The Highly Qualified Professional for Spanish companies

In Spain, the Residence Authorization for the Highly Qualified Professional – PAC – is a permit that authorizes third-country citizens to reside and work in Spain. To obtain this condition, its conditions and criteria are regulated in Law 14/2013, assuming that said workers will come to our country to occupy a highly qualified or managerial position without the need to overcome the national employment situation.

In this article, we will see the key issues and characteristics to obtain a visa for these highly qualified professionals to be able to carry out their duties in our country, since there are many multinationals that are currently choosing for one reason or another to transfer their workers to Spain.

THE KEY CHARACTERISTICS OF THE VISA FOR HIGHLY QUALIFIED PROFESSIONALS

What differentiates this visa from others are these five main keys:

1. Simplified processing: 20 days for the Authorization and 10 days for the Visa
2. It is not necessary to pass the national employment situation
3. Possibility of processing when the foreigner is legally staying in Spain or from the country of origin
4. Operates positive administrative silence
5. Possibility of simultaneously processing Authorization for the relatives of the Highly Qualified Professional

Let us remember that the job profiles to be able to apply for the Residence Authorization in Spain as a Highly Qualified Professional are the following:

• Management or highly qualified personnel from large companies or groups of companies or SMEs in strategic sectors
• Managerial or highly qualified personnel of business projects of general interest
• Graduates and postgraduates from universities and business schools of recognized prestige

WHAT KIND OF RELATIONSHIP CAN BE ESTABLISHED BETWEEN THE HIGHLY QUALIFIED PROFESSIONAL AND THE COMPANY?

 This type of authorization allows the company to hire the highly qualified professional in two modalities: the modality of someone else's account or also, where appropriate, it allows the establishment of a contractual relationship between the company and the professional, the worker being a dependent self-employed professional who performs a economic or professional activity for profit and on a regular, personal, direct and predominant basis for a natural or legal person, called a client, on whom they depend financially for receiving at least 75 percent of their income from work income and economic or professional activities.

Let's take into account the criteria to access the Residency as a Highly Qualified Professional

1.  Worker Profile

The contribution in the file of a profile detailing:

1. The functions that the worker will perform
2. His highly qualified character
3. The remuneration and other agreed working conditions
4. How many documents contribute to accredit the experience or training of the worker as a highly qualified professional

2. Characteristics of the Job Offered

To determine that the worker is highly qualified, it will be assessed that it is a job position and functions that can be assimilated to Groups 1 and 2 of the National Classification of Occupations 2011 (CNO-11) in Spain. This will be related to the job profile, the work contract, the professional classification and the applicable Collective Agreement. Thus, professionals in jobs not included in the aforementioned catalog may be eligible to receive authorization once the rest of the information in the file has been assessed, such as remuneration, productive sector or qualification, among other aspects.

3. Formación

In cases a) and b) of article 71, higher education training will be required, or accreditation of experience comparable to a degree of at least 3 years.

Professional career in the same or similar jobs will be valued.

4. Remuneration

Taking into account the occupations reflected in the CNO-11, it will be valued to be considered a highly qualified professional that the salary specified in the employment contract or the firm offer of employment, is at least the average annual salary by occupation groups, taking data from the National Institute of Statistics. At present we would be talking about at least a gross annual salary for

• Directors and managers: 54.142 euros
• Other technicians and scientific and intellectual professionals: 40.77 euros

FROM WHICH COUNTRY CAN THE HIGHLY QUALIFIED PROFESSIONAL OR COMPANY APPLY FOR A VISA?

We find here one of the main advantages of this permission. Well, the foreigner interested in obtaining it. Can carry out the procedure both from their country of origin and directly from Spain.

That is, as long as the foreigner is in a legal situation within Spanish territory, either with a tourist visa, with a stay for studies or with any residence permit as a non-profit. You can start the application and get this residency as a highly qualified professional if you meet the aforementioned requirements.

Likewise, said request can be initiated from the country of origin. If the foreigner is outside of Spain, then they must first apply for a residence permit at the Large Business Unit and then at the Spanish consulate in the region where they have legal residence. Once it is granted, you will nreceive the visa and will be able to enter Spain to directly register your fingerprints and obtain the residence card or TIE.

Last but not least, since it is one of the most unknown aspects, let us remember that the authorization as a highly qualified professional is granted for a job position and with a specific company, if the worker decides to leave the job or the company decides to fire him. , the worker has the obligation to notify this circumstance to the Large Companies Unit (UGE) and if he wishes to continue holding an authorization as a PAC, a new application must be submitted, from Spanish territory, which will be granted as long as it is verified that he is still being highly qualified. This must be done within 30 days of the termination of the employment relationship.

At CECA MAGÁN Abogados we have experts in international mobility for companies and their workers, advising and helping them to prepare and obtain visas for highly qualified professionals. Do not hesitate to contact us here.

Patricia Ruiz

Lawyer in the Labor Area