{
  "country": {
    "code": "ES",
    "name": "Spain"
  },
  "route": {
    "id": "es-blue-card",
    "name": "EU Blue Card (tarjeta azul-UE)",
    "kind": "res-work",
    "summary": "A contract or firm offer of at least six months, plus a higher-education qualification of three years or more — or five years of comparable experience. Spain's large-companies unit decides in 20 working days, and if it does not answer in time the application counts as approved. A lower salary applies if you earned your qualification in the last three years.",
    "info_url": "https://www.inclusion.gob.es/web/unidadgrandesempresas/profesionales-altamente-cualificados",
    "scope": {
      "value": "some-conditions-stated-not-asked",
      "reason": "Every rule that decides this route is a question you answer; the unit that handles the application is listed with the rules below and never asked, and two things the source adds — the shortage-occupation list behind the lower salary, and Spain's shorter experience route for some professions — are not checked here. The five years of experience it accepts instead of a degree have no window, so your answer about the last seven years stands in for them.",
      "not_asked": [
        "reduced-also-for-shortage-occupations",
        "handled-by-the-large-companies-unit",
        "reduced-also-for-a-qualification-earned-in-the-last-three-years",
        "it-professionals-limb-not-modelled",
        "lower-salary-applied-with-no-institution-limit",
        "seven-year-answer-is-a-floor"
      ]
    },
    "criteria": [
      {
        "field": "citizenship",
        "op": "eq",
        "value": "third_country"
      },
      {
        "field": "destination",
        "op": "in",
        "values": [
          "es",
          "all"
        ]
      },
      {
        "field": "situation",
        "op": "eq",
        "value": "offer",
        "source": {
          "source_url": "https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2013-10074",
          "quote": "un contrato de trabajo válido o una oferta firme de empleo de alta cualificación para un período de al menos seis meses",
          "retrieved_at": "2026-09-07",
          "legal_basis": "Ley 14/2013, art. 71 bis.1.b)"
        }
      },
      {
        "op": "any",
        "label": "located in Spain",
        "paths": [
          {
            "label": "Spain chosen as destination",
            "criteria": [
              {
                "field": "destination",
                "op": "eq",
                "value": "es"
              }
            ]
          },
          {
            "label": "offer in Spain",
            "criteria": [
              {
                "field": "situation_country",
                "op": "eq",
                "value": "es"
              }
            ]
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "op": "any",
        "label": "qualification or experience",
        "paths": [
          {
            "label": "higher-education qualification",
            "criteria": [
              {
                "field": "qualification",
                "op": "eq",
                "value": "degree"
              }
            ]
          },
          {
            "label": "5 years of comparable experience",
            "criteria": [
              {
                "field": "experience_7y",
                "op": "eq",
                "value": "5plus",
                "source": {
                  "source_url": "https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2013-10074",
                  "quote": "acrediten un mínimo de cinco años de conocimientos, capacidades y competencias avalados por una experiencia profesional que pueda considerarse equiparable a dicha cualificación",
                  "retrieved_at": "2026-09-07",
                  "legal_basis": "Ley 14/2013, art. 71.2 a)",
                  "history": [
                    {
                      "retrieved_at": "2026-09-07",
                      "quote": "acrediten un mínimo de cinco años de conocimientos, capacidades y competencias avalados por una experiencia profesional que pueda considerarse equiparable a dicha cualificación",
                      "source_url": "https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2013-10074",
                      "reason": "rule-rekeyed",
                      "checked_at": "2026-09-17",
                      "note": "s25 (v1.1 critique F2): read experience eq y5in7 before, experience_7y eq 5plus after."
                    },
                    {
                      "retrieved_at": "2026-09-07",
                      "quote": "acrediten un mínimo de cinco años de conocimientos, capacidades y competencias avalados por una experiencia profesional que pueda considerarse equiparable a dicha cualificación",
                      "source_url": "https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2013-10074",
                      "reason": "citation-corrected",
                      "checked_at": "2026-09-17",
                      "note": "The citation beside the quote was wrong, not the quote: legal_basis said \"Ley 14/2013, art. 71 bis.2\", and the sentence \"acrediten un mínimo de cinco años…\" lives in art. 71.2 a) (the Blue Card modality of the highly qualified authorisation) — in the watch snapshot of 2026-09-07 (boe-ley-14-2013) it sits at character offset 213627, under \"Artículo 71.\" (212189) and before \"Artículo 71 bis.\" (216234), whose paragraph 1 a) only refers back to \"la cualificación establecida en el artículo 71.2 a)\". (s25 build, 2026-09-17)."
                    }
                  ]
                }
              }
            ]
          }
        ],
        "source": {
          "source_url": "https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2013-10074",
          "quote": "una cualificación derivada de una formación de enseñanza superior de duración mínima de tres años y equivalente al menos al Nivel 2 del Marco Español de Cualificaciones para la Educación Superior",
          "retrieved_at": "2026-09-07",
          "legal_basis": "Ley 14/2013, art. 71.2 a)",
          "history": [
            {
              "retrieved_at": "2026-09-07",
              "quote": "una cualificación derivada de una formación de enseñanza superior de duración mínima de tres años y equivalente al menos al Nivel 2 del Marco Español de Cualificaciones para la Educación Superior",
              "source_url": "https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2013-10074",
              "reason": "citation-corrected",
              "checked_at": "2026-09-17",
              "note": "The citation beside the quote was wrong, not the quote: legal_basis said \"Ley 14/2013, art. 71 bis.2\", and the sentence \"una cualificación derivada de una formación de enseñanza superior…\" lives in art. 71.2 a) — in the watch snapshot of 2026-09-07 (boe-ley-14-2013) it sits at character offset 213271, under \"Artículo 71.\" (212189) and before \"Artículo 71 bis.\" (216234), whose paragraph 1 a) only refers back to \"la cualificación establecida en el artículo 71.2 a)\". Corrected together with the five-year limb beside it, which quotes the same paragraph. (s25 build, 2026-09-17)."
