Víctor de Castro Esteller
One of the ways to acquire a residence permit in Spain was and is the so- called “Arraigo Laboural”, for which it was necessary to demonstrate the employment relationship by judicial means. This necessarily meant that the labour authority was made aware that the company had incurred an infraction and therefore this ultimately led to a sanction for the company.
The impact of this procedural obligation was that this method of applying for a residence permit fell very much out of use because clients did not want to damage their relationship with their employer.
This year the Spanish Supreme Court issued various judgments that allowed the employment relationship to be demonstrated by means of evidence other than a court ruling, such as by a contract or salary sheets.
Of course, this must be added to the rest of the requirements, such as providing evidence that the employment relationship is longer than six months, for at least 30 hours a week and paying at least the minimum interprofessional salary, in the corresponding proportion.
It should be noted that the immigration office has the power to contact the labour authority in these cases to confirm that the employment relationship took place. Therefore, despite the fact that this new direction of the courts may seem an open path to process the “Arraigo Laboural” without the need to sue the company, this does not mean that the company will not be sanctioned when the labour authority becomes aware of a fraudulent employment relationship, going against the interests of our clients.
XLNC MAGAZINE | No. 08 | Autumn 2021