Working in Spain

For a foreigner, working in Spain comes down not to finding a vacancy but to a permit: you can only be hired with the right to work, and you get it either together with a residence permit or through an employer before you arrive. After that it is an ordinary labour market — with high unemployment, strong seasonality and salaries below the European average.

How do you find the best position as someone from Russia? Is it realistic to find current, in-demand vacancies without intermediary agencies? This article explains. You will learn where to find the latest available job ads from direct, private employers.

How to get a job in Spain: step by step

1. Sort out your right to work. If you already have a residence permit that allows you to work, you look for vacancies on general terms. If not, you need an employer willing to arrange a permit, or another route: the job-search residence permit after a Spanish university or, if you work remotely for foreign companies, the residence permit for remote workers.
2. Prepare a CV in Spanish. Most vacancies require Spanish; international companies require English. If your profession is regulated (doctor, lawyer, architect), your degree will have to be recognised in Spain.
3. Search on job portals and through networks. InfoJobs, LinkedIn, the website of the state employment service SEPE and sector-specific platforms; for seasonal work, ads in the resort regions.
4. Get a permit if you do not have one. The employer files the application while you are abroad, and after approval you receive a work visa at the consulate.
5. Start working legally. The employer registers you with social security — no later than three months after entry — and within a month of registration you must apply in person for the TIE foreigner’s card.

The working week in Spain

Under the Workers’ Statute, the normal working week in Spain is no more than 40 hours on average over the year; the specific schedule is set by the collective agreement or employment contract (Article 34). Rest is at least a day and a half in a row each week, usually from Saturday afternoon to Sunday (Article 37), and paid holiday is at least 30 calendar days a year (Article 38). There are no more than 14 paid public holidays a year, two of them local.

Congress rejected the bill to cut the working week to 37.5 hours on 10 September 2025, so in 2026 the previous 40-hour limit still applies.

How many hours a day, and how working time is recorded

• No more than 9 ordinary hours a day, unless a collective agreement or an agreement with workers’ representatives distributes the time differently; for workers under 18, no more than 8 (Article 34.3).
• At least 12 hours between the end of one working day and the start of the next.
• A break of at least 15 minutes if the continuous working day is longer than 6 hours (Article 34.4).

Employers must record working time every day: when each employee started and finished work, and keep the records for four years (Article 34.9 of the Workers’ Statute, in force since 2019). The Ministry of Labour has drafted a royal decree making digital recording mandatory; as of 17 September 2026 it has not been published in the BOE. For staff of the central state administration, the standard since 16 April 2026 is 35 hours a week on average over the year (resolution of 14 April 2026); this does not apply to the private sector.

Does Spain need skilled workers?

Spain has long ranked high in Europe for unemployment: in the second quarter of 2026 the rate was 9.87%, according to INE’s EPA labour force survey. This is important to bear in mind when looking for work in the country. Every company is looking for professionals: there is a real need for top specialists who can do the job competently and have extensive experience. The country has a positive attitude towards foreign workers. Russians, Belarusians and citizens of other countries are actively hired.

There are few vacancies in Spain compared with the number of job seekers: finding a good position is not easy, but it is possible. For Russian speakers with the necessary knowledge, many positions are available that you can apply for right now.

Salaries

The minimum interprofessional wage in Spain in 2026 is €1,221 a month over 14 payments a year. Average salaries vary considerably by region and sector.

Pay depends on the region, the employee’s experience and other factors. The highest earnings are currently found in Madrid, Barcelona and other large regions. People earn much less in the Canary Islands. A breakdown by sector and city with current figures is given in a separate article on salaries in Spain.

Pay is usually highest in IT, finance, medicine and engineering, and lowest in tourism, retail and services, where there is a lot of seasonal work.

Looking for vacancies

It is best to look for vacancies on well-established portals. For example, the LinkedIn social network helps with finding business contacts. You can find good options both in big cities and in smaller towns — for example, in Madrid, Valencia or Barcelona. Seasonal employment is growing actively in the coastal areas. We will tell you where to look for interesting offers.

