DNV rejected for contract wording, filing an appeal now
i had the same issue in june. you need a very specific phrase that says the company authorizes you to carry out your professional activity from spain. just saying work from home is not enough for them. get the boss to sign it with a digital certificate if possible.
are you sure you want to do a recurso. sometimes it is faster to just fly home and apply at the consulate or wait and reapply here with a fresh file. the uge takes months to answer appeals.
don't listen to the person saying go home. stay here. filing the appeal makes your stay legal until you get a final resolution. i used a gestoria in madrid and they said as long as the appeal is in the system you are fine. keep your copy of the submission receipt with your passport.
The uge is getting much pickier about the wording lately. My lawyer in Bilbao insisted that the letter must state the specific date the remote work relationship started and explicitly say you are authorized to work from Spain. Just saying you are a remote worker is no longer enough for them. You should definitely stay put while the appeal is pending as your stay is considered legal while the administrative process is ongoing.
my boss was annoyed too but i just wrote the draft for him and he just had to put it on letterhead and sign. make it as easy as possible for them. i added a line about how my presence in spain wouldn't create a permanent establishment for the company just to keep their tax lawyers happy.
Honestly you might be better off filing a brand new application instead of a recurso. Appeals can take six months or more to resolve and you are stuck in limbo that whole time. If you file a new one with the correct letter right away you might get an answer in 20 days. Talk to your lawyer about the timelines because the appeal route is notoriously slow in Bilbao.
I had this exact same problem last month. My boss was annoyed but I told them it was a one time fix to avoid me losing my residence. We ended up getting an annex to my contract signed instead of just a loose letter. It specifically used the phrase performance of work can be carried out exclusively through computer and telecommunication systems from Spanish territory. If you don't use their legal jargon they just hit the reject button.
Did you have to get that annex apostilled too or was a digital signature enough? I keep hearing mixed things about the signature requirements for contract amendments.
did they mention anything about social security or the certificate of coverage. that is the other big reason they reject people in bilbao lately. if you are from the us you need the form from the ssa.
I am in Bilbao too and the uge was extremely pedantic with my paperwork. The letter needs to be on company letterhead and mention that your employer is aware of the spanish social security requirements or that there is a certificate of coverage. If you just change the remote work clause you might get hit with a second rejection for the social security side of things. It is a total headache.
Exactly this. The social security mention is the silent killer. Even if you fix the remote work wording they will find another reason if that part is missing. Don't waste the appeal on a partial fix.
Wait did your lawyer not check the contract before you submitted? That sounds like a bit of a red flag if they didn't catch such a common issue. I saw people getting rejected for the same thing back in the summer. The uge wants to see the word Spain specifically. A general global remote policy isn't going to cut it for them anymore.
Lawyers here can be hit or miss. Some are just learning the DNV rules alongside us and they miss these small wording requirements that change every week.
I wouldn't worry about annoying your boss. It is a standard request for this visa. Explain to them that the Spanish government is very bureaucratic and requires specific phrasing for compliance. Most HR departments are used to this stuff if they have international employees. Just give them the exact text you need so they can copy and paste it.
I am pretty sure you can stay in Spain during the appeal process. My lawyer told me that as long as the appeal is filed within the window your legal status is extended. You won't be able to travel outside the Schengen area easily though because your TIE isn't in hand and your 90 days are up. You're basically stuck in Spain until it's fixed.
did you get it translated by a sworn translator. sometimes the reject because the spanish version doesn't perfectly match the english legal terms. uge is very picky about the official translation of the word remote.
the permanent establishment thing is a good tip. did uge actually ask for that or did you just add it to be safe. i am trying to keep my hr department from freaking out about spanish tax law.