Dismissal of workers with Highly Qualified Residence Permit: Malaga needs a high demand for highly qualified workers in the technology sector, for software development, Artificial Intelligence, Cloud, Cybersecurity, telecommunications, Big Data, and others). Malaga companies in the IT sector are hiring a lot of foreign staff, due to the shortage of engineers and other ICT workers in Spain, and Malaga has become a hub for digital talent, attracting foreign engineers and technological profiles due to the quality of life in Malaga, the attractiveness for investors, and a suitable regulatory framework such as the spanish Startups Act, which covers the hiring of international teleworkers (or digital nomads) and entrepreneurs.

But there is also a high number of redundancies in the technology sector, in multinationals such as Google, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and others, looking to reduce their costs and debt.

Foreign workers who have come to Malaga hired by multinational technology companies with Visas or Residence and Work Permits for Highly Qualified Workers are suffering redundancies, which puts them in a more vulnerable situation in terms of their ability to continue residing in Malaga and Spain. But on the other hand, it can be a great opportunity for SMEs in Malaga, which may have the opportunity to hire highly qualified and specialised workers to fill their current vacancies in the ICT sector.

The recruitment of foreign ICT professionals has been a clear trend in Malaga and Spain for several years now, due to the shortage of technological profiles. Most of these technological profiles, and even company managers, clearly fit into the type of residence permit known as “Spanish Residence Authorisation for Highly Qualified Professionals“, which benefits from:

• a much faster processing time (no more than 20 days), compared to other residence permits in Spain, and
• which facilitates the incorporation of profiles from the technology sector in Malaga companies of any size.

But the Spanish Residence Permit for Highly Qualified Workers is issued linked to the company that hires the foreign worker, obliging them to maintain the initial employment relationship with the company that issued the permit. So, if the highly qualified worker is dismissed, he/she must manage the continuity of his/her residence in Malaga or Spain with a new company, or look for other alternatives of residence permit, in which we at Pérez Parras Economists and Lawyers are specialised, with staff who combine Law and Technology, being specialised in immigration law.

What is the situation of a Highly Qualified Worker who is dismissed by his company?

Well, as established by the immigration law that applies to this type of spanish residence permit for Highly Qualified Workers, the dismissed worker must notify the Spanish Administration within 30 days of this change, which affects his or her conditions for maintaining his or her residence permit in Spain. During this period, the worker must regularise his residence in Spain, although it is important to know that if the worker is entitled to receive unemployment benefits, he will be able to extend his spanish Highly Qualified Worker residence permit, which will give him more leeway for us to help him solve his Residence Permit in any other modality, if necessary. Dismissal of workers with spanish Highly Qualified Residence Permit may solved to stay living in Málaga.

How can you regularise your residence in Spain after a dismissal?

You can regularise your residence status in Spain if you have a spanish Residence Permit for Highly Qualified Worker by being hired with the same residence permit by another Spanish company (in this case, it is your new company that must apply for a new spanish Highly Qualified Worker Residence Permit), or if you are entitled to unemployment benefits (known as “spanish paro”), then you have the opportunity to renew your spanish Highly Qualified Worker Residence Permit.

In addition, at Pérez Parras Economistas y Abogados we are experts in foreigners, and we can help you and guide you to change to any other residence permit that allows you to continue in Spain and that is appropriate to your professional profile and personal circumstances.

Can another Malaga or Spanish company hire you, if you are a foreign worker with a Highly Qualified Worker Residence Permit, linked to the initial company that hired you with this permit?

The answer is yes. If a different company wants to hire you as a foreign Highly Qualified Worker, different from the initial company with which you came to Malaga (Spain), it must initiate an initial application for a spanish residence permit for a highly qualified worker, but you can also be hired by other Malaga or Spanish companies by modification to another type of residence permit (as a non highly qualified worker, as a self-employed, and even with a spanish residence permit to reside and not to work – non lucrative residence permit – if you do not manage to find another job in the short term, but wish to continue living in Malaga and Spain), both for you and for your family members. You may also consider the possibility of obtaining a spanish residence permit for students, if you do not find a job offer in the short term.

Hiring in Malaga foreign workers with a spanish Residence Permit for Highly Qualified Workers will also be quicker and easier, without having to apply for a visa in their country of origin, so it can be an excellent opportunity for other Malaga companies to incorporate these professionals into their workforces, and fill vacancies.

If you are a professional with a spanish Residence Permit for Highly Qualified Worker and you have been dismissed, do not hesitate to contact Pérez Parras Economistas y Abogados so that we can notify the Spanish Administration within the necessary legal period of 30 days of your change of situation, and so that we can help you to regularise your situation in Spain, looking for an alternative to your spanish residence permit that will allow you to continue living in Malaga, and even work in the technology sector for you and your family members. In addition, you should bear in mind that if in 2022 (in the preovious year) you were already in Spain working as a foreign Highly Qualified Worker and you were a tax resident, even if you are dismissed, you must submit your spanish tax return. At Pérez Parras Economists and Lawyers we have lawyers who are experts in international taxation (Beckham Law, Non-residents taxation), as well as taxation for residents. We also process many other residence permits, such as Golden Visa (investors), and others. Contact Pérez Parras Economists and Lawyers to find out which is the best option for you, to stay livin in Málaga.