Job seeking visa
I am sure you are not familiar with the job search residency. Its purpose is to allow students who have already graduated to have one more year to look for a job. During this time, they can legally reside in Spain.
The job seeking visa is valid for 24 months and cannot be extended. It is important to find a job within 24 months and to exchange your job-seeking residence for a working residence, as the job-seeking residence does not allow you to work. If you don’t find a job, you can start your own business and apply for a change of residence to employer’s residence.
The topic of today’s article is how to change your residence permit from a job-seeking permit to self-employed permit.
Requirements for exchanging a job-seeker’s residence for a self-employed
-No criminal record in Spain.
-You are not allowed to start your business or work in it until you have changed your residence permit. Otherwise, you will be inspected by the Ministry of Labor and will face high fines.
-You can apply for a change of residence permit at any time, so you don’t need to wait for your residence permit to expire.
What do I need to apply for a change of residence status from “job-seeker” to “employer”?
-Official application form (EX-07). Click here to download.
-A copy of your residence.
-Photocopy of the entire passport.
-Business license. You need to go to your local municipality to apply for one.
If there is no physical operation, then no business license is required.
Note: The jurisdiction of the business license belongs to the local municipal government, and the process is similar in each place, so you can ask yourself. In order to promote business development, most industries and regions are now offering “prior notice” instead of business licenses. In this case, all you need to do is to go to the municipal government and file a notice of opening and you can open your business without waiting for approval.
-The opening declaration of the tax office. Spanish law states that every business owner should go to the tax office to make a declaration and registration. You need to submit this declaration when you apply for the owner’s residence.
-The applicant needs to provide proof of funds. This is to prove that the applicant is capable of starting a business activity. The amount of money needed varies according to the type of store. It should be on a case by case basis, if it is a small store around 10,000 euros is enough and if it is a big store then it will be tens of thousands.
In addition, the applicant needs to prove that after deducting the investment in the store as well as the expenses, there is still enough financial capacity to maintain the daily life of the person concerned as well as his family. In other words, while proving the financial ability to start a business, one also needs to prove that there are enough assets to sustain the family.
-Storefront lease agreement.
If the business is said to be operated through the internet without a physical store, then it is not required.
-Then again, one of the most important documents is to make a business plan. The plan is to make the immigration office feel that the store has a future and can be a source of income for the applicant.
You can write your own business plan by yourself, there is no fixed template, but it should be convincing. It is also possible to request a business report from one of the main associations of self-employed people in Spain to prove that your plan is likely to be successful. The details are more complicated and the applicant should know some Spanish to communicate with these associations. Otherwise, it is better to write a simple plan on your own.
-There is no legal requirement to submit a certificate of residence, although some local immigration offices may look at it.
-Finally, the administrative fee payment form TASA 790-052 version needs to be submitted. How to fill in and obtain the TASA 790 can be found in our other article.
In addition, to apply for a residence permit for your employer, you need to submit an additional TASA-062, which is similar to the 052. You can download it by clicking here.
Application process
1.There is no need to make an appointment in advance to apply for a change of employer’s residence. You can just bring the documents to the immigration office or the government registry office by yourself and submit them.
Note: Because of the epidemic each region may not be the same in terms of scheduling.
2.The approval time is about 3 months aprox. Also can be applied online with digital certificate.
