Shortage Occupation Jobs

What it is

• Every quarter the public employment service (SEPE) publishes the Catálogo de Ocupaciones de Difícil Cobertura: occupations, province by province, that employers struggle to fill locally. A job on that list can be offered to a non-EU candidate without the labour-market test that ordinary work permits require.
• The employer still applies for the permit; the catalogue only removes the hardest step. Matches here are exact: the advert’s title maps to a listed occupation and its location resolves to a province where that occupation is listed.
• The catalogue lapses each quarter and SEPE often publishes the next one late. When that happens we keep matches from the most recent catalogue and say so — a page or card that says “lapsed” means the route was open last quarter and is likely to reopen, not that it is in force today.

Who it’s for

• Non-EU workers in listed trades and professions — historically electricians, welders, mechanics, care workers, nurses, drivers, cooks and other skilled manual and service roles.
• Candidates already talking to an employer who is unsure about the paperwork: “this occupation is on the catalogue” is the sentence that makes hiring you straightforward.
• Seasonal and regional workers — the list is by province, so a role in Almería may qualify where the same role in Madrid does not.

What it isn’t

• It is not the shortage list itself — that lives in the guide, searchable in English. This page shows only live adverts that match it.
• It is not exhaustive. We match on title and province, conservatively; a role can be on the catalogue under a title we do not yet recognise.

Key numbers

Updated

Quarterly, by province

Labour-market test

Waived

Who applies

The employer

Salary threshold

None (ordinary permit rules apply)