Working in Spain: is the NIE necessary?

It will surely have happened to all expatriates who have just arrived in Spain (or during their relocation for work reasons) to come across job offers from Spanish companies that made employment conditional on the presentation of the NIE by the candidate. So the question we will answer is: Is the NIE necessary to work in Spain?

The answer to this question (one of the most frequent that you will find on the various forums and pages of foreigners in Spain) is, however, to be given in a certain context.

First of all, it must be borne in mind whether a Spanish company wishes to proceed with the hiring of a non-EU or EU worker: in the first case, the worker will need to have his NIE associated with a Spanish residence permit authorising him to work. In the case of a citizen of a European Union member state, on the other hand, a Spanish company can only proceed to register an employment (and compulsorily) by means of the presentation of the NUSS, or Numero de Seguridad Social (Spanish Social Security Number), by the future employee.

It is indeed necessary to dispel the urban legend according to which it is not possible to sign (AND register) an employment contract in Spain for an EU citizen without an NIE: In fact, he or she can very well have an employment contract registered (which the company will have to communicate to both the Tesorería General de la Seguridad Social – TGSS -, the Spanish social security body, and the SEPE, the Spanish public employment service) simply by using his or her current identity document (passport or identity card of a European Union Member State) and, obligatorily, his or her NUSS, or Social Security Number. It is therefore absolutely possible for a European Union citizen in Spain to obtain a Numero de Seguridad Social (Social Security Number), as well as to have an employment contract registered, even if he/she does not yet have a NIE: it should also be borne in mind that for up to three months of employment a foreign (Community) worker does not need to have a NIE at all. Beyond three months of employment, however, the worker will be obliged to communicate the NIE to the authorities (i.e. the Tesoreria General de la Seguridad Social and the SEPE).

Why then do many Spanish companies not hire an EU worker, even if they have a Numero de Seguridad Social, if they do not yet have the NIE assigned? There may be several reasons, but perhaps the most common one is due to the fact that a company that makes a recruitment telematically only with a passport or a community identity card, using the digital platforms «CASIA» (For Social Security) and «Contrat@» (For SEPE) is obliged, then to communicate the worker’s NIE to the Tesorería General de la Seguridad Social within three months, on the one hand, and to physically send an authorised person (OR the worker himself) to the corresponding office of SEPE, on the other hand, as this body has registered the worker (EU Citizen) using a provisional code (which has to be replaced with the NIE).

As is often the case in the maze of Spanish (and not only Spanish) bureaucracy when it comes to this issue, i.e. employment without an NIE for an EU citizen, one runs into a vicious circle that the authorities often generate, creating great discomfort for both the worker and the company. Many police stations will only issue an NIE (either in the form of a ‘Certificado de no residente‘, i.e. a blank document, or a ‘Certificado de registro de ciudadano de la Unión Europea’, i.e. an EU resident’s green card) if you have an employment contract registered with the seguridad social and the SEPE, but the company is not willing to hire you if you do not already have the NIE.

How can I get out of this situation? Have you received an employment and obtained an NIE, and now need to communicate it to the Tesoreria General de la Seguridad Social? Do you need to obtain a Numero de Seguridad Social, but do not yet have an NIE? Do you simply need the NIE but do not yet have a registered employment contract, and has a Spanish company expressly required you to submit your NIE and NUSS in order to start work?

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