One of the most important aspects when planning a stay in Spain is what the requirements for entering and staying in the country are: obtaining visas, residency and/or work permits both for yourself and for your family.
In this context, the Scientific Visa and the Blue Card have made it easier for foreign researchers to enter and move around our country.
The scientific visa is an European proposal that facilitates the admission and mobility of third-country nationals carrying out research for periods of over three months, making the European Union more attractive to researchers from all over the world. The EU Blue Card is established as a regulation geared toward incorporating the most qualified workers to the European economy.
Furthermore, there are other permits that allow for research personnel to enter and remain in Spain.
The first aspect researchers must take into account to determine whether or not they have to apply for a visa to enter Spain is their nationality.
Some researchers may not require a visa at all or only need one for stays of more than three months, or have to apply for one regardless of the type of stay.
Researchers from the following countries do not need to apply for a visa to enter and reside in our country.
If your stay in Spain exceeds ninety days (in six months), you must register at the Registro Central de Extranjeros (Central Registry for Foreign Nationals) and request an EU citizens’ registration certificate (for family members this is called the Tarjeta de residencia de familiar de ciudadano de la Unión (Residency card for family members of EU citizens), which is associated with an identification code called a NIE (Foreigner’s Identity Card in English). Central Registry for Foreign Nationals in Granada.
The second group of countries to be taken into account is those included in the European Union regulation which stipulates that the list of third countries whose nationals are exempt from visa requirements when crossing the external borders of the Union, proving their stay does not exceed 90 days.
The visa or prior authorization of entry is a legal instrument (attached to the passport or included within its pages) bestowed by the destination country, in this case Spain, through its consulate or embassy in the country of origin or residence of the person who is due to travel, which authorizes cross-border circulation of foreign citizens.
Its objective is to control entry of people to the country in accordance with the authorization they possess, and it authorizes them for various kinds of stay by duration or activity to be conducted. There are various kinds of visa depending on the duration and purpose of the stay in Spain:
• Short-term visas: these authorize stays in Spain of up to 90 days per six months. EU legislation establishes the list of third countries whose nationals are exempt (section II) from the need to obtain a visa for stays in the Schengen Area.
• National or long-term visas: when the stay in Spain exceeds three months, a national or long-term visa needs to be obtained. In this case, there are no exceptions by nationality except for the special regime for nationals of EU Member States, the European Economic Area and Switzerland.
Visas issued for the undertaking of professional activities with duration of less than 90 days per six months are also national visas. In this category, the visas set out in legislation for the undertaking of research or training activities are as follows:
• Study visa.
• Exemption from work authorization visa.
• Research visa.
• Residence and work visa.
NB: foreign citizens who are not nationals of EU Member States, the European Economic Area and Switzerland will be subject in all cases to visa requirements if their stay in Spain is for professional purposes, regardless of nationality and length of stay.
The entry of a foreign citizen onto Spanish territory is conditional upon the fulfilment of the following requirements:
a) Possession of a valid, current passport or travel documents. For EU citizens, national identity documents will also be deemed valid.
b) Visa, if required.
c) Justification of the purpose and conditions of entry and stay.
For study trips or those involving other kinds of , some of the following documents may be requested:
• From a matriculation document of an education centre to participating in theoretical and practical training courses or Certificates related to the courses in question.
For scientific, professional or scientific trips or for other purposes, some of the following documents may be requested:
• An invitation from a research body, company or authority that take part in meetings, conventions, etc. of a scientific or technical nature.
• A document accrediting the existence of scientific, industrial, commercial relations, etc.
• Access cards for congresses, conventions, fairs, etc.
• Invitations, entry cards, bookings or programs with an indication, where possible, of the name of the inviting body and duration of the study or any other document indicating the purpose of the visit.
d) Proof, where applicable, of sufficient monetary means to cover the stay in Spain or of being in a capacity to obtain them, and of moving on to another country or returning to the country of origin.
e) Presentation of the corresponding health certificates.
f) Not being the subject of a ban on entry.
g) Not posing a threat to Spain’s public health, public order, national security or international relations, or those of States with whim Spain has an agreement to such an effect.
