Invest in Spain and law firm Cuatrecasas, Gonçalves Pereira have jointly prepared a practical Guide to Immigration for investors, providing foreigners with information on setting up companies and doing business in Spain, and working, living or studying in Spain. Invest in Spain has made this new information tool available to foreigners to encourage foreign investment in Spain. 

Cuatrecasas, Gonçalves Pereira prepared the guide’s legal content, aiming to cover all possible scenarios facing foreigners moving to or already based in Spain. The guide includes information and documents from public institutions that handle immigration matters. This practical guide will be updated regularly and can be accessed on Invest in Spain's website www.investinspain.org.

Javier Sanz, Invest in Spain’s CEO, presented the new tool to the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade. Also present were Francisco Pérez Crespo, managing director of Cuatrecasas, Gonçalves Pereira’s Madrid office, and Juan José Álvarez, of counsel at Cuatrecasas, Gonçalves Pereira and professor of private international law at the Universidad del País Vasco.

Structure and content
The guide aims to provide foreigners planning to move to Spain, particularly Invest in Spain clients, with information on procedures, conditions and deadlines for setting up companies or doing business in Spain; working or living in Spain without working; planning holidays in Spain; or studying, researching or teaching at universities.
It also provides information for civil servants and members of the armed forces posted to Spain, staff of foreign cultural institutions, foreign correspondents based in Spain, members of foreign trade unions, members of religious orders, and artists and entertainers, covering the legal implications of moving to Spain, and the procedures that family members must complete.

The guide explains concepts such as foreigner identification numbers and cards, the Unidad de Grandes Empresas (a government body responsible for processing residence and work permits), and the procedures and deadlines for renewing residence permits. It also includes a chapter on Spanish immigration law.

Invest in Spain, the Sociedad para la Promoción y Atracción de las Inversiones Exteriores, is part of the State Department of Trade of the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade. It aims to promote and attract foreign investment in Spain and is a reference point for foreign investors, and state, regional and local institutions that promote and attract investment.