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EXPLAINED: How Britons can live and work in Spain after Brexit

It’s become considerably harder for UK nationals wanting to move to Spain to do so now that they need a work permit, but it’s not impossible.

EXPLAINED: How Britons can live and work in Spain after Brexit
Will UK nationals be able to land English teaching jobs in Spain easily? Short answer: Not anymore. Photo: AFP

Since Brexit came into force on January 1 2021, UK nationals no longer have the automatic right to get a job in Spain or anywhere else in the EU. 

They technically don’t have the right to apply for a job or a work visa from Spain either, having to carry out the application from the UK or wherever they are through the Spanish consulate, just as it is for other non-EU nationals.

So what are the options for Britons of working age who want to live and work in Spain and who can’t afford other schemes such as Spain’s non-lucrative visa or the so-called golden visa?

The two main choices are a work permit as an employee and a work permit as a self-employed worker, both of which have their challenges as non-EU citizens.

Work permit as an employee (por cuenta ajena)

In order to be considered for a job as a non-EU national, in the majority of cases the position must be on Spain’s shortage occupation list.

The latest 12-page list published by Spanish employment agency SEPE is downloadable here, but overall the type of positions advertised are 95 percent in the maritime and shipping industry (from naval mechanics to ferry staff, chefs and waiters), as well as sports coaches.

In all fairness, it’s a pretty limited and disheartening list for the majority of British professionals interested in a move to Spain, but it is usually updated every quarter so there could be new positions opening. 

You also have to consider that your employer will have to declare that there was no suitable Spanish or EU candidate available to fill the position. The fact that it’s listed as an ocupación de dificil cobertura (skills shortage) is likely to play in your favour as that gives Spain’s employment ministry no choice but to accept non-EU nationals as candidates.

It is technically possible to apply for a work permit for a job that isn’t on SEPE’s list, but your prospective employer will have to vouch for you further still and really convince Spanish civil servants that there weren’t any local candidates available.

If you have found a job offer that you’re suitable for, you must start your application from the Spanish consulate in the UK or the country in which you live, that’s if there is of course interest on the part of your prospective employer as they have to sponsor you and start the application procedure themselves at their regional department of Labour and Immigration.

So even if you had scouted for work while ‘on holiday’ in Spain and managed to agree to a deal with your future boss, you wouldn’t be able to do any of the paperwork from Spain.

Bear in mind that your proficiency in Spanish may also be a key factor in landing the position and that your profession and qualifications (especially regulated ones like doctors, architects, lawyers) may need to be recognised first as a result of Brexit.

The standard employee’s work permit in Spain lasts one year and can be easily renewed if your work conditions haven’t changed.

What about English teaching after Brexit?

There has been no mention yet by the Spanish government as to whether it will fast-track work permits for British English teachers wanting to come to Spain.

Teaching English is a job that many anglophones in Spain take up as native teachers are very much sought after and the pay isn’t too bad either.

Whereas Britons previously didn’t often need an English teaching qualification to land a job and could simply shop around at language schools and academies in person, this will no longer be as straightforward.

Not impossible however, as the thousands of Americans, Australians, Canadians and other English-speakers who come to Spain to teach each year can vouch for.

The most common work permit used by non-EU English speakers who have completed a TEFL (Teaching English as Foreign Language) is in fact the student visa, which allows them to study at a recognised institution while teaching English on the side.

There is also the “Auxiliares de Conversación” Programme which is run by the Spanish government and sees people from the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia recruited to be English language assistants in Spanish schools. Could the UK be joining this list soon?

There are other schemes available to non-EU English teachers so the best place to start is with the language schools and organisations themselves: send out some emails and find out what choices are available to you personally.

Work permit for self-employed people (por cuenta propia)

For UK citizens looking to move to Spain and set up their own business or register as self-employed workers (autónomos), the process is again more complicated after Brexit.

You will have to demonstrate that you have the right qualifications to fulfil said position and prove that you will have sufficient earnings in Spain.

All this will have to feature in a comprehensive business plan which you’ll have to present, covering everything from a marketing plan, the readiness of financing and payments and other information about your operations. Overall, you’ll have to demonstrate that your business will be successful within three years.

If you thought that was tricky, wait for it. You’ll have to send this business plan to one of these five Spanish institutions for their approval:

Unión de Profesionales y Trabajadores Autónomos –  UPTA

Confederación Intersectorial de Autónomos del Estado Español – CIAE

Organización Profesionales autónomos – OPA

Unión de Asociaciones de trabajadores Autónomos y emprendedores-  UATAE

Federación Nacional de Trabajadores Autónomos – ATA

They will review it and send a viability certification if they agree the business will be successful. 

