The Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration has approved the conditions for hiring foreigners at origin and circular migration programs for 2025. This is a ministerial order – known as Gecco – that determines from their respective countries, both to carry out work of a stable or circular nature, for jobs of a seasonal or seasonal nature.
The order introduces changes such as the temporary modification of contracts, which go from having to be by calendar year to accounting for time by its start and end date. This hiring may be carried out to cover positions of a seasonal or seasonal nature, through circular migration. As in the previous year, the order also provides for the possibility of collective management of residence and work authorizations. In the last two years there have been around 40,000 people who have come to work temporarily in Spain, around 19,000 in 2023 and more than 20,000 throughout 2024.
The Gecco order includes measures for the safety of workers, such as the renewal of contracts for the same companies and by the same people each year, in addition to containing the accommodation requirements that must be provided to temporary workers. It also establishes flexibility criteria when the season is extended or when the worker intends to concatenate several successive agricultural campaigns.
These two contracting models (stable and circular) may be carried out in a generic and nominative manner, and admit ordinary and unified forms of processing, depending on the number of employers involved. As for the year 2024, the order for 2025 delves into the nominative contracting modality, with the aim of making room within the framework of fixed-discontinuous contracting for migration projects of a circular nature, the Secretary of State for Migration explains.
One of the programs of this type of hiring at origin that is having the most success, according to the Ministry, is WAFIRA, which consists of the training and training of Moroccan temporary women so that, upon their return to Morocco, they undertake and implement activities that generate economic growth are underway. In January 2025, the first edition of this program will conclude with an official visit to Morocco by the Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz, to evaluate the projects launched by these women.
In 2025, pilot projects similar to this will be launched in other countries on the African continent, such as Mauritania, Gambia and Senegal. People participating in the program will be able to obtain a four-year multi-year authorization in which they will be able to work nine months per calendar year. Their holders, once the employment benefit has ended, must return to their country immediately and prove said return in a timely manner, preferably done collectively. And there is the possibility of extending work authorizations after the end of their four-year validity for equal periods, through a request from the employer, previously meeting a series of conditions.
To participate in the program, employers must guarantee that they provide adequate accommodation for the worker, as well as the organization of their travel, compliance with the contract and working conditions. Workers are also required to meet a series of requirements, such as compliance with the return commitment or not carrying out work activities for companies or activities other than those for which they were authorized to enter Spain.
