As you may know, getting a regular work permit in Spain can be a bit difficult. Your job offer must take into consideration the national situation of unemployment. And that really limits your range of opportunities. But there is an alternative: the work permit as a highly qualified professional (also called the highly skilled visa).
In this article we will explain why this could be your ideal go-to option and one of its main requirements that will enable you to easily obtain this special type of work permit: the salary you will earn.
Trust us. If you meet all the requirements, getting this residence and work authorization will be much easier than obtaining a work permit.
So, if you would like to save time, effort and money… Keep reading!
In order to start we will first outline the main differences between the work permit as an employee and the highly qualified one.
Doing that you will be able to see how this option can actually benefit you and if it suits your specific situation.
Vis Regulated by the Entrepreneur Law
The first thing to consider is that the highly skilled worker visa is not regulated by the Spanish Immigration Law.
It is the 14/2013 law of the Entrepreneurs Law that regulates everything that has to do with this permit.
Among others, one of the main befits this situation presents is your ability to apply for this permit while on your tourist visa inside Spain.
Conversely, if you consider the application for a regular work permit, you can’t be inside Spain and must initiate the procedure while on your country of origin.
That does not happen with the highly skilled visa.
You can find here a complete list with all the visas under the entrepreneur’s law.
The Type of Worker for this Visa
As a generalization, we could state that the work permit is valid for the vast majority of non-EU citizens.
Because yes, we are talking about a permit that is really difficult to get. Nevertheless, if all the other national applicants got rejected, you could manage to get your visa.
Therefore a generic job offer can work in some cases (even though very few).
But the highly skilled working visa is for a tiny segment of the population.
It is aimed at all the graduates or qualified individuals with a high profile in academic terms.
We are talking, for example, about managers or other types of workers who are located high on the business ladder.
The Required Salary
And, finally, one of the most important parts: the salary.
If the job offer you have found will pay you an ordinary salary, this visa is not for you.
The highly qualified visa is for those individuals earning a high salary. A salary that corresponds to their qualification level.
And which exactly is that salary?
This is what we will analyze next, but just to give you a broad number, that salary must ve equal or over 50.000€ annually.
Do you have doubts? Get personalized advice from one of our immigration lawyers:
What salary is required for the Highly Qualified Visa?
Finding the exact amount according to your category
In order to define the exact amount of money you should earn per month, you must take into consideration the average salary for your occupation category.
In that sense, there are two options, which represent the two type of workers that can apply for this permit:
- First of all, directors and managers, who must earn a minimum of 54.142€ per year.
- Then we also have the rest of scientific and intellectual professionals who must earn a minimum of 40.077€ annually in order to get a successful application.
You should bear in mind that the average salary is bound to change from time to time. Hence, make sure you check the exact numbers before starting the application procedure.
And you can find the average salaries for the highly qualified job positions here.
Can I include my variable salary to the computation?
It is not uncommon that part of your salary depends on your performance. That part is what is called the variable salary.
Of course, the better you do, the highest your earned amount per month will be.
Can you take into consideration that variable part when deciding if your annual earnings meet the legal requirement?
Because it could certainly make things much easy.
But, unfortunately, you can’t. You can just take into consideration the fixed part of your payslips.
But don’t despair. Some good news is coming.
How to reduce the annual required amount
Maybe you are not a bit worried due to the high amount this requirement represents.
But don’t worry. There are some cases in which the annual salary can be lower and still have a successful application.
In the 2 following cases you can apply a 0,75% reduction:
- If the application comes from a PYME (small and medium-sized companies) that belongs to a strategic sector. That must be accredited through a favorable report from the Trade Commission Department.
- If you are a work regarded as highly qualified who is younger than 30.
Be careful with the salary in kind
Maybe it’s part of your company’s policy to pay you part of your wage in kind.
Meals, entertainment tickets, products of the company,… options are infinite.
In that sense, if your job offer includes par of the salary in kind, it can’t represent more than 30% of your total salary.
Start your application today!
Now you exactly know the main requirements for the work permit as the highly skilled professional visa.
We have seen all the different dispositions that tackle the salary part, the most important component of the equation.
If your job offer is in line with that, you are set to start your application and get your work permit as soon as possible.
In order to make things much simple, our specialized immigration lawyers in Spain are here to help you out.
We will prepare all the required documents, translate and legalize them, prepare a motivation letter to ensure a successful application, and send everything to the competent authorities.
With a 95% success rate, we now want to help you out!
Get in touch with our lawyers and let us guide you step by step:
