Types of employment contracts in Spain

Overview

Spanish law recognises a small number of contract categories, each with different rules on duration, notice and severance. Knowing which one you're being offered helps you understand your actual job security before you sign.

Requirements

• Applies to anyone starting employment in Spain, regardless of nationality
• The contract type must be stated clearly in your written contract

Step-by-step process

• Check whether your contract is indefinido (permanent/indefinite) — the default and most protected form since the 2021-2022 labour reform reduced the use of short-term contracts
• If it's temporal (temporary), confirm the specific reason allowed by law (e.g. covering another worker, a genuinely temporary spike in production) — temporary contracts can no longer be used simply to avoid permanent status
• If you're a student or recent graduate, check whether you've been offered a contrato formativo (training contract) — either 'en alternancia' (combining work and study) or 'para la obtención de la práctica profesional' (for recent graduates gaining professional experience)
• Ask your employer directly which convenio colectivo (sector collective agreement) applies — it can add protections above the legal minimum

Required documents

• Signed written contract stating the contract type
• Copy of the contract registered with SEPE (your employer does this, but you can ask for confirmation)

Common mistakes

• Assuming a temporary contract can be renewed indefinitely — by law, a worker in the same role for more than 18 months within a 24-month period, across the same or different temporary contracts, generally must be made permanent
• Not realising a training contract has lower pay entitlements and specific, limited duration — it isn't the same as an ordinary permanent role

Practical tips

• Most permanent roles in Spain are 'indefinido' by default now, since reforms tightened when temporary contracts can legally be used
• If you're unsure what type you signed, your contract's registration code (submitted to SEPE) confirms the category — ask your employer or HR for it

How Tuchati can help

If you want a plain-English read of what your contract type actually means for your rights, Tuchati can walk through it with you before or after signing.