Searching on websites

Spain has free portals where you can start your search. They list vacancies from businesses in various sectors and with various schedules: seasonal, remote, permanent or temporary work, full-time or a few hours. Job seekers can also use print publications, which an older audience likes. Most people prefer online job resources — for example, Trabajando or InfoJobs. With sites like these it is easy to find a position as a Russian relocant. Many portals have convenient features that are easy to get the hang of.

Job seekers can post CVs on specialist sites, and many employers will respond to them. It is best to correspond in Spanish from the start, as employers need to understand your level of the language.

Recruitment agency

Some agencies that find jobs abroad have an extensive database of vacancies from Spanish employers. A recruitment centre will help with documents and sort out accommodation issues. Some companies help you settle into the new country.

Searching on your own in the country

You can look for work after coming to the country as a tourist, but you cannot work on a tourist visa. Once an employer is found, they apply for a work permit, and you get a work visa at the consulate of your country of residence and only then enter to work.

Requirements for foreign job seekers

Job seekers from other CIS countries can work legally in Spain from the age of 16. Many professions are open only to those with a relevant degree. Graduates of Spanish universities have it easier: after graduating they can get a 24-month job-search residence permit and look for a contract while already in the country. But qualifications have to be validated, as not all Russian degrees are recognised in the EU. Some may be recognised as equivalent to Spanish ones if the person has gone through the relevant procedures.

Do not even try to build a career in another country if you do not know Spanish or English. Most companies require employees who have mastered Spanish, but you can get a job at international organisations with good English.

Permission to work

A national visa does not always come with the right to work. If you have no employer in Spain and your income comes from abroad, a different route will suit you — the residence permit for remote workers. To be employed, you need a permit from the authorities allowing you to work in Spain. A permit is always tied to a specific ground of stay, so first decide on your status — all the current options are summarised in our overview of residence permits in Spain. The ground also determines whether you will later have to inform the authorities of a move to another employer: under some permits you notify Extranjería of a change of employer, while others do not require this at all.

Today work permits are governed by regulation RD 1155/2024, in force since 20 May 2025. The main options are:

• Residence and employment permit. The employer files the application while you are abroad. The initial permit is issued for the duration of the job but for no more than a year, and it is limited to an autonomous community and occupation, except where no labour market test is needed — for example, for shortage occupations (Article 73). A renewed permit is issued for four years at once, and you can work anywhere and in any job on it (Article 81).
• Seasonal work — a separate permit for employment of no more than nine months in a calendar year (Article 100).
• The EU Blue Card and the permit for highly qualified professionals — for highly skilled, well-paid work, under a simplified procedure.
• Job-search residence — for graduates of Spanish universities, for 24 months.

The process takes time, so it is worth preparing documents in advance: criminal record and medical certificates have an expiry date.

Getting a visa for work in Spain

The visa must match the work permit you have obtained.

To apply for a visa, you need to gather the following documents:

• International passport valid for at least one year.
• Criminal record certificate. Getting one can take time: see to it in advance so you can send the full set of documents on time.
• A medical certificate. You need to confirm that you have no infectious diseases.
• Copy of employment documents. You will need the approved work permit and the signed contract.
• Receipt. It is important to attach proof of payment of the fee.

Documents in a foreign language are translated into Spanish, and official certificates are legalised or certified with an apostille. Be sure to check every word for errors, as even one missing character in a name can lead to refusal.

The work visa is not the last step. After entry, the employer registers you with social security, which must be done no later than three months, and within a month of registration you apply in person at the police for the TIE foreigner’s card.

In-demand professions and the hard-to-fill occupations catalogue

Online lists of the “most in-demand professions” are usually compiled without a source. For a non-EU foreigner what matters is the official list — the catalogue of occupations for which workers are hard to find in Spain (Catálogo de Ocupaciones de Difícil Cobertura). It is drawn up every quarter by the state employment service SEPE, based on data from the regional services and after consulting a commission of unions, employers and the government (LO 4/2000, Article 38; RD 1155/2024, Article 75).

What an occupation on the catalogue gives you

To hire a foreigner, an employer normally has to show that no suitable candidates are available on the Spanish labour market. If the occupation is on the hard-to-fill catalogue for the autonomous community where the job is located (at the community’s request the catalogue can be broken down by province or island), that step is not needed: the employer applies straight away for a residence and work permit for the specific foreign worker (RD 1155/2024, Article 75.1).

