Work

Steps

1. Look for a job with the employment service of your autonomous community (registration as a jobseeker), the SEPE and the European portal EURES, which publishes vacancies from across the EU.
2. Have your diploma recognised if your profession is regulated in Spain (teacher, health professions, architect…). The application is made online with the competent ministry: Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades for teachers, Sanidad for health professions. For a non-regulated profession, the employer judges your diploma itself.
3. Read your contract. It is presumed to be permanent. A fixed-term contract is only allowed for a surge in activity (6 months at most, 1 year if the sector's collective agreement provides for it, or 90 days a year for foreseeable peaks) or to replace an absent employee (art. 15).
4. Check the probation period (art. 14): it must be in writing. Without a collective agreement, 6 months at most for graduate-level staff (técnicos titulados), 2 months for the others (3 months in a company with fewer than 25 employees), 1 month for a fixed-term contract of 6 months or less.
5. Your employer registers you with the Seguridad Social before your first day. You need a Social Security number (sheet ES-ADMINISTRATIONS-TOUS-001).
6. Consult your collective agreement (convenio colectivo): it is often what sets the actual pay, bonuses, working hours and the length of the probation period.
7. In case of unemployment: register as a jobseeker and claim the benefit from the SEPE within the 15 working days following your last day of work (online, at an office by appointment or by post).

Documents

• Your ID and your NIE (sheet ES-NIF-TOUS-001).
• Your Social Security number.
• A bank account for your salary (sheet ES-BANQUE-TOUS-001).
• For a regulated profession: diploma and recognition decision.
• For unemployment: official form, ID, bank statement, family record book if you have children, certificates from employers for the last 6 months (if they have not sent them to the SEPE), and form U1 if you have worked in another EU country.

Costs and timelines

• 2026 minimum wage (SMI): €1,221 gross per month in 14 payments, that is €40.70 per day and €17,094 per year, with effect from 1 January 2026. Domestic workers paid by the hour: €9.55 per hour. Seasonal workers for fewer than 120 days: at least €57.82 per day.
• Two double-pay months a year (pagas extraordinarias), one of them at Christmas; the collective agreement may spread them over 12 months (art. 31).
• Working time: 40 hours a week at most, on average over the year; 9 hours a day at most in principle; 12 hours of rest between two working days; a break of at least 15 minutes if the continuous working day exceeds 6 hours (art. 34).
• Leave: at least 30 calendar days of paid leave a year, to be taken and not paid out (art. 38); 14 public holidays at most a year (sheet ES-VIE-TOUS-001); 15 calendar days for a marriage or a registered partnership.
• End of a fixed-term contract: compensation of 12 days' salary per year worked (except training and replacement contracts).
• Dismissal judged unjustified: 33 days' salary per year of service, 24 months' salary at most (art. 56).
• Unemployment benefit: from 120 days (360 to 539 days of contributions in 6 years) to 720 days (2,160 days of contributions or more). It is worth 70% of your reference salary for the first 180 days, then 60%, with a floor and a ceiling linked to the IPREM (public income indicator) increased by one sixth (art. 270 of the general Social Security law). In 2026, with an IPREM of €600 per month (SEPE, "Cuantías anuales"): at least €560 without a child and €749 with child(ren); at most €1,225 without a child, €1,400 with one child, €1,575 with two or more children (monthly amounts for full time).
• Recognition of a diploma (directive 2005/36/EC): the administration must ask you for missing documents within the month, then decide within 3 months, 4 months under the general regime for recognition of qualifications and for recognition based on professional experience (art. 70 of Real Decreto 581/2017). The competent authority depends on the profession (teaching, health, engineering…); any fees are those of that authority. If the profession is not regulated in Spain, you practise it without recognition (ministry FAQ, 21/01/2025).

Common pitfalls

• The 37.5-hour week is not in force. The consolidated text of the Workers' Statute (updated 03/10/2026) still provides for 40 hours. Beware of announcements.
• Signing a probation period that is too long. It is void if you have already performed the same duties in the company, under any type of contract.
• A fixed-term contract without a real reason. A temporary contract outside the cases provided for by law can be requalified as a permanent contract.
• Claiming unemployment benefit too late. After 15 working days, you lose the days elapsed.
• Believing the monthly salary is the annual salary divided by 12. With 14 payments, the "normal" month is lower than a twelfth of the annual salary.
• Canary Islands, Balearic Islands, Ceuta and Melilla: employment law is national; only regional public holidays and local collective agreements change.

What changes by country of origin

• EU, EEA and Swiss citizens: free access to employment. Your work periods in another EU country count towards Spanish unemployment benefit (form U1, to be requested from the country where you worked). If you arrive unemployed from your country, you can keep your benefit for at least 3 months in Spain to look for work (6 months at most, depending on the institution that pays it) with form U2: register with the employment service in Spain within 7 days.
• British citizens (Scots included): since Brexit, a work permit or a residence permit that allows work is needed, except for rights acquired under the Withdrawal Agreement (sheet ES-SEJOUR-TOUS-001). The SEPE states in its Brexit frequently asked questions that contribution periods in the United Kingdom before and after 31/12/2020 count towards unemployment benefit in Spain if you reside and last worked in Spain.
• Degrees obtained outside the EU: go through an homologación (recognition of equivalence) or a declaration of equivalence with the Ministry of Universities (Real Decreto 889/2022). Online application with proof of payment of the fee (art. 28 of law 53/2002, fee of €166.50 per application, form 790-107, according to the Ministry of Universities' Valida-TE portal, page undated); decision within 6 months at most, and with no reply within that period the application may be considered rejected (negative silence). For a homologation, the general councils or national professional bodies of the sector give a non-binding opinion (RD 889/2022).