Moving an employee to Spain starts well before the three-month mark. Yet the last 90, 60 and 30 days before the move are the key checkpoints. By then, it is no longer enough to know that “the company is handling the paperwork”. With every month, there should be less uncertainty: who is managing your case, which immigration route you are following, which documents you need and what has to happen before your moving date.

Let’s go through it stage by stage.

90 days before the move: who is handling your relocation, and how?

Three months before your planned move, you should know exactly who is responsible for the immigration side of the process. Is it the employer’s in-house lawyer? An external provider? Specialists in Spanish immigration law?

Having a name or a contact person is not enough. By this point, the relocation strategy itself should be defined.

Check:

  • which type of residence or permit is being applied for;
  • why this option was chosen;
  • who is preparing and submitting the documents;
  • what the employer needs to do and what you need to do personally;
  • which documents will be required;
  • which steps lie ahead before and after entering Spain;
  • whether there are separate requirements for family members moving with you.

Why find this out so early?

Because different grounds for relocation come with different requirements and procedures. Highly qualified professionals, for example, have specific requirements for their residence and work permit, and the next steps may include obtaining a visa, entering Spain, registering with the social security system and getting a foreigner identity card.

If three months before the move you still don’t know on what basis you are relocating or who is handling your case, it is time to ask your employer or provider.

60 days before the move: the strategy is set and document work begins

Two months can feel like plenty of time. In practice, this is the stage when it becomes clear how realistic the original plan is.

By the 60-day mark, you should have a clear timeline:

preparing documents → submitting the application → awaiting the decision → planning the next steps.

Exact timeframes depend on the type of permit and the specific case, so there is no universal date by which every employee obtains residence. But you should understand the sequence of steps in your own case.

By now you also need the final list of documents and the requirements for each one.

Which documents do you obtain yourself? Which does the employer provide? Is an apostille or another form of legalization needed? Which documents need translating? Is an official translation required?

If your procedure requires a sworn translation, plan for it in advance. In Spain, translations by authorized sworn translators have official status and can be submitted to public authorities. Spain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs keeps an official list of these translators.

Don’t leave this stage for the final week: obtaining original documents, legalization and translations all take time.

At 60 days, you should no longer be finding out what you need. You should be preparing it.

30 days before the move: no unknowns on the key questions

A month before the planned relocation, the process should move from planning to execution.

Depending on the procedure, by now you should know exactly where your immigration case stands:

  • the documents have been submitted;
  • a decision is pending;
  • the permit has been granted and the next step is the visa;
  • or the visa has been issued and you can plan your entry.

The exact sequence depends on the grounds for relocation. In some procedures, for example, an employee who is outside Spain still has to apply for a visa after a favorable decision and complete further formalities after arrival.

That is why “in a month I’ll just fly to Spain” is not a good enough benchmark.

You need to know what exactly has to happen during that month for the move to go ahead legally and on schedule.

But documents are no longer the only question.

At 30 days, you should also understand the practical side of the move:

  • which city you are moving to, and when;
  • where you will stay at first;
  • whether that will be a hotel, a temporary apartment or a long-term rental straight away;
  • which administrative steps follow your arrival;
  • who will help with them and by when they need to be completed.

By this point, the relocation should look less like a set of separate tasks and more like a clear route.

The key principle: the closer the move, the fewer open questions

At 90 days, you understand the strategy and who is responsible.

At 60 days, you know the timeline and the stages and are preparing a specific set of documents.

At 30 days, you know the status of your case, the date and terms of your move, your accommodation and the next steps after entry.

Of course, relocation itself may begin much earlier and continue after you arrive in Spain. These three dates are not universal legal deadlines but convenient checkpoints that help you notice in time if the process starts falling behind.

If at the 90, 60 or 30-day mark you still don’t have answers to the key questions, it is better to get them now than a few days before your flight.

Because a smooth relocation is not a move without bureaucracy. It is a move where you know in advance what is happening now and what comes next.

About Docsinside

Planning employee relocation or your company’s expansion to Spain?

Docsinside is an all-in-one AI-powered B2B platform designed to help companies manage business expansion and international employee mobility to Spain. The platform supports not only immigration processes but also tax, legal and employment matters, giving companies a single environment to coordinate complex cross-border operations more efficiently.

To learn more about our services or discuss your situation, write to us at b2b@docsinside.com.