El Gobierno aprueba la Orden GECCO 2026 para la contratación de personas extranjeras en origen y migración circular

The Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, through the State Secretariat for Migration, has approved the Order for the Collective Management of Contracts of Origin (GECCO) for the coming year 2026.

The GECCO Order, published today in the Official State Gazette, contains the necessary rules for the management, with full rights and guarantees, of collective contracting at origin and circular migration programs. “More than 25,000 circular workers have arrived this year to work in our country in seasonal activities, a record that shows the growing importance of this type of migration and its regulation,” said Elma Saiz, Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration.

More guarantees and suitability for RELOEX

The text is in line with the new Regulation on Foreigners (RELOEX), which entered into force in May 2025 with the novelty of incorporating rights and guarantees of working people that were foreseen annually in the ministerial order, thus providing greater legal certainty to these workers. Thus, RELOEX provides for the collective management of contracts at source in Title VI, a new model of contract management that allows several authorizations, of at least 10 jobs, to be processed jointly, provided that foreign persons are not in Spain.

The two models of contracting foreseen in the GECCO Order, stable and circular, can be carried out in a generic and nominative way, and admit forms of ordinary and unified processing. As this year, the order for 2026 deepens the modality of nominative contracting, with the aim of accommodating, within the framework of fixed-discontinuous contracting, migratory projects of a circular nature that would have used the figure of residence of determined duration until its effective repeal on July 27, 2023.

In addition, the new ministerial order adds an article, number 7, of specific guarantees for circular migration, aimed at protecting the socio-labor well-being of the participants in these programs. Through this, the employer will be obliged to guarantee accommodation during the entire period of activity and in each of the successive appeals, and any change in it must be communicated to the processing body.

As a whole, the text allows to respond to the specific demands of the Spanish labour market, guaranteeing the workforce in essential sectors, while offering job opportunities and training to the participants. “These circular migration programs are a tool of mutual enrichment for all parties involved, as well as promoting migration in accordance with the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration of the United Nations,” says Saiz.

Growth of circular migration programmes

The circular migration programs have allowed 25,767 workers from 17 countries to carry out seasonal activities in our country during 2025, 25% more than in 2024. Aimed mainly at the agricultural sector, the activities have been developed in a total of 21 Spanish provinces and show a sustained growth in recent years, with more than 65,000 participants in the last three years (19,000 in 2023, more than 20,000 last year and more than 25,000 in 2025).

This growth in circular migration shows the importance of the GECCO Order, which provides for the granting of four-year authorizations with the possibility of extension if the stipulated requirements are met. These authorizations, of a multiannual nature, allow work for a maximum period of nine months during each calendar year through a fixed-discontinuous contract. Every year, working people who have the authorization of seasonal activity must return immediately to their country of origin at the end of their work activity.

The Order also stipulates the conditions for contracting, renewal and management of these temporary authorizations for both contracting persons and participants, seeking to transfer the guarantees and flexibility of the national legal framework to this type of contracting. “Migration is a vital lever for the economic growth of our country, and this Order guarantees dignified and efficient treatment for circular migrants, providing them with the legal and labor security they deserve,” says Saiz.

WAFIRA will continue in 2026

During 2025, 92% of participants in circular migration programs were women. In line with continuing to promote circular and orderly migration, on December 16 the Governments of Spain, France and Morocco agreed to launch in 2026 WAFIRA II, the regional circular migration program that will accompany 3,000 Moroccan workers, mostly women, employed on a seasonal basis in Spain and France.

After a first phase (2021–2025) that strengthened the economic autonomy of 250 Moroccan seasonal workers, WAFIRA II (2026-2028) takes a leap forward in terms of volume and scope, making the initiative an example of the success of circular migration programs. This new edition of WAFIRA has the support of the European Union and has been extended to six countries: Morocco, Spain, France, Portugal, Mauritania and Cape Verde, seeking to make labour mobility safer, better organised and more beneficial for migrants and the territories involved