            }
          ]
        }
      },
      {
        "op": "any",
        "label": "the salary this route asks for",
        "paths": [
          {
            "label": "the standard salary",
            "criteria": [
              {
                "field": "salary_eur_year",
                "op": "gte",
                "threshold_label": "standard amount (1.4× the Spanish average wage)",
                "threshold": {
                  "amount": 41356.36,
                  "currency": "EUR",
                  "source_url": "https://www.inclusion.gob.es/documents/d/unidadgrandesempresas/umbral-salarial.pdf",
                  "quote": "Nuevos umbrales salariales Tarjeta Azul. - Umbral general: 41.356,36 €",
                  "retrieved_at": "2026-09-02",
                  "legal_basis": "Ley 14/2013 art. 71 bis + Orden PJC/44/2026 (1,4× ganancia media INE)",
                  "history": []
                }
              }
            ]
          },
          {
            "label": "the lower salary for a recent qualification",
            "criteria": [
              {
                "field": "qualification_recent",
                "op": "eq",
                "value": "yes",
                "short_reason": "a qualification from the last 3 years"
              },
              {
                "field": "salary_eur_year",
                "op": "gte",
                "threshold_label": "lower amount for a qualification from the last 3 years",
                "threshold": {
                  "amount": 33085.09,
                  "currency": "EUR",
                  "source_url": "https://www.inclusion.gob.es/documents/d/unidadgrandesempresas/umbral-salarial.pdf",
                  "quote": "- Umbral reducido: 33.085,09 €",
                  "retrieved_at": "2026-09-04",
                  "legal_basis": "Ley 14/2013 art. 71 bis + Orden PJC/44/2026 (umbral reducido)",
                  "history": []
                }
              }
            ]
          }
        ]
      }
    ],
    "statements": [
      {
        "id": "reduced-also-for-shortage-occupations",
        "kind": "caveat",
        "text": "The lower salary can also apply to shortage occupations that fall in the managerial and professional groups of Spain’s occupation classification (CNO-2011 groups 1 and 2) — we do not check that list.",
        "source": {
          "source_url": "https://www.inclusion.gob.es/documents/d/unidadgrandesempresas/umbral-salarial.pdf",
          "quote": "¿Cuándo se aplica el umbral reducido? El umbral reducido podrá aplicarse en los siguientes supuestos: - Ocupaciones de difícil cobertura incluidas en los grupos 1 y 2 de la CNO-2011, conforme a la normativa vigente.",
          "retrieved_at": "2026-09-07",
          "legal_basis": "Ley 14/2013 art. 71 bis + Orden PJC/44/2026 (supuestos del umbral reducido), as the UGE umbral-salarial PDF states them, edición Junio 2026."
        }
      },
      {
        "id": "handled-by-the-large-companies-unit",
        "kind": "precondition",
        "text": "The application must be handled by Spain's large-companies unit (UGE), and it is the Directorate-General for Migration that grants it",
        "source": {
          "source_url": "https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2013-10074",
          "quote": "La tramitación de las autorizaciones de residencia previstas en esta sección se efectuará por la Unidad de Grandes Empresas y Colectivos Estratégicos, a través de medios telemáticos y su concesión corresponderá a la Dirección General de Migraciones.",
          "retrieved_at": "2026-09-07",
          "legal_basis": "Ley 14/2013, art. 76.1"
        }
      },
      {
        "id": "reduced-also-for-a-qualification-earned-in-the-last-three-years",
        "kind": "caveat",
        "text": "The lower salary also applies to people from outside the EU who earned the qualification the route asks for in the three years before they applied.",
        "source": {
          "source_url": "https://www.inclusion.gob.es/documents/d/unidadgrandesempresas/umbral-salarial.pdf",
          "quote": "- Personas nacionales de terceros países que hayan obtenido la cualificación requerida en los tres años previos a la solicitud de la Tarjeta Azul-UE.",
          "retrieved_at": "2026-09-07",
          "legal_basis": "Ley 14/2013 art. 71 bis + Orden PJC/44/2026 (supuestos del umbral reducido), as the UGE umbral-salarial PDF states them, edición Junio 2026."
        }
      }
    ],
    "readings": [
      {
        "id": "it-professionals-limb-not-modelled",
        "text": "Spain's law gives IT professionals and managers a shorter experience route of their own. We do not model it, so this card judges you on the general rule."
      },
      {
        "id": "lower-salary-applied-with-no-institution-limit",
        "text": "Whether the lower salary is limited to qualifications from particular institutions is a question the ministry’s sheet does not answer: it names no institution anywhere. We apply the lower salary with no such limit, the wording the law itself uses."
      },
      {
        "id": "seven-year-answer-is-a-floor",
        "text": "Our question asks about the last seven years; article 71.2 a) names no window for its five, so five or more there meets the rule, and experience older than seven years — which the law also counts — is not something this card can see."
      }
    ]
  },
  "page": "https://permitrulebook.com/spain/eu-blue-card/",
  "dataset_version": "2026.09.18",
  "schema_version": "0.8.2",
  "licence": "CC BY 4.0",
  "source": "https://github.com/OytunOnal/permit-rulebook-data",
  "rules_read": "2026-09-17"
}