Work Visa/ Company Sponsorship

Well, that's a damn good question.

I believe that 30-35 hours would be fine, but I'll see if I can find out and let you know.

Thank so much. It gets a little overwhelming to just roam from site to site looking for an answer to such a specific question. Haven't a clue where else to go, save an immigration lawyer's office :) Nice moon, by the way.

Cheers,

Sonja

As far as I understand it (and I'm no expert on this) is that the standard full-time contract in Spain is 40 hours. This is what is written on the contract which is registered with INEM. The company I work for has this official contract which says 40 hours and then a private contract with the employees which says 35 hours. This allows us to get the benefits of a full-time contract but not work 40 hours. There obviously has to be trust between the employer and employee in this situation so no one gets screwed!

Thanks Sallok. That's very helpful information. I was wondering if things like that happened (ie: legal paperwork says one thing, but company and employee work out something else). I guess my luck with this will depend upon how relaxed the company is :)

I've got a couple more questions if you (or anyone else!) has a second.

1) Are salary specifications set in stone with the creation of the contract for obtaining the visa, or is that also something potentially changeable between company and employee down the road.

2) I read somewhere that once I have the work visa, THEN I have to file for a residency visa to live here. How does the timing of it all work? Is it okay for me to begin working immediately after the work visa goes through, even though I won't have my residency visa yet?

I very much appreciate your time and feedback :)

Cheers,

Sonja

1. Not sure about the salary question.

2. Your work visa will be fine for as long as it's valid.

Thanks, Amoonistrator. Maybe someone else has an idea about the salary question. In your response to my number 2, do you mean that as long as my work visa is fine, I don't need to pursue getting a residence visa? Or is it that there is no time pressure to get the residence visa once I hava a valid work visa? Not sure what you mean.

Cheers,

Sonja

I don't believe you need to get your residence visa, your work visa allows you temporary residence in the country. You'll probably want to go for full residency later however.

Thanks much. I'll let you know if I learn anything new as I move through the process. Happy to pass on what I can to help the next stumbler along.

Sonja

The official contract between you and your employer is the one stamped by the INEM office. I found this out to my cost last year as I had the official contract and a private contract where some of the conditions differed mainly the salary amount which on one was stated in gross and on the other net. When a company contracts you, your tax payments are low at the start and increase further along which means that you start out with more money and end up earning less. The same thing goes for things such as benefits and holidays and also the number of payments as some companies pay 14 salaries and some pay 12. As someone said, it depends on how much you trust your employer as every change to your working situation should be noted by an amendment to your contract which is once again seen and stamped by the INEM office. I?m no expert on this just experience on working in Spain for the last 20 odd years.

Hi Chris,

I'd say that working in Spain for some 20 years most certainly gives you some authority on the matter. I suppose I just need to make sure that all discord between the INEM contract and the private contract works in my favor. Thanks for the coaching. Definitely good information that I'm certain will help me avoid landing some alarming pitfalls! I think I'm still kind of throwing around the question about the minimum hours required to be contracted toward a visa in the first place. Any clue? I've heard that 35 should be enough, but nothing difinitive.

Thanks again!

Sonja