Our client held an EU Blue Card in Lithuania. The problem was his wife's: she had spent too long outside the country, and the Lithuanian migration service began revoking her permit. The family had a few weeks. We did not handle the Lithuanian side. The client came to us having already decided to move to Spain. The brief was this: obtain a Spanish Blue Card and get his wife and son onto it at the same time, while the family still had time.
- 33 days
- from filing to decision
- filed 1 July, three approvals 3 August
- 3 approvals
- in one submission
- applicant, wife and son
- 3 years
- permit validity
- renewable for two more, long-term residence after five
- 5 years of experience
- instead of a degree
- three years within the previous seven for IT specialists and managers
What they came with
The client worked in Lithuania on an EU Blue Card. His wife and son lived there on permits derived from his — their status rested on his.
The wife spent long stretches in Russia. The Lithuanian migration service treated the absence as too long and started revoking her permit. We did not take on the appeal: another country, another set of rules.
Spain fitted for three reasons. One application covering all three of them. A permit valid for three years. And a clock towards long-term residence that starts immediately.
From there it stopped going to plan. First the police could not spell the surname correctly. Then we checked the employer. Then the degree turned out to be unusable.
How the timeline ran
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01
First contact
A few weeks before the wife's permit would be revoked.
-
02
Entry by car
Declaración de entrada filed straight away, in the first days.
-
03
Employer check
The company was barely trading. The plan had to change.
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04
Qualification
The degree route was closed, so we went through professional experience.
-
05
Documents from Lithuania
Sodra records, apostille, sworn translation. The longest stretch.
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06
Filing
1 July, all three in one submission.
-
07
Decision
3 August. Three approvals, Blue Cards and residence for three years.
What did not go to plan
Кейс прошёл не гладко. Ниже — то, что реально задержало или усложнило процесс, и что с этим делали.
The police could not spell the surname
The client drove in. Crossing a land border inside Schengen leaves no passport stamp, so there is nothing to prove the date of entry — which is why the declaración de entrada went in immediately.
The form was redone several times: the officer kept getting the surname wrong. A small thing, and the reason we did not leave the police station. One letter of difference between the declaration and the passport turns into a document request later on, and a document request means weeks the family did not have.
The employer looked like a settled question until we checked it
A company was ready to issue the employment contract. At first glance everything added up, and the point could be treated as closed.
We started checking — and found the company was barely trading.
For a Blue Card this is not a formality. The authority looks past the wording of the contract: it assesses whether the company genuinely operates and can pay the salary stated. A contract with an empty company would have meant a refusal after the family had already spent time on the entry, the documents and the translations.
Filing with that employer was not an option, and the plan had to change. Checking an employer before you file is cheaper than learning about the problem from the decision.
The degree was unusable, and the evidence was in Lithuania
The degree route was closed in this case. So we took the second path the law provides — professional experience.
As a general rule that means five years of experience comparable to the required qualification and relevant to the occupation named in the contract. For IT specialists and managers the bar is shorter: three years within the previous seven.
A chain followed from that. The experience has to be evidenced. The evidence sits with Sodra, the Lithuanian social insurance board. Spain will not accept a Sodra record without an apostille. And an apostilled document in Lithuanian is not accepted without a sworn translation.
That became the longest stretch of the case. Sworn translation in Spain is done only by translators on the Foreign Ministry register, and for Lithuanian there was one in the entire country. There is no way to hurry a sole supplier: for several weeks we simply kept after the translations so the filing date would hold.
What others can take from this
- Check the employer before you spend on documents and translations, not after
- No usable degree does not close the Blue Card: the law accepts professional experience instead
- Entering by land, settle proof of entry in the first days — and check the spelling of your surname at the counter
- Treat documents from another country as the longest stage: in a rare language everything narrows to one translator
What the costs were made of
| Item | Amount | Paid to |
|---|---|---|
| Our work | per agreement | to us; fixed before work starts |
| Sodra records and apostille | Lithuanian rates | to third parties; issued in the country of origin |
| Sworn translation from Lithuanian | by volume | to a third party; rare languages cost more and take longer |
| State fees for the application and the card | current tariff | to the state, per applicant |
There are deliberately no fee amounts here. We did not verify the tariff for this particular permit while writing the case, and putting a remembered figure into something people read before filing is not acceptable. Current rates sit in the modelo 790 on the day you file. The least predictable line is not the state fee but the translation: a rare language means both a higher price and a schedule you do not control.
What we did
- Took on the Spanish side: a Blue Card filing covering the applicant, his wife and their son
- Handled the entry and the declaración de entrada
- Held out for a form with the surname spelled correctly
- Checked the employer and stopped the filing that would have used it
- Found the route through professional experience instead of the degree
- Specified which Sodra records were needed and saw the legalisation and translation through
- Held the schedule on the sworn translation so the filing date would not move
- Filed all three in one submission and ran the case through to three approvals
What the service did not cover
Anything touching the Lithuanian permit sat outside our work: another jurisdiction, other people.
