The Spanish government has proposed a mutual work visa exemption scheme with the United Kingdom in a bid to bypass post-Brexit bureaucracy and boost economic relations between the two countries.
The Spanish government has proposed a visa exemption scheme for certain skilled workers on short visits to the UK.
This is according to the Spanish Secretary of State for Trade, Amparo López Senovilla, who was in London on Wednesday for an event hosted by the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in London.
“Bringing in workers to provide services is difficult, it’s an obstacle that we want to remove and we are working bilaterally with the British government to allow skilled workers to be brought in to provide services in the United Kingdom,” said López.
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The proposals aim to iron out post-Brexit bureaucracy that limits Spanish companies sending their staff to the U.K. for short periods. For many sectors, employees, regardless of how long they will spend in the country, must enter the U.K. on a sponsored visa such as the Skilled Worker or Temporary Worker visa, which involves both a time and financial investment from companies.
“They (the British) have a sponsorship system, which we consider to be burdensome for our companies. We have agreed to work on and seek certain similarities with a formula that has just been approved by the Spanish government: a visa exemption for stays of less than 90 days for the provision of services,” he added.
Visa specialists Visa HQ note that “the scheme would allow qualified professionals to deliver services for up to 90 days without needing a sponsor-based visa, aligning with the Mode 4 service-deliverer exemption recently embedded in Spain’s revised Immigration Regulations.”
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Spain seemingly wants the exemption to be two-way: “We have proposed this formula as something that the British government could offer in a similar way, and they are studying it,” López explained.
Brits who weren’t living in Spain before Brexit have to apply for a residency visa if they want to live in Spain, just like any other non-EU citizen. Spanish government data shows that as of September 2025, just over 24,000 Britons hold Spanish residency through visas such as the non-lucrative visa or the digital nomad visa.
Immigration and workforce are some of the main concerns for Spanish companies operating in the UK.
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Many complain that there is no way to bring their executives over for short stays without a visa.
The UK has explored bespoke migration deals with individual countries in the past, such as with Hong Kong and Singapore, but doing so with Spain, an EU and Schengen Zone member, would be much more difficult legally and politically speaking.
Despite a small decline recently, the UK remains the second largest destination for Spanish investment worldwide, behind the United States, with a cumulative volume of €83 billion in 2023, equivalent to 13.1 percent of the total invested by Spanish companies abroad.
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