1. Check that you are required to apply for a visa in order to enter Spain.
2. Apply for a stay or residency permit: this permit enables a foreigner from a country outside the members of the European Economic Area to stay in Spain for a period of over 90 days.
3. Apply for the visa (once the stay permit has been obtained). This permit does not authorize travel to Spain; the applicant must wait until he/she obtains the visa.
The visas currently in force can be divided into three groups depending on the duration of stay they authorize:
Short stays (under 90 days)
• Short stay visa
• Work permit exemption (speeds up process for obtaining visa)
• Temporary residency and work involving transnational provision of services
Long but not indefinite stays (more than 90 days, under 5 years)
• Study permit
• Temporary Residency permit:
• Research visa
• EU Blue Card
• Work permit exemption
• Temporary residency and work involving transnational provision of services
• Temporary residency and paid employment
• Permits processed by the Special Unit for Large Companies and Strategic Economic Sectors (UGE-CE in Spanish)
Long or indefinite stay (more than 5 years)
• Long stay residency permit
• Long stay residency permit – EU
In the Guide for the management of the mobility of the foreign researcher in Spain (From page 48 to 60) there is a detailed description of the conditions researchers must meet in order to apply for each of the above permits, together with their duration, the possibility of renewal, etc. It also explains the fast processing of the Unit for Large Companies and Strategic Economic Sectors (UGE - CE)for researcher-recruiting entities only.
Existing laws provide for a fast track. The maximum period for resolution of the residency and work permit is one month and the maximum period for the resolution of a visa is 10 days under specific conditions for both the researcher and the employer.
This fast track is regulated under the legal name “Procedure to authorise entry, residency and work for professional activities with economic, social or labour interests regarding the realisation of research and development or teaching projects requiring high qualifications (hereafter called the Special Unit for Large Companies and Strategic Economic Sectors (Unidad de Grandes Empresas y Colectivos Estratégicos, UGE-CE)).
This type of permit is optional, i.e. it may be requested notwithstanding the rest of the options, and is not a different kind of authorisation but a fast-track procedure for managing permits.
This type of fast-track procedure, processed by the Special Unit for Large Companies and Strategic Economic Sectors (UGE-CE), will be one of the most widely used procedures (providing the conditions are fulfilled by the researcher and employer are fulfilled) for periods longer than three months. It is an optional procedure initiated by the body(university, state research organisation or enterprise) which leads to obtaining one of the following residency and work permits set out in previous sections:
• Temporary residency and work permit for research (scientific visa).
• Temporary residency and work permit for highly qualified professionals (Blue Card).
• Temporary residency and work permit involving transnational provision of services
• Temporary residency and paid employment permit. In the latter case, the receiving company must fulfil the requirements for enterprises.
To apply, it is necessary that the applicant be in one of the following situations:
• Highly qualified specialists and scientists whose reason for coming is to carry out research projects or participate in development activity at universities and R+D centres of recognised prestige or at research and development units belonging to enterprises established in Spain.
• Lecturers recruited by a Spanish university to teach or perform other academic activities.
• Highly qualified specialists and scientists recruited by the Spanish Government, Regional Governments, Local Governments or organisations either run or owned largely by the aforementioned institutions and whose mission is to promote and carry out research.
• Executive or a highly qualified personnel for companies or employers that carry out activities involving investments or the creation of jobs in Spain that are considered and established as a public interest (due to the number of jobs, the socioeconomic impact of the investment or its significance in terms of scientific-technical innovation).
• Executive or highly qualified personnel when the company has more than 500 employees in Spain or which has annual net turnover of more than €200m in Spain or net worth – also in Spain – of €100m, or has declared gross annual average investment of no less than €1m during the three immediately preceding years with entirely foreign capital.
This procedure may also be applied to small and mediumsized companies established in Spain that belong to the following strategic sectors: information and communications technology; renewable energies; environment; water and water treatment; health sciences; biopharmaceuticals and biotechnology; and aerospace and aeronautics.
The application should be submitted by the company, contracting organisation or employer to the Special Unit for Large Companies and Strategic Economic Sectors (UGECE) at the Ministry of Employment and Social Security, which will be responsible for resolving the request within a maximum of a month.
Once permission has been granted, the researcher must submit the residency and work visa application form to the diplomatic mission or Spanish Consular Office, which must issue the permit within a maximum of 10 days. The work and residency permit awarded will have the period of validity indicated for each permit.
If the stay exceeds six months, the researcher must apply for the Foreign National Identity Card, called NIE at Central Registry for Foreign Nationals in Granada.
The Special Unit for Large Companies and Strategic Economic Sectors also manages the permits for family members of the workers covered by this procedure. The type of permit granted to family members depends on that awarded to the researcher. Those that the UGE-CE can resolve and process are the following:
• Temporary residency permit for family regrouping.
• Temporary residency permit without work or professional activity.
• Temporary residency and paid employment permit.
The duration of the family permits provided for in this case shall under no circumstances exceed the main authorisation period.
The family member application may be presented by the employer together with the request of the foreign worker, or separately later on.
Any researchers who apply for a research visa or EU blue card can simultaneously apply for a temporary residency permit for the members of their family that they wish to regroup, providing the following conditions are met:
• The applicant or research visa holder must have sufficient economic means to sustain their family, that is, a monthly amount that represents 150% of the Multipurpose Public Income Indicator (IPREM in Spanish) in the case of the first family member, and 50% of the IPREM for each of the remaining members that make up a nuclear family.
• The foreigner must provide due evidence of the family tie or relationship between them.
The following family members can apply for this type of permit:
a) The researcher’s spouse.
b) Any person who has an affective relationship with the researcher identical to a marital relationship, which implies a relationship that has been made official by a public register established for such purposes (de facto partnerships or similar), or a relationship that despite not being officially registered, has begun prior to the researcher starting his or her activity in Spain (documents issued by a public authority serve as evidence of this situation).
c) The children of either the researcher or his or her spouse or partner, including adopted children, providing they are under 18 years old at the time their residency permit is applied for, or if they are disabled or objectively incapable of fending for themselves.
d) Those legally represented by the researcher, when they are under the age of 18 at the time their application for a residency permit is submitted or who are disabled or not objectively capable of fending for themselves.
e) The parents of the researcher, or those of his or her spouse or partner, when in their care, over the age of 65 and when there are reasons that justify the need to authorise their residency in Spain. In exceptional cases, when there is a combination of reasons of humanitarian nature, parents under the age of sixty-five may be regrouped. The application can be submitted by the research body or the foreign researcher himself.
In the specific case of researchers who are holders of study visas, their family members from abroad may apply to stay in Spain – although under no circumstances can they work in Spain – providing the following conditions are met:
• The foreigner’s study visa has not expired.
• The foreign national has sufficient economic means to sustain their family, that is, a monthly amount that is equivalent to 75% of the Multipurpose Public Income Indicator (IPREM in Spanish) in the case of the first family member, and 50% of the IPREM for each of the remaining members that make up a nuclear family.
• The foreigner provides due evidence of the family tie or relationship between them.
In all cases, the family member visa will be of the same duration as that of the visa-holder. If family members are to stay longer than six months, they must apply for the Foreign National Identity Card no later than one month after entering Spain.
Any foreigner who holds a long-term EU residency permit issued by another Member State of the European Union can also apply for residency in Spain, without having to apply for a visa.
On pages 63 and 64 of the Guide for the management of the mobility of the foreign researcher in Spain you will find a table that summarises the entry and residency permits for family members according to the permit obtained by the researcher, as well as the criteria and details of when they can be applied for.