Standard work permit — conditional
Spain has an official 'compatibility' mechanism (Hoja HI 81) for combining a residence-and-work authorization with a second, compatible employed or self-employed activity, but each authorization's requirements must be separately met. Official page could not be directly fetched in this research pass — exact process should be re-verified.
EU Blue Card — conditional
Spain-specific second-job rules not found; only the general EU-wide Blue Card framework (requiring authorities be informed of employer changes within the first 12 months) is confirmed.
Sources & Open Questions
Every figure above is sourced from the official links inline. The items below are things our research could not confirm from an official source as of 2026-09-26 — treat them as open questions, not settled facts.
- immigration-database: Exact current 2026 EU Blue Card salary threshold not directly confirmed against the BOE (Orden PJC/44/2026 text) — only referenced via secondary/news sources.
- immigration-database: Digital nomad visa exact minimum income figure for 2026 and the official SMI figure were not independently fetched from an official government page (mites.gob.es or BOE).
- immigration-database: General work-visa consular fees and standard (non-Blue-Card) processing times not found as fixed numbers on official sources.
- immigration-database: Could not confirm whether Spain offers any standalone job-seeker visa distinct from the post-study job-search permit.
- immigration-database: Non-EU student tuition fee ranges not verified against an official source; tuition is set regionally/at university level, so a single national figure may not exist.
- immigration-database: Health insurance minimum coverage figure (€30,000) sourced from one consulate's page (New York) only — not confirmed as uniform across all consulates.
- wage-database: Spain expresses its minimum wage as daily/monthly by law; the €7.90-8.20/hour figure is a derived estimate (12-payment/173-hour-month basis), not an official hourly SMI figure. One official hourly figure does exist specifically for domestic/household workers (€9.55/hour).
- wage-database: Full official wording of Hoja 4 bis (student employment access) and Hoja HI 81 (compatibility of two work authorizations) could not be fetched directly in this research pass; both returned errors.
- wage-database: Whether social security contributions are required/reduced for part-time student income specifically was not confirmed.
- wage-database: Spain-specific second-job rules for EU Blue Card holders were not confirmed beyond the general EU-wide framework.
This guide is part of Route Europa's 29-country Schengen database, compiled 2026-09-26. See all countries →
Pay, pensions and visas — compared
Take-home pay: a gross salary of €60,000 leaves about €41,436 a year (€3,453 a month, 69.1% kept) for a single employee in Spain — confidence: medium.