EU Blue Card and Highly Qualified Visa for Spain

If a company in Spain wants to hire you for a skilled role, there is a faster lane than the ordinary work permit. Law 14/2013 has a regime for highly qualified professionals and for the EU Blue Card. The company files with a specialised national unit, there is no labour-market test, and your family can apply at the same time as you. We prepare the file on both sides, the company’s and yours, and we organise your first month in Barcelona once the visa is issued.

Our fee for the visa file, per applicant. Case study included: if you paid it first, its 100 € + VAT is deducted. Each additional family member: 100 € + VAT. After arrival, the TIE card (120 € + VAT) and the empadronamiento (60 € + VAT) are booked separately. Official fees, consular visa fees, apostilles and sworn translations are paid separately.

Two routes that look alike, and which one fits you

Both routes live in the international mobility section of Law 14/2013. The Blue Card rules were rewritten by Law 11/2023, which transposed Directive (EU) 2021/1883. They share the same processing unit, the UGE-CE (Unidad de Grandes Empresas y Colectivos Estratégicos), but they do not ask for the same things.

The choice depends on facts only the company can confirm: the gross salary written in the offer, the length of the contract and how the company is classified. For that reason the case study always starts with the offer letter, not with your CV.

Why companies prefer this route to the ordinary work permit

An ordinary work visa goes through the Oficina de Extranjería of the province. It also depends on the national employment situation: the occupation has to be on the shortage list, or the public employment service has to certify that nobody suitable was available. Under Law 14/2013 neither of those applies. The UGE-CE works to a short legal deadline, the application is electronic, and one decision can cover the whole family. When a profile qualifies, filing it as an ordinary permit is slower for no benefit.

What goes into the file

From the company:

• Company identification and proof that it is registered with Social Security and up to date with tax and Social Security payments.
• The employment contract or binding job offer: role, duration and gross salary.
• A description of the position and why it needs the qualification in question.

From you:

• Passport valid for the planned stay.
• Your degree or postgraduate title, and where needed, evidence of professional experience in place of the degree.
• For regulated professions, the recognition (homologación) the job legally requires in Spain.
• Criminal record certificates from the countries you have lived in during the previous five years.
• Health cover, public through the job or private where the file requires it.

Foreign public documents need an apostille under the 1961 Hague Convention, or consular legalisation if the issuing country is not a party to it, plus a sworn translation by a traductor jurado appointed by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Degree certificates and criminal records are where most delays start, so they are the first thing we order.

How we run your file

1. Case study. We read the offer and your qualifications and tell the company which route to file: Blue Card, highly qualified professional, or ordinary work permit if neither fits.
2. Company pack. A checklist for HR, with the exact certificates to download and the contract clauses the UGE-CE will read.
3. Your documents. Apostilles, sworn translations and criminal records, in the order that stops any of them expiring before filing.
4. Filing with the UGE-CE. The authorisation for you and, at the same time, for your spouse or partner and children.
5. Visa. Once the authorisation is granted, the long-stay visa at the Spanish consulate for your place of residence. If you are already legally in Spain, the file can in many cases be processed from here.
6. Arrival. The TIE card within one month of entry (form EX-17, fee 790-012, fingerprints), the empadronamiento, and your Social Security number if the employer has not handled it.

Mistakes we see most

• An offer letter that shows net salary or a total package, when the Blue Card test looks at the gross annual salary.
• A contract signed for a shorter period than the route accepts, because nobody checked before sending it.
• A regulated profession, such as health or engineering with legal sign-off, where the degree was never recognised in Spain.
• Family members filed later as a separate reunification, when they could have come at the same time.
• Starting work before the authorisation is granted, which can sink the whole file.

Tax and what comes after

Moving on this route usually makes you tax resident in Spain from your first year. Many highly qualified newcomers can opt into the special regime for inbound workers, the régimen de impatriados often called the “Beckham law”. That election has its own deadline and conditions, so it belongs in the plan from day one. See our income tax service for foreigners. The authorisation is renewable while the job continues, and years spent on it count towards long-term residence.

Frequently asked questions

Can I apply on my own, without an employer? No. Both routes rest on a job with a company in Spain, and the company is the applicant. If you work remotely for a company abroad, the digital nomad visa is the route designed for that.

Can my partner work in Spain? Family members who come under this regime receive an authorisation that, as a general rule, lets them work. We confirm it for your case, because it changes how they plan their own move.

What is the salary threshold this year? It is updated every year and differs between the Blue Card and the other profiles. We check the figure in force against your offer before the company signs.

I already hold a Blue Card in another EU country. After a period there you have mobility rights to move to Spain on simplified terms. Tell us in the form, because the file is different from a first application.

Not sure this is your route? Compare it with the other long-stay options on our page on Spanish visas from abroad.

Salary thresholds, official fees, document validity periods and UGE-CE requirements change, so we confirm the ones in force for your case before you file.