Spain's seasonal work authorisation and the nine month limit

The residence and work authorisation for seasonal activities runs for four years and allows a maximum of nine months of activity in each calendar year, under article 101.1 of the Reglamento approved by Real Decreto 1155/2024. It is granted for a single employer, the immigration office decides within one month, and silence means refusal.

This is the instrument through which Spain transposed Directive 2014/36/EU on third country seasonal workers, and since 20 May 2025 it exists both as an individual authorisation and inside the collective hiring at origin scheme.

What the rules require before a grant

Article 102 refers back to the general requirements of article 74 and adds a list of its own. The worker must neither reside nor be present in Spain. The contract must be a written fijo discontinuo contract under article 16 of the Estatuto de los Trabajadores, and must state at least the place and type of work, the length of the season, the working hours and the start date, with a written copy in a language the worker understands.

On top of that sit four employer obligations that no generic declaration will satisfy: providing adequate accommodation on the terms of article 109, taking out health insurance covering the worker from the start of the journey to Spain until Social Security registration, committing to organise the journeys under article 107.1.c), and filing the return commitment signed by the worker. The authorisation is limited to one autonomous community and one occupation, except where the national employment situation requirement does not apply. Temporary work agencies cannot hold it.

The deadlines, which differ from the ordinary regime

The contrast between three days and three months for registration is the figure that breaks most plans. In the seasonal regime article 103.6 obliges the employer to register the worker within three days of entry into Spain, which means the payroll side has to be built before the flight lands, not after.

How the season repeats without starting again

Article 102.4 provides that in each subsequent year the holder must be called back by the employer within the contract already signed, if all the requirements are met. That call is notified to the labour and immigration unit of the government delegation or subdelegation, or to the immigration office, stating the vacancy code, the workers included and the annual activity period planned for each of them. The administration then checks that the return commitment from the previous year was evidenced and that the company is current on tax and Social Security obligations.

The guarantees in article 107 extend to every annual journey. The employer organises the arrival and the return, pays for the first and also for the second unless the commitment document says otherwise expressly, and covers transfers between the border crossing, the accommodation and the workplace. The Inspección de Trabajo y Seguridad Social supervises compliance with these guarantees under article 107.3. Accommodation conditions and the rent ceiling are set out in seasonal worker accommodation and the IPREM cap.

Where an Asian corridor fits

Article 103.7 directs these applications preferentially towards the countries with which Spain has signed agreements on the regulation and management of migration flows. Nepal and India are not on that list, and the Philippines appears only among the subsidiary collaboration instruments, under article 19.2 of Orden ISM/1547/2025. The preference is not a prohibition: the individual seasonal authorisation remains open to any nationality, but a campaign project with volume and selection at origin finds far less administrative structure outside the agreement countries, as explained in Spain's migration flow agreements.

For an employer comparing destinations, Greece runs seasonal admission through bilateral agreements with named origin states and a separate quota instrument, described in the Greek bilateral quota route. How Werklist chooses between the two before a campaign is committed is set out on our employers page.

Two months of minimum notice and one month to decide add up to three months of administration before the first day of the campaign. Strawberries picked in April are filed for in December, not in February.