EX-04: residence permit for internships in Spain

EX-04 (“Solicitud de autorización de residencia para prácticas”) is the official application form for a residence permit for internships under Law 14/2013 (eighteenth additional provision). The current edition of the form dates from March 2025. It is in Spanish and has three pages: two to fill in and one with instructions.

The permit is for a foreign national who obtained a higher-education degree within the last two years or is currently studying for one, and who does an internship at a Spanish organisation under an internship agreement (convenio de prácticas) or an internship employment contract. The internship must be in the same field and at the same level as the degree or studies. EX forms are accepted only in their official layout: FoxDocs writes your data into the fields of the official PDF without changing it.

• the application is filed and signed by the host entity (entidad de acogida) — the organisation that signed the internship agreement or contract, whatever its legal form;
• filing is online only, through the Mercurio service of the Ministry of Territorial Policy; the application is addressed to the Delegación or Subdelegación del Gobierno in the province where the internship takes place;
• fee — form 790, code 052, item 2.1.7 (“autorización de residencia para prácticas”); it must be paid within ten working days of filing;
• decision within 30 days from the day after filing; if there is no answer, the application is deemed approved;
• under an internship agreement the permit lasts as long as the agreement, up to twelve months, and can be renewed once — two years in total at most; under an employment contract the term follows the contract;
• if the foreign national lives outside Spain, a visa is obtained after approval; within a month of entry (or of notification, if already in Spain) they apply in person for the TIE card.

• section 1 — the intern: passport, NIE, surnames, first name, sex, date and place of birth, nationality, marital status, parents’ names, address in Spain, phone, e-mail, legal representative;
• section 2 — the host entity: name, NIF/NIE, activity, the intern’s occupation (employment contract only), address, contacts and legal representative;
• sections 3 and 4 — representative for filing and address for notifications, consent to electronic notifications via DEHú;
• section 5 — initial permit (applicant abroad or already in Spain), renewal or family member permit, and the basis: agreement or employment contract;
• place and date, a tick showing the host entity’s representative signs, and the authority the application is addressed to.

• the EX-04 form signed by the host entity;
• a copy of the intern’s valid passport;
• a higher-education degree obtained within the last two years, or proof of current studies;
• the host entity’s documents: NIF, registered deed of incorporation and proof of the signatory’s powers;
• the internship agreement with its mandatory content (programme, duration, conditions and supervision, hours, legal relationship) or the signed internship employment contract;
• for an internship agreement — health insurance and proof of sufficient means; foreign documents with a sworn translation and legalisation or apostille. Check the full list against the Ministry’s information sheet 21.

1. Tell the chat in any language which organisation hosts the internship, whether it is under an agreement or a contract, and where the intern is now.
2. The assistant fills the fields in capitals, splits the date of birth into dd/mm/yyyy and the NIE into its boxes, and ticks the right boxes in section 5.
3. Download the PDF, check it, have the host entity’s representative sign it and file it through Mercurio with the attachments.

Information sheet 21 of Spain’s Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration: inclusion.gob.es — Hoja 21; Law 14/2013, eighteenth additional provision: BOE. Checked 2026-10-09. This is not legal advice.