If they approve the business plan, you’ll have to send this together with all the other paperwork to Spain’s Ministry of Labour and Immigration. The permit is also valid for a year but after five you’ll be eligible to a long-term five year work permit.

Again, it could be that you need to have your qualifications verified by the Spanish Ministry of Education if you work in a regulated field, a painstaking process which currently takes two years on average.

 Conclusion

The days of easy work in Spain for UK nationals wanting to move after Brexit are over, we’re afraid. 

It may be that English teaching is still the easiest option for landing a job in Spain post-Brexit, but this will hardly be any consolation for those with careers in other fields.

Spain, with its notoriously high unemployment rate, has a slight protectionist attitude towards its work market, wanting to offer the few jobs that are on offer to its local population or at least EU candidates. This can also be seen in how long they take to process the recognition of qualifications of non-EU nationals, at least four times longer than in Germany or Ireland.

Even if they didn’t have this approach, the country always scores high for quality of life on expat surveys, but not so for career prospects.

READ MORE: The downsides of moving to Spain for work

Sadly, it may be that for many young Britons wanting to live and work in Spain from 2021 onwards, the only way to get their foot in the door is with a very specialised and highly skilled career to offer.

It can still be done, but it will take much longer (maybe even years) for many Brits to find work in Spain if they weren’t here before Brexit.

READ MORE:

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GIBRALTAR

UK soldiers expelled from Spain after crossing from Gibraltar posing as tourists

Spain has expelled four Royal Navy servicemen who crossed the Spain-Gibraltar border on foot three times in a single day while dressed in civilian clothing, with Spanish media claiming they were checking the porosity of the border.

UK soldiers expelled from Spain after crossing from Gibraltar posing as tourists

Spanish police expelled four British soldiers from Spain on Monday night, removing them from the country and sending them back to Gibraltar after it emerged that the four Royal Navy personnel had entered Spain illegally while “posing as tourists”, as the Spanish press has reported.

The incident comes a week after the British Navy carried out military drills in the waters surrounding Gibraltar, the British overseas territory that Spain still claims sovereignty of, and amid the seemingly never-ending negotiations between Spain and the UK to finally settle a post-Brexit deal.

READ ALSO: Gibraltar Brexit deal ‘close’ as Brits crossing into Spain use fake bookings

The expulsions, now reported in the Spanish press by Europa Sur and confirmed to El Periódico de España by official sources, occurred after the four soldiers arrived in Gibraltar on a civilian flight and entered into Spain. They also had return tickets via Gibraltar.

They then reportedly passed themselves off as tourists and entered Spain on foot, staying at a four-star hotel in La Línea de la Concepción, the town in the Cádiz province of Andalusia that borders Gibraltar.

Stranger yet is that they crossed the border at La Línea on up to three occasions in the space of a few hours.

READ ALSO: What Brits need to know before crossing the border from Gibraltar to Spain

Spanish authorities detected their presence because two of the soldiers tried to return to Gibraltar at night.

At the border, Spanish police officers enquired as to the reason for their entry, to which the soldiers replied that they were on their way to work and brandished British military documentation.

The police decided that their entry into Spain had been irregular because they did not meet the Schengen Borders Code requirements demanded of non-EU citizens entering EU territory.

According to Europa Sur, Spanish police then asked the two soldiers to call their colleagues in the hotel in order to collect their luggage and return to Gibraltar, which took place at midnight on Monday 18th March.

The Spanish press has stated that it is common for soldiers to try to stay in Spanish territory by concealing their military status and entering while posing as tourists.

The motive for the soldiers’ presence, particularly their repeated trips across the border, remains unknown.

The military drills in the area seem to suggest that the soldiers may have taken part in or be due to take part in further exercises and wanted to enter as tourists.

Spanish media also suggests that they could have been testing the porosity of the border, though these claims remain unsubstantiated.

Gibraltar’s post-Brexit status still remains unresolved. The EU and UK government are now onto their 18th round of treaty negotiations after the framework agreement between London and Madrid made on New Year’s Eve 2020 essentially ‘fudged’ the border issue, leaving Gibraltar’s status within the Schengen area undefined.

Spain’s Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said in late-2023 that “we are very, very close” to finalising a Brexit agreement.

“I would sign a deal with Britain over Gibraltar tomorrow,” Albares told journalists at the time. Yet no agreement was made, despite the Minister’s positivity, nor the appointment of former UK Prime Minister David Cameron as Foreign Secretary.

Albares’ comments came at a time when it was reported in the Spanish press that many UK nationals have been using fake hotel bookings in order to try and bypass the Schengen rules and trick their way through border checks.

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