Spain – New Rules for EU Blue Card

Jump to: Background | New Blue Card or EU Highly-Skilled Professional | Similarities | Differences | Particularities of new Blue Card | Pending Instructions

Spain has partially transposed the new Blue Card Directive, the Directive (EU) 2021/1883 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 20 October 2021, regarding the conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals for highly-qualified employment purposes.  This revokes Council Directive 2009/50/EC.¹ 

Spain will have two types of highly-qualified permit, one national and one European (EU Blue Card) and the processing on the new Blue Card is assigned to a single specialised team: the Large Companies and Strategic Groups Unit (Unidad de Grandes Empresas y Colectivos Estratégicos) which is currently in charge of the Highly-Skilled Professional Scheme, yielding synergies.  Also, the new Blue Card rules will create a common set of procedural guidelines, as well as introduce greater efficiencies and timeliness.

Instead of including the 2021 Directive in the Immigration Law (Ley Organica 4/2000) as had been done with the previous EU Blue Card Directive (2009); now the new Directive has been introduced in Law 14/2013, of September 27².

Approved almost 10 years ago, Law 14/2013 came about in a context of recovery measures introduced to deal with the economic and social crisis.  The objective was to create a regulatory environment favourable to competitiveness and the internationalisation of Spanish enterprises and, specifically, the granting of visas and residence permits in order to attract investment and talent to Spain.  Law 14/2013 included the investor visa (so-called “Golden Visa”), the entrepreneur visa, the highly-skilled professional visa, and the intra-company visa.

A new article 71 bis in Law 14/2013 establishes the complementarity of the national regime for authorisation of entry and residence of highly-qualified professionals with respect to the EU Blue Card regime.  Spain will have a national highly-qualified professionals permit and an EU highly-qualified professionals permit (the new Blue Card).

Who can apply? In both cases the application can by submitted be the enterprise or by the employee.

Validity: The initial permit will be granted for three years whereas renewal will be for two years.  After five years both paths can lead to the long-term permit if requirements are met.

The Blue Card is for those labour activities in which:

• the level of education needed is equivalent to the level 6 of European Qualifications Framework (EQF)³ ꟷ (same level of the Marco Español de Cualificaciones para el Aprendizaje Permanente (MECU))⁴;
• or five years of labour experience that accredits the individual’s knowledge, capacities, and competencies for the job position and the particular economic sector; except in the information and communications technology area, where three years of experience, in the seven years prior to the Blue Card application, will be requested.

National Highly-Skilled professional permit is for those labour activities in which:

• the level of education needed is equivalent to the level 5A of MECU;
• or three years of labour experience that accredits the individual’s knowledge, capacities, and competencies for the job position and particular economic sector.

The Blue Card can be cancelled or not renewed when:

• the Blue Card holder does not have a valid contract of high qualification:

1.      and has been unemployed for more than three months and has had this type of permit for less than two years.

2.      and has been unemployed for more than six months and has had this type of permit for at least two years.

• When the Blue Card holder moves to another EU country and has obtained the EU Blue Card in that other country.

A new twentieth additional provision is included in Law 14/2013 establishing that new instructions will be approved this time without a timeframe (see our previous GMS Flash Alert 2023-031, 9 February 2023).  

Over the last three years, requirements and processes for applying for different types of work/residence permits have been reformed in Spain, with new ones created such as the Film Visa (see GMS Flash Alert 2021-196, 13 July 2021) or the Teleworking Visa (see GMS Flash Alert 2023-017, 23 January 2023).  Those changes took some time to be implemented and normally there is more clarity once the instructions are published.

If there are any questions about eligibility and the conditions for applying for the residence and work permit, individuals with plans to relocate to Spain and employers with such relocating employees may wish to consult with their global mobility professional and/or immigration counsel, or a member of the Immigration team with KPMG in Spain (see the Contacts section).

1  See Ley 11/2023, de 8 de mayo, de trasposición de Directivas de la Unión Europea en materia de accesibilidad de determinados productos y servicios, migración de personas altamente cualificadas, tributaria y digitalización de actuaciones notariales y registrales; y por la que se modifica la Ley 12/2011, de 27 de mayo, sobre responsabilidad civil por daños nucleares o producidos por materiales radiactivos, at: https://www.boe.es/eli/es/l/2023/05/08/11/con .

2  See Ley 14/2013, de 27 de septiembre, de apoyo a los emprendedores y su internacionalización at: https://www.boe.es/eli/es/l/2013/09/27/14 .

3  See https://europa.eu/europass/en/europass-tools/european-qualifications-framework .

4  See https://www.educacionyfp.gob.es/mc/mecu/mecu.html .

* Please note the KPMG International member firm in the United States does not provide immigration or labour law services. However, KPMG Law LLP in Canada can assist clients with U.S. immigration matters.

The information contained in this newsletter was submitted by the KPMG International member firm in Spain.