Moving to Spain for work

Overview

Moving to Spain for a job adds specific priorities to the general moving process — confirming your work authorisation, understanding your contract, and getting registered with Social Security promptly. This guide connects those pieces together.

Requirements

• Relevant to anyone relocating to Spain to take up employment, whether employed or self-employed

Step-by-step process

• Confirm your work authorisation before finalising anything — EU citizens can work freely, while non-EU citizens generally need a specific work-authorising visa route (see our guide to work permits and authorisation)
• Understand your employment contract before signing — contract type, probation period and applicable collective agreement all affect your rights (see our detailed contract guide)
• Confirm your employer will register you with Social Security before your start date — this is their legal responsibility and activates your healthcare cover
• If you're relocating as a freelancer instead, look into registering as autónomo, which follows a different process (see our guide to registering as a freelancer)
• Sort out banking and housing near your new workplace, factoring in commute time and cost when choosing a neighbourhood

Required documents

• Employment contract or job offer letter
• NIE and work-authorising visa/residency status, if applicable
• Qualification recognition documents, if your profession is regulated

Common mistakes

• Accepting a job offer without confirming your visa status actually authorises that specific type of work
• Not checking your applicable convenio colectivo (sector collective agreement), which can set pay and conditions above the general legal minimum

Practical tips

• See our full Work category for detailed guides on contracts, Social Security, payslips and workplace rights once you've started
• If your profession is regulated (medicine, law, teaching, engineering, etc.), start any required qualification recognition (homologación) process as early as possible, since it can take months

How Tuchati can help

If you're not sure whether your visa authorises the specific role you've been offered, or want help understanding your contract, Tuchati can guide you through it before you commit.