Your first job around Castelló: the papers behind the contract

01The two numbers on your contract

The first is the NIE: printed on your green certificate or TIE card if you live here, or requested alone on form EX-15. The second is the número de afiliación, your number with the Seguridad Social. It is issued by the TGSS, short for Tesorería General de la Seguridad Social, and it never changes: every later employer uses it again. You can request it online or at a TGSS office, or let your employer request it.

02Workers from the EU, the EEA and Switzerland

No permit is needed: you can start the day your contract begins. You still need a NIE. Stay past three months and you also register as a resident; the green certificate you receive shows the number, and a first contract is usually the easiest proof for that registration.

03Workers from outside the EU

Holding a NIE gives no right to work. The authorisation must come first. For a job offer from abroad, the employer usually applies in Spain, and you then ask the consulate for the visa. In Castelló, the Delegación del Gobierno lists authorisations to live and work as an employee, including work for a set period, at the Oficina de Extranjería on Calle Escultor Viciano 2.

Seasonal work in the harvest follows the same rule: the authorisation is arranged before you travel. A visit as a tourist is not a way to start working. Once you arrive, book your fingerprints (toma de huellas) for the TIE card.

04Ready for day one

• Your NIE, or the green certificate or TIE that shows it
• The número de afiliación (Social Security number)
• An account at a Spanish bank, where your wages are paid
• For non-EU workers: the authorisation or visa that allows work
• A padrón certificate, which some employers and agencies ask for

05Agencies and short contracts

Temporary work agencies, called ETT (empresa de trabajo temporal), ask for the same papers as any employer. A short contract for a few weeks of harvest still needs your registration with the Seguridad Social, so have both numbers ready.

06Social Security and job offices in the province

seg-social.es lists the TGSS in Castelló at Avenida del Mar 6 (its provincial office) and Plaza Juez Borrull 14, and more TGSS offices in Vila-real, Onda, Borriana, Nules, la Vall d’Uixó, Segorbe, Benicarló, Vinaròs and Morella. Many steps can also be done online.

For job seeking, the public employment service of the Comunitat Valenciana is LABORA. SEPE, the State employment service, lists two employment offices in the city, on Calle Historiador Viciana 8 and Calle Padre Jofre 19–21, and others in Vila-real, Onda, la Vall d’Uixó, Segorbe and Vinaròs.