Did you know that you can get Residency for professional practice in Spain on the basis of your contract
with your employer?
This residence permit is one of the preferred for students who want to strengthen their positions and
rights in Spain. It allows the student to access their residence permit card regularly once the internship
takes place during the academic year up to two years after the termination if the internship.
According to the framework of Article 199 of the Foreigners Law, students can obtain a residence in
Spain through a job search permit (búsqueda de empleo), two types of modification after three years of
student life - work for oneself or under a contract .
In saying that, the easiest and most straight forward way is by getting a residence permit for practical
training (residencia para prácticas profesionales) for students studying in Spain.
Residence permit authorization for practice is possible in two ways:
Based on an Agreement (convenio) signed with an employer (company or educational institution)
On the basis of an employment contract (contrato). In this case, it is a full-fledged employment contract
that makes you the same employee of the company as other employees.
According to the law, practice cannot be carried out under an employment contract but if you have
completed your studies within the last two years, on the basis of which you want to do an internship, then
this is already allowed.
Many companies are slow to hire a foreigner directly on a full-time basis because the procedure involves
the need to contact the immigration office and provide their documentation which is tedious and takes a
while to do.
However, the signing of the Agreement for the internship is only a period of 6 months, which can then be
extended for another 6 months and does not imply a full working day.
Thus, all these steps speed up the path for foreigners in Spain to the first employment contract and
simplify the procedure for the employer who does not need to burden themselves with strict contracts.