Which occupations are on the catalogue now

The catalogue is narrow. The third-quarter 2026 edition (SEPE resolution, BOE of 2 September 2026) lists 27 occupations in three groups:

• Sport — professional athletes and sports coaches, in all provinces.
• Construction and installation — carpenters and fitters of aluminium, metal and PVC structures, electrical installers, and operators of truck-mounted, fixed and mobile cranes, in all provinces.
• Merchant navy — 18 shipboard occupations: engineers and machinists, deck officers, radio officers, ship’s cooks, waiters and stewards, boatswains and deckhands (excluding fishing). Only in coastal provinces, on the islands, in Ceuta, Melilla, Madrid and Lleida.

Doctors, nurses, IT specialists, lorry and bus drivers, cooks and waiters (other than on ships), farm workers and carers are not on the catalogue. Its content barely changes: the construction occupations were added in 2023, and the editions since the end of 2025 are identical. The current list by province is published by SEPE; check the quarter in the file’s link label against the heading inside the file.

If the occupation is not on the catalogue

The employer registers the vacancy with the regional employment service. For 8 days the service offers it to suitable jobseekers and publishes it across Spain; after the employer reports on the candidates, the service issues a certificate of insufficient candidates within 3 days, and it is attached to the permit application (RD 1155/2024, Article 75.2). The “15 and 25 days” periods found in older articles were abolished in 2022.

No labour market test at all is needed for highly qualified professionals and the EU Blue Card, executives, intra-company transfers, permit renewals, certain family members and a few other cases (LO 4/2000, Article 40; Act 14/2013). For many specialists this route is simpler than the catalogue — the highly qualified professional permit and EU Blue Card.

How hiring a foreign worker works

1. The employer and the worker sign an employment contract.
2. The employer applies for the residence and work permit at the immigration office of the province. The decision takes up to 3 months; if there is no answer, the application is deemed refused.
3. Within a month of the permit, the worker applies for the visa at the consulate, which decides within a month.
4. After entry — registration with Social Security within 3 months and the TIE card within a month after that.
5. The first permit is for up to a year, in one autonomous community and for one occupation; these limits are lifted from the first renewal.

Documents, fees and typical refusals are covered in our guide to the Spanish work visa.

Employer demand is wider than the catalogue: vacancies open to foreigners are most often in tourism, retail, cleaning and manufacturing, while qualified specialists — medical staff, engineers, IT — have a route through diploma recognition or the highly qualified professional regime. We have covered four fields in separate articles — with degree requirements, the procedure for validating qualifications and real pay rates: working as a doctor, as an architect, as a pastry chef and as a groom at a stable.

You can also work without special qualifications: cleaners, maids, waiters and call centre operators earn less, but such jobs can be a start for settling in the country.

Birth and childcare leave

Since 31 July 2025 each parent, both the mother and the other parent, has been entitled to 19 weeks of paid leave, and a single parent to 32 weeks (article 48.4 of the Workers’ Statute as amended by RDL 9/2025). The 19 weeks are split into three parts:

• 6 weeks: compulsory, immediately after the birth and without a break;
• 11 weeks: taken in weeks, in one block or in parts, until the child is 12 months old; the mother may start her leave 4 weeks before the birth;
• 2 weeks: at any time until the child is 8 years old.

Weeks cannot be transferred to the other parent. During the leave Seguridad Social pays a benefit of 100% of the contribution base (article 179 of the LGSS). A contribution record is required: none under 21; from 21 to 26, 90 days in the last 7 years or 180 days over a lifetime; from 26, 180 days in 7 years or 360 days over a lifetime (article 178). The same rules apply to autónomos (the self-employed), except that the base is calculated over the last six months.

Unemployment benefit (paro)

A foreigner who lives in Spain legally and has paid contributions receives the benefit on the same terms as a Spaniard, as the employment service SEPE states plainly. The conditions are in articles 266 and 267 of the LGSS:

• at least 360 days of contributions in the last 6 years — you can count your days using your vida laboral;
• the job was lost involuntarily: dismissal, the end of a fixed-term contract, redundancy. Those who resign do not receive the benefit, except when leaving because of a relocation, a substantial change in working conditions or serious breaches by the employer;
• registration with the employment service as a job seeker and a signed commitment to look for work actively.

