How the Spanish student visa is affected by the new immigration law regulation in 2022

Last Updated on March 18, 2026 by Bruno Bianchi

Until now, a foreigner with a Spanish student visa could work for a maximum of 20 hours a week while completing their studies or training.

With the reform of the immigration law regulation on August 16th 2022 (Link to the official publication), this range is increased from 20 to 30 hours per week, undoubtedly benefiting the student community to be able to generate income more easily while they study.

It’s important to mention that the geographic limitations were removed as well. This means that students will be able to work anywhere in Spain as long as traveling from and to the work location is not an impediment to continue with their studies.

Students will be able to work automatically with their student visa

Until now, if you had your stay for studies and wanted to work, the company that hired you had to start an immigration process so that you could get a work permit. This is how it used to be.

This has changed. From now on, students will be able to work both for someone else’s account and for their own account directly with their student visa, without undergoing a procedure.

Here’s an example of an old TIE and a new TIE, where you can see “AUTORIZA A TRABAJAR”

And that will be so as long as the foreigner is studying:

• Higher education
• Regulated training for employment
• Training aimed at obtaining a certificate of professionalism or technical aptitude
• A professional qualification necessary for access to a specific occupation

If none of the above is met, but internships are included in your study plan, you will not need a work permit either: you can do them directly too.

Student visa modification: the three years required to convert from a student visa to a work permit are over.

Until August 2022, a student must have had his study visa for at least three years in order to alter a residence and employment permit.

The foreigner’s plans were complicated by having to renew (maybe several times) until they could achieve this criteria because the studies often last for significantly shorter periods of time.

But now that the new law regulation has been approved, both the geographical restriction and the three-year term are gone.

No matter how long your studies took, you can now change from a student visa to a work permit automatically after they are finished.

If you want to know all the changes that the 2022 Immigration Law regulation reform brought, read “The Spanish Immigration Law Regulation reform in 2023“

Please notice that this article is no legal advice. If you need immigration experts, please contact Spainguru’s recommended lawyers here.

Bruno Bianchi CEO & Spain Immigration Expert

Bruno Bianchi is the founder and CEO of Spainguru, Spain's largest expat immigration community with 150,000+ members. Since 2014 he has helped thousands of people relocate to Spain through expert guides, webinars and vetted professional services covering visas, residency, taxes and life in Spain.

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