From student to resident with a job in Spain, without going home

Studying in Spain does not oblige you to go home when you finish. The immigration regulation in force (since 20 May 2025) allows you to work while taking higher education and, once you have the qualification, to move to residence and work without leaving the country and without a visa. With conditions and deadlines worth knowing from day one.

The framework: the regulation in force since May 2025

Everything that follows comes from Royal Decree 1155/2024, which approved the new Regulation implementing the Organic Law on immigration and came into force on 20 May 2025. The authorisation this route starts from is the long-term stay for study purposes, and specifically the one granted for higher education: studies pursued as the main activity, full time, at a recognised higher education institution or centre in Spain, leading to a higher education qualification, whether university-level or not (article 52.1.a).

While you study: working up to thirty hours a week

The stay authorisation for higher education allows you to work as an employee or on a self-employed basis automatically and without any additional procedure, provided the work is compatible with the studies (article 57.1). There is no need to apply for a separate work authorisation.

That permission has three limits, and they apply from day one:

1. Which studies. Automatic permission to work reaches only full-time higher education. In other cases, such as upper secondary education or intermediate vocational training, an application for a work authorisation must be filed (article 57.1).
2. How many hours. As a general rule, the work may not exceed thirty hours a week. Exceeding them is a ground for termination of the stay authorisation (article 57.2).
3. Where. In principle, the work is limited to the autonomous region that granted the authorisation, with exceptions for neighbouring localities and for situations that do not involve continual travel incompatible with the studies (article 57.3).

On finishing: residence and work without a visa

With the qualification obtained, you can move from a stay for study purposes to residence and work, as an employee or self-employed, from within Spain and without applying for a visa (article 190.1). This route is open to those who studied under certain of the situations in article 52, higher education and post-compulsory secondary education among them.

For residence and work as an employee there are two significant advantages (article 190.2):

• The national employment situation requirement is not applied (paragraph 1.a of article 74).
• The application may be filed by you or by your employer; in both cases, the fee is paid by the employer.

For self-employed work, by contrast, the general requirements for that authorisation must be met (article 190.3).

The deadline: two months before, three months after

The deadline is what closes the most applications. The application may be filed in the two months before or the three months after obtaining the qualification or the termination of the stay authorisation for studies (article 190.6, in the wording in force as at September 2026).

Filing within that window has two protective effects. First, the study authorisation is extended until the decision is notified (article 190.6). Second, once the application is admitted for processing, the stay authorisation takes on the character of a provisional residence and work authorisation until the procedure is decided (article 190.7). If the application is refused, that provisional authorisation automatically ceases to be valid.

If you have completed studies at a higher education centre or institution at a minimum level 6 of the European Qualifications Framework, article 190.10 also provides a separate route: the residence authorisation to look for work or to start a business project, governed by Law 14/2013 and subject to its own requirements.

Common mistakes

1. Letting the three months pass after the qualification or the end of the study authorisation. Outside that window, the rules do not provide for this change without a visa.
2. Having studied on a cooperation programme scholarship. Article 190.1 excludes those who have received a scholarship or grant from public or private bodies under sustainable development cooperation or humanitarian action programmes, whether Spanish or from the country of origin.
3. Being in Spain on a student mobility or volunteering basis. These are situations under article 52 that do not appear among those giving access to this change.
4. Arriving as a tourist and applying late for the stay for study purposes. Someone lawfully in Spain may apply from here for the higher education authorisation, but must be of age and must file at least two months before both the start of the studies and the date their legal status expires (article 54, paragraphs 1 and 3).
5. Exceeding thirty hours a week during the studies. It is not a mere employment irregularity: it is a ground for terminating the authorisation on which everything else depends.

Sources

• Royal Decree 1155/2024, of 19 November, approving the Regulation implementing Organic Law 4/2000, of 11 January, on the rights and freedoms of foreign nationals in Spain and their social integration, articles 52, 54, 57 and 190, and fourth final provision (consolidated text from the BOE, consulted in September 2026)