The duration depends on the contribution record: 360 days of contributions give 120 days of benefit, each further 180 days of contributions adds another 60, up to a maximum of 720 days of benefit from 2,160 days of contributions (article 269). For the first 180 days 70% of the base is paid, and 60% after that (article 270). The amount is limited by shares of the IPREM: no more than 175% without children, 200% with one child and 225% with two or more; no less than 80% without children and 107% with children. For these limits the IPREM is taken with an extra one sixth added.

If you resigned, you get no benefit for that job. But if you later took a new job and lost it involuntarily, the right arises — except when the new employer dismissed you during the trial period and fewer than three months had passed since you left the previous job (article 267 LGSS). If a child is born while you receive the benefit, paro is suspended, you receive the birth and childcare benefit, and paro then resumes for the remaining period at the same amount (article 284).

Taxes on salaries in Spain

Spain has a progressive tax system in which the rate increases as income rises. Tax rates range from 19% to 47%, but the top rate applies to income above €300,000 a year. How the tax base is calculated, which deductions apply and when the annual return is filed is covered in our guide to IRPF for employees.

Foreigners have options for reducing their tax costs:

• Personal allowance. About €5,500 can be set aside for essential needs. This applies to workers under 65. After that, the allowance rises to €6,700.
• Children and dependants. If dependants live with you, you can reduce your taxes.
• Disability. The tax base is reduced for people with disabilities and their family members if property is being renovated or housing is rented.
• Regular social contributions. Paying social fund contributions on time helps reduce the rate.
• Donations. Charitable contributions also help you pay less tax.

Relotus-relocation can already help you get a digital nomad visa or a Spanish start-up visa. At a free consultation you can get answers to your questions and understand the specifics of the permits. Our specialists will help gather documents, prepare a business project and see the application through to approval without unwanted refusals.

Frequently asked questions

How can a foreigner get a job in Spain?

First you need the right to work: a residence permit that allows you to work, or a permit arranged by a Spanish employer while you are abroad. Then a CV in Spanish, a search on InfoJobs, LinkedIn and the SEPE employment service website, and after being hired, registration with social security and the TIE foreigner’s card.

How many hours is the working week in Spain?

No more than 40 hours on average over the year under the Workers’ Statute; the specific schedule is set by the collective agreement or contract. Congress rejected a cut to 37.5 hours in September 2025. Holiday is at least 30 calendar days a year.

What jobs can a foreigner do in Spain?

An employer can hire a foreigner without a labour market test only for occupations on SEPE’s list of hard-to-fill jobs. In the third quarter of 2026 the list is narrow: athletes and coaches, merchant navy occupations and a few construction and installation trades. Doctors, nurses, IT specialists and drivers are not on it: for them the employer has to show that no suitable local candidates are available, or another route is used — for example, the EU Blue Card for highly qualified professionals. Most vacancies are in tourism, retail, cleaning and manufacturing.

Can I work in Spain on a tourist visa?

No. You can look for work after arriving as a tourist, but you cannot work: you need a work permit and a work visa, obtained at the consulate of your country of residence.

What is the minimum wage in Spain in 2026?

The minimum interprofessional wage (SMI) in 2026 is €1,221 a month over 14 payments a year.

How long is maternity and paternity leave in Spain?

19 weeks for each parent and 32 weeks for a single parent; the first 6 weeks are taken immediately after the birth. During the leave Seguridad Social pays 100% of the contribution base.

Can a foreigner receive unemployment benefit in Spain?

Yes, if they live in Spain legally, have paid contributions for at least 360 days in the last 6 years and lost their job involuntarily. The benefit is paid for 120 to 720 days: 70% of the base for the first 180 days, then 60%.

Does an employer in Spain have to record working hours?

Yes. Under Article 34.9 of the Workers’ Statute, the company records the start and end of each employee’s working day every day and keeps the records for four years. Mandatory digital recording exists so far only as a draft decree.

Can you receive unemployment benefit if you resigned voluntarily?

Not for that job. But if you then took a new job and lost it involuntarily, you become entitled; the exception is dismissal during the trial period when fewer than three months have passed since you left the previous job.