The Sodra records and the apostille are issued in Lithuania, under Lithuanian procedures and timescales. We specify exactly what to request; the client obtains the documents.
Sworn translation is done by a translator on the Spanish Foreign Ministry register. We find them and hold the schedule, but the translation is their work.
Finding an employer and negotiating the contract were not ours either. We check the company a client brings us and say whether it will do.
Lithuania is not our practice area. The client came to us once the revocation was already under way; we neither contested it nor assessed its chances. Everything above concerns the Spanish filing.
Whether an employer is genuinely trading is judged by the authority, not by us. We can check a company before filing and talk a client out of a bad contract — which is what happened here. We cannot promise that an employer who looks suitable will pass.
Qualification by experience is also judged by the authority. The law sets a duration and requires the experience to relate to the occupation named in the contract. How closely it relates is decided there.
Nobody controls a sworn translator's schedule. Chasing and reminding is possible; speeding it up is not.
Thirty-three days is what this case took, not a promise. The timeline depends on the authority's workload.
If you are moving to Spain on another EU country's Blue Card, check the route before you travel. In cases like this the problems turn up somewhere other than where you expect them.
Questions we had to answer
How does the EU Blue Card differ from the national highly qualified permit?
By the qualification bar and by mobility across Europe. The Blue Card asks for more and gives more.
The Blue Card requires higher education of at least three years at EQF level 6, or five years of equivalent professional experience. The national permit sets a lower bar: level 1 of the Spanish higher education framework, or three years of experience.
Both are set out in art. 71.2 of Ley 14/2013.
Can you get a Blue Card without a degree?
Yes. The law provides a second route explicitly — evidenced professional experience.
As a general rule you need five years of knowledge and skills evidenced by experience that is comparable to the required qualification and relevant to the occupation or sector named in the employment contract. For IT specialists and managers it is three years within the seven years before the application.
That is art. 71.2.a of Ley 14/2013.
What is required of the employer?
In law, of the contract: it must run for at least six months, or be a firm job offer for the same period, comply with current rules and the applicable collective agreement, and pay no less than the reference salary threshold. That threshold is set by regulation between 1.0 and 1.6 times the average gross annual salary, and drops to 80 per cent of it in defined cases. This is art. 71 bis.1 of Ley 14/2013.
In practice it does not stop there: the authority looks at whether the company genuinely trades and can pay what is stated. A registered shell with no turnover is a refusal risk.
Do you need an entry declaration if you arrive by car?
It depends on three conditions, and in this case all three applied.
The declaration is filed by third-country nationals — other than nationals of Andorra, Monaco and San Marino — who enter Spain from a country with which Spain has an agreement abolishing border controls, and who do not yet hold a Spanish residence authorisation. If any one of those does not apply, there is no obligation.
The deadline is three days from entry if it was not filed at the border itself, and it can be filed at any National Police station. This is art. 13 of RD 1155/2024.
How long is a Blue Card valid, and how is it renewed?
Three years. If the contract is shorter than three years, the permit runs for the contract plus three months, and it is never issued for more than three years.
Renewal for a further two years is applied for in the sixty days before expiry, provided the grounds still hold. After five years of residence the route to long-term residence opens, subject to meeting its own requirements.
All of this is art. 71.3 of Ley 14/2013.
What happens if you lose your job?
There is a window to find another: three months if you have held the card for less than two years, six months if you have held it for two years or more. Miss it and the card is withdrawn or not renewed.
This is art. 71 bis.3 of Ley 14/2013.
I live in another EU country on a Blue Card — how do I move to Spain?
If you have lived there for at least twelve months as a Blue Card holder — or six months if you have been in more than one member state — you have the right to enter, live and work in Spain. You apply for a Spanish Blue Card to do it.
One useful detail: the application can be submitted by your employer or by you while you are still resident in the first member state. That is art. 71 bis.4 of Ley 14/2013.
How the years already spent count towards long-term residence is a separate question with its own conditions.
Sources
Нормы и официальные материалы, на которые мы опирались. Ссылки ведут на первоисточники — проверяйте.
- Ley 14/2013, de 27 de septiembre, de apoyo a los emprendedores y su internacionalización Art. 71.2 — the two modalities of the permit and the qualification requirements. Art. 71.3 — three years, renewal for two, long-term residence after five. Art. 71 bis.1 — contract of at least six months and the salary threshold. Art. 71 bis.3 — permitted periods of unemployment. Art. 71 bis.4 — moving to Spain on another EU country’s Blue Card.
- Real Decreto 1155/2024, de 19 de noviembre — Reglamento de la Ley Orgánica 4/2000 The Immigration Regulation now in force; it replaced RD 557/2011. Art. 13 — who must file an entry declaration, by when and where.
- Ley Orgánica 4/2000 — why references to its art. 38 ter are out of date Until 2023 the Blue Card was set out in art. 38 ter of this law. It was repealed by the sole repealing provision of Ley 11/2023 of 8 May 2023; material still citing it points at a repealed article.