Realidad sociolaboral de los inmigrantes

With the exception of the following cases, all foreign nationals who wish to enter Spanish territory must have a proper, validly issued and current visa:

• If the foreign national is entitled to the Community regime.
• For stays of less than three months in a six-month period or for transit stays of less than five days, the following persons shall not require a visa:
• Nationals from countries with which Spain has agreed to forego the said visa in the form and conditions laid down in the corresponding international agreement.
• Foreign nationals with refugee status bearing documentation accrediting them as such.
• Crew members of passenger and trade vessels and aircraft during the time of their stopover.
• Foreign nationals who hold a residence permit, a provisional residence permit or a card accrediting diplomatic status issued by the authorities of another state with which Spain has concluded an international agreement envisaging this possibility. These authorisations must be in force when entry into Spain is requested.

In any case, a lawyer may offer advice on all of these matters, taking into consideration the specificities of each case.

Types of visa

Foreign nationals who wish to enter Spanish territory should have one of the visas listed below. These visas should be current at the time of entry into Spain and should figure in the corresponding passport or travel document.

Transit visas 

Transit visas can be:

• Territorial transit visas: Permits the foreign national to cross Spanish territory from one State to another during a trip whose duration does not exceed five days. These visas are typically issued to tourists who, as part of a package tour, travel through our country in groups of between five and fifty persons.
• Airport transit visas 

Visa for a duration of time

These visas are issued to those who want to stay in Spain for a maximum of three months per six-month period and can take the form of:

• Travel visa or a short-term stay visa: This visa permits foreign nationals to enter for an uninterrupted stay or successive stays, for a period or sum of periods, whose total duration may not exceed three months per six-month period counting from the date of first entry.
• Multiple-stay visa. 
• Courtesy visa: Courtesy visas may be issued to persons carrying an official or service diplomatic passport. These visas may be extended by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation.

Residence visas 

These visas allow the foreign national to reside in Spain without undertaking any professional activity. This type of visa does not allow the bearer to conduct any sort of professional activity as a salaried or self-employed person.

These can be:

• Residence visas for family reunification: By means of this visa, a foreign national who has lived in Spain for at least one year and has been granted authorisation to reside at least one further year can bring the following family members to Spain to join him/her:
• Spouse If the couple has not separated of fact or law, and the marriage is legitimate in harmony with the law. Reunification may never involve more than one spouse.
• The children of the resident and of the spouse, including adopted children, providing that they are under the age of 18 or are incapacitated and are not married. In the case of reunification of the children of only one of the spouses, the applicant must have sole parental authority over the child or have custody of the child through a judicial order.
• Children under the age of 18 or who are incapacitated if the foreign national is his/her legal representative.
• The ascending line (father and mother) of the sponsor or his/her spouse if they are under the tutelage of the latter and there are reasons justifying the need to authorise their residence in Spain.

Foreign nationals who have been granted temporary residence status through reunification may, in turn, bring their family members to join them in Spain providing that they have obtained a residence and work permit independent of the sponsor and meet the requirements for reunification.

•  Work and residency visas enable foreign nationals to reside in Spain and undertake a labour or professional activity in our country either as salaried or self-employed workers. The work and residency visa incorporates the initial residency and work permit and therefore its duration shall be counted as of the date of entry stamped in the passport or travel document.
• Visas to seek employment authorise foreign nationals to come to Spain in search of work for a period of three months. If these visa holders do not find a job within this period of time they must leave the country. In most cases, this type of visa is limited to the search for employment in specific sectors (hotels and restaurants, agriculture, etc.).

Exemption from the visa requirement 

If the foreign national is not a resident of Spain, in order to reside in our country he/she must apply for the corresponding residence visa at the Spanish consulate in his/her country of origin. The visa application must be accompanied by the necessary documentation to accredit that the work the applicant wants to undertake does not require a work permit. In these cases, the consulate will verify whether the exception applies or not and will process the corresponding resident visa within a period of seven days. No response in this period of time should be taken as a favourable indication.

If the foreign national is already a resident in Spain, he/she should file a request for the exception at the Government Delegation office. If this body does not issue a decision within three months, it shall be assumed that the request for exception has been denied.

The exception shall have the same duration as the activity proposed with a limit of one year in the case of the initial period which can then be extended for a further two years.

 

How does one go about getting a visa?

Visas are requested at and issued by Spanish Consulates.

The concession of a visa enables the foreign national to request entry into Spanish territory and remain in our country under the conditions specifically stipulated in the document.

In the case of transit visas and visitor visas, the official application form must be submitted directly by the interested party or by his/her legal representative at the Spanish consulate corresponding to the party’s place of residence abroad.

If the consular authorities grant the visa, the interested party must collect it within a period of one month counting from the date it was granted.

If it is not collected within that period of time, it shall mean that the interested party has waived his right to the visa and the file will be closed. The duration of the visa shall always be inferior to that of the passport or travel document on which it has been issued.

As in the foregoing case, in the case of residence visas the official application form must be submitted to the corresponding Spanish consulate.

This request form is transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation and to the Government Delegation where residency was requested abroad where a decision will be taken regarding the residency application.

This body must deliver a decision within a maximum period of one month as of the date of submission of the application, duly informed by the police services. The Government Delegation shall subsequently communicate its concession to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation and to the corresponding Spanish consulate. It will ultimately be the duty of the consulate to issue the visa.

Once the visa has been collected by the foreign national, which the latter must do within one month counting from the date of issue, the interested party must enter Spanish territory while the visa is current which in no case shall be longer than three months and, once in the country, an application for the alien identification card must be submitted within one month. The duration of this card shall correspond to that of the temporary residence.

We would draw attention to the fact that the residence visa shall incorporate an initial residency permit (with an initial duration of one year) whose duration shall be computed as of the date of entry into Spain which should be stamped in the passport or travel document.