La nueva Directiva de Permiso Único simplifica la emisión de permisos de residencia y trabajo y amplía los derechos de igualdad de trato

The new Single Permit Directive, approved during the Spanish Presidency of the Council, will enter into force on May 20, once it was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on April 30. Through the revision of this rule, a simplified procedure for issuing residence and work permits, and a set of equal treatment rights for foreign workers and citizens of the Union are established.

The Single Permit Directive is a standard that is horizontal in nature and applies to almost all residence and work permits issued in the European Union for third-country nationals.

Furthermore, its entry into force entails a profound modification of the current regulations, introducing a series of notable improvements, such as the reduction of deadlines and the simplification of the procedures for issuing permits, which will serve as an incentive for workers and companies; or the implementation of the requirement to examine applications from within the territory of a Member State, preventing requests from being asked to leave the territory before requesting a new permit and reducing incentives for irregularities.

The new directive will also improve the protection of workers from exploitation, limiting the ability of Member States to enact restrictive rules on rights and improving the information and transparency of working conditions, and will increase the equal treatment of migrant workers with EU nationals. In this regard, it should be stressed that the rights covered by the rule are extended and decisive action is taken in areas such as equal access to private rental housing, as demanded by many civil society organizations.

This new directive does not form part of the recently approved Migration and Asylum Pact, but is complementary to it, and its entry into force entails the modification of its internal regulations to a greater or lesser extent to adapt to this directive - for transpositions a deadline of two years is established, which ends on 21 May 2026. In the case of Spain, since it already has a high standard of rights for migrant workers, only a few minor adaptations should be made, especially in the Regulation of the Law on Foreigners. Thus, progress will be made in the procedural simplification, the rights will be extended in terms of unemployment periods and the requirements for collecting statistical data will also be improved to allow a better evaluation of the migration policies associated with the single permit.

The measures of national law adopted by this Government will be elaborated through social and institutional dialogue, counting on the Autonomous Communities and social agents.

The Spanish Presidency of the Council managed to obtain the support of the Member States in the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the Governments of the EU Member States for the revision of the Single Permit Directive, on the basis of an agreement reached with the European Parliament in the Trialogue held on 18 December 2023.