Hiring a foreign worker: initial residence and employment permit

The employer applies for it to hire a foreign national over 16 for more than ninety days and less than five years. The worker cannot be in Spain irregularly and must have no criminal record in Spain or in the countries where they lived in the last five years. The national employment situation must allow the hiring: the job is on the hard-to-fill occupations list the SEPE publishes every quarter, or the employer proves the difficulty of filling it (with a vacancy posted on Empléate and the Public Employment Services). A signed contract is required (if part-time, annual pay must be at least the full-time minimum wage), and the employer must be up to date with tax and Social Security and have sufficient means. It is filed through Mercurio with form EX-03. Fees: form 790 code 052 (section 2.1.3), paid by the worker, and code 062 (section 3.2.1), paid by the employer if the permit is for six months or more. The decision takes three months (no answer means refusal). If granted, the worker applies for the visa at the consulate within a month, enters Spain within the visa's three-month validity, registers with Social Security and, within a month of registering, applies for the TIE.

Official sources

• Hoja 12. Autorización inicial de residencia temporal y trabajo por cuenta ajenaESOfficial guidance · Checked on 2026-10-26