From student to residence and work in Spain after graduating

If you have finished your studies in Spain and hold the qualification, you can move from a student stay to a residence and work permit without leaving the country and without a visa. You apply between two months before and three months after your stay ends or the qualification is obtained, and once the application is admitted you can work full time.

This is the modification in article 190 of the Immigration Regulation (Royal Decree 1155/2024). It requires no minimum number of years studying: what matters is having obtained the qualification.

Who qualifies

Holders of a long-term student stay granted for:

• Higher education (university or not).
• Post-compulsory secondary education: bachillerato, intermediate vocational training.
• Certain vocational training leading to certificates or a professional licence.
• Specialist health training.

On two conditions:

1. You have obtained the qualification or certificate for those studies.
2. You were not funded by a grant under development cooperation or humanitarian programmes, Spanish or from your country.

Language courses, volunteering and pupil mobility programmes are therefore excluded.

Three possible destinations

Residence and work as an employee

You need a job offer meeting the general requirements for hiring a foreign worker (article 74), except the labour-market test, which does not apply:

• Contract signed by both parties, with continuous activity.
• Conditions in line with labour law and the collective agreement.
• Employer up to date with tax and Social Security and with sufficient means.
• The training or qualification required for the post.

The employer or you may file. The work authorisation fee is borne by the employer.

Residence and self-employment

You must meet the self-employment requirements (article 84): those the law demands of anyone opening the business, the necessary qualification or experience, and proof that the planned investment is sufficient and what employment it creates, including your own.

Residence exempt from work authorisation

For activities the law exempts from work authorisation. An uncommon case.

The deadline

You can file:

• in the two months before or three months after your student stay ends, or
• in the two months before or three months after obtaining the qualification or certificate.

Filing in time extends your stay until you are notified of the decision.

What happens during processing

This is the great advantage of this route. Once the application is admitted, your stay becomes a provisional residence and work authorisation. The admission notice must state expressly that you may work full time: the thirty-hour limit no longer applies.

If the application is refused, the provisional authorisation is lost automatically.

Once granted

• The permit lasts one year.
• For employees, it takes effect on your registration with Social Security.
• You must apply for the new card (TIE) within one month.
• After the year it is renewed under the ordinary rules; see my card is expiring: how to renew.

Your family

Relatives accompanying you on a stay can obtain, at the same time, residence through family reunification, if you show financial means and adequate housing.

Usual documents

• Passport and student card, valid (or within the deadline).
• Qualification or certificate, or proof of having requested it with the academic transcript.
• Contract and employer's documents, or self-employment project.
• Form EX-26 and fees.

The updated list is on the modification of permit page.

Common mistakes

• Waiting for the physical diploma. What counts is having obtained the qualification; keep the issue receipt and transcript.
• Letting the three months pass. Out of time you have neither stay nor modification.
• Starting full time before admission.
• An offer below the collective agreement wage or an employer with debts.
• Forgetting the cooperation-grant exclusion.

Frequently asked questions

Must I have studied three years in Spain?

No. The current Regulation requires no minimum period of stay: it requires having obtained the qualification.

I have not graduated but I have an offer. Can I switch?

This route requires the qualification. While studying you can work up to thirty hours a week on your stay; see student stay in Spain.

Must the job be related to what I studied?

Article 190 does not require it as such, but you must have the training or qualification the post demands.

Who pays the fee?

For employees, the work authorisation fee falls to the employer. The residence and card fees are yours.

I have no offer yet. What can I do?

You have up to three months after your stay ends or the qualification is obtained to file. If you will not have an offer by then, look at other options in good time.

Your next step

Tell us in the free test when your stay ends and when you obtain the qualification, and we mark the first and last day to file. If your employer is unsure what to provide, Resi explains it.