Order PJC/44/2026 ties the salary requirement to an INE reference rather than a fixed figure. What indexation means for budgeting international hires a year ahead.
- EU Blue Card and Highly Qualified Professional
- Intergenerational Equity Mechanism (MEI)
- How does the EU Blue Card threshold work in Spain?
For companies establishing a Spanish operation, the SL — Sociedad Limitada — has become markedly more accessible since the 2022 capital reform, but the practical cost of employment, not incorporation, is where Spain differs most from comparable EU jurisdictions.
What a foreign hire has to satisfy in Spain. Every figure below is published on the Spain country page.
| Spain | |
|---|---|
| EU Blue Card threshold | €39,269.92/year standard · €31,415.94/year shortage occupations and recent graduates (2026) |
| Main work-permit route | Highly Qualified Professional permit and EU Blue Card are the main routes for skilled non-EU hires |
| Corporate tax rate | 25% standard · 23% for SMEs under €10M turnover (2026, reducing to 20% by 2029) · 15% for new companies, first 2 profitable years |
| Minimum share capital | SL: €1 statutory minimum (€3,000 common in practice) · SA: €60,000 |
| VAT standard rate | 21% |
What makes it complex in Spain
- EU Blue Card and Highly Qualified Professional — routes, with thresholds now indexed to INE wage data.
- Intergenerational Equity Mechanism (MEI) — a pension-sustainability contribution increasing annually through 2029.
How does the EU Blue Card threshold work in Spain?
Since Order PJC/44/2026, the threshold is set at 1.4 times the average gross annual salary published by Spain's National Statistics Institute (INE). For 2026, this is €39,269.92; a reduced threshold of €31,415.94 applies to shortage-occupation roles and recent graduates.
EU Blue Card and Highly Qualified Professional is one of the points HTLC Network handles for clients operating in Spain, within a single engagement that covers every other country they operate in — executed locally, governed centrally.
In Spain the scope is: EU Blue Card and Highly Qualified Professional permit applications, salary threshold compliance, and coordination for internationally mobile employees.
See Workforce Mobility in Spain for the full scope, or the Spain country page for the statutory framework across every service.
Figures as published on the HTLC Network country pages, reviewed September 2026 and collected from public sources. They are not a substitute for advice on a specific case and should be verified before being relied on.