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INFRACTIONS
Those who are perpetrators or participate in any of the following offences will incur administrative responsibility:
MINOR OFFENCES
The omission or delay in communicating to the Spanish authorities of changes of nationality, marital status or domicile, as well as other determining circumstances of their employment situation when they are required by the applicable regulations.
The delay, up to three months, in the application for renewal of authorisations once they have expired.
Being working in Spain without having requested administrative authorisation to work on your own account, when you have a temporary residence permit.
Find yourself working in an occupation, sector of activity, or geographical area not covered by the residence and work authorisation of which you are the holder.
The hiring of workers whose authorisation does not entitle them to work in that occupation or geographical area, incurring an infraction by each of the foreign workers employed.
The absence of communication to the public authority by the entities whose object refers totally or partially to the attention of unaccompanied foreign minors, as well as persons acting on their behalf or regularly framed in their activity, the location of unaccompanied foreign minors so that they can proceed accordingly.
SERIOUS OFFENCES
Being irregularly in Spanish territory, for not having obtained the extension of stay, lacking a residence permit or having expired for more than three months the aforementioned authorisation, and provided that the interested party has not requested the renewal of it within the period provided for by regulation.
Being working in Spain without having obtained a work permit or prior administrative authorisation to work, when you do not have a valid residence permit.
Incur in malicious concealment or serious falsehood in the fulfilment of the obligation to inform the competent authorities of changes affecting nationality, marital status or domicile, as well as incurring falsehood in the declaration of the mandatory data to complete the registration in the municipal register, provided that such facts do not constitute a crime. When any authority is aware of a possible infringement for this cause, it will inform the competent authorities so that the appropriate sanctioning file can be investigated.
Failure to comply with the measures imposed for reasons of public security, periodic presentation or removal from borders or population centres singularly specified.
The commission of a third minor offence, provided that within a previous year he had been sanctioned for two minor offences of the same nature.
The participation of foreigners in the realisation of activities contrary to public order provided for as serious in Organic Law 4/2015, of March 30, on the protection of citizen security.
Departures from Spanish territory through unauthorised posts, without exhibiting the required documentation or contravening the legally imposed prohibitions.
Failure to comply with the obligation to obtain a foreigner’s identity card when they have been issued a visa or authorisation to stay in Spain for a period of more than six months, which they must apply for in person within one month of their entry into Spain or from the time the authorisation is granted or from the time it becomes valid.
Not to register, in the corresponding Social Security System, the foreign worker whose residence and employment authorisation had applied for, or not to register the employment contract under the conditions that served as the basis for the application, when the employer has proof that the worker is legally in Spain qualified for the beginning of the employment relationship. However, the employer who communicates to the competent authorities the concurrence of arising reasons that may put the viability of the company at objective risk or that, in accordance with the legislation, prevent the beginning of said relationship will be exempt from this responsibility.
Get married, simulate a similar affective relationship or become the legal representative of a minor, when such conduct is carried out for profit or with the purpose of improperly obtaining a right of residence, provided that such acts do not constitute a crime.
Promote the irregular stay in Spain of a foreigner, when his legal entry has had an express invitation from the offender and continues to be in his charge once the period of time allowed by his visa or authorisation has elapsed. To graduate the sanction, the concurrent personal and family circumstances will be taken into account.
Consent to the registration of a foreigner in the Municipal Register by the owner of a home authorised for that purpose, when said housing does not constitute the real domicile of the foreigner. An offence will be incurred for each person improperly registered.
VERY SERIOUS OFFENCES
Participate in activities contrary to national security that may harm Spain’s relations with other countries, or be involved in activities contrary to public order provided for as very serious in Organic Law 4/2015, of March 30, on the protection of citizen security.
Induce, promote, favour or facilitate for profit, individually or as part of an organisation, the clandestine immigration of people in transit or bound for or their permanence in it, provided that the fact does not constitute a crime.
The performance of discriminatory conduct for racial, ethnic, national or religious reasons, in the terms provided for in article 23 of the Organic Law on Foreigners, provided that the act does not constitute a crime.
The hiring of foreign workers without having previously obtained the corresponding residence and work authorisation, incurring an infraction for each of the occupied foreign workers, provided that the fact does not constitute a crime.
Perform, for profit, the offence provided for in paragraph “l” of serious offences.
Simulate the employment relationship with a foreigner, when such conduct is carried out for profit or with the purpose of improperly obtaining recognised rights, provided that such acts do not constitute a crime.
The commission of a third serious offence provided that within a period of a previous year it had been sanctioned for two serious offences of the same nature.
Failure to comply with the obligations provided for transporters in articles 66.1 and 2 of Organic Law 4/2000, of January 11, on the rights and freedoms of foreigners in Spain and their social integration.
The transport of foreigners by air, sea or land, to the Spanish territory, by the subjects responsible for the transport, without having verified the validity and validity, both of the passports, travel documents or relevant identity documents, as well as, where appropriate, of the corresponding visa, of which the aforementioned foreigners must be holders.
Failure to comply with the obligation that carriers have to take care without loss of time of the foreigner or transported person who, due to deficiencies in the aforementioned documentation, has not been authorised to enter Spain, as well as the foreigner transported in transit who has not been transferred to his country of destination or who had been returned by the authorities of the latter, by not authorising him to enter.
This obligation will include the maintenance costs of the aforementioned foreigner and, if requested by the authorities in charge of entry control, those derived from the transport of said foreigner, which must occur immediately, either through the company subject to sanction or, failing that, through another transport company, with address to the State from which he has been transported, to the State that has issued the travel document with which he has travelled or to any other State where his admission is guaranteed.
NOTE: The provisions of the two previous points are also understood for the case in which air or sea transport is carried out from Ceuta or Melilla to any other point of the Spanish territory.
Notwithstanding the provisions of the previous paragraphs, the fact of transporting to the Spanish border to a foreigner who, having submitted his application for international protection without delay, is admitted for processing will not be considered an infraction.
The exercise of the sanctioning power for the commission of the administrative infractions provided for in Organic Law 4/2000, of January 11, on the rights and freedoms of foreigners in Spain and their social integration, will comply with the provisions thereof and in Law 39/2015, of October 1, on the Common Administrative Procedure of Public Administrations.
SANCTIONING PROCEDURE
The exercise of the sanctioning power for the commission of the infractions will be processed by the ordinary, preferential and simplified procedures. Prior to the initiation of the procedure, prior actions may be carried out to determine on a preliminary basis whether there are circumstances that justify such initiation.
SANCTIONS
The aforementioned offences will be sanctioned in the following amounts:
Minor offences with a fine of up to 500 euros.
Serious offences with a fine of 501 up to 10,000 euros. In the case referred to in paragraph “i”, in addition to the sanction indicated, the employer will also be obliged to cover the costs arising from the trip.
Very serious infractions with a fine of from 10,001 to 100,000 euros, except for the one provided for in section “i”, which will be with a fine of 5,000 to 10,000 euros for each traveller transported or with a minimum of 750,000 euros in a sum, regardless of the number of passengers transported. The one provided for in paragraph “h” will be with a fine of 10,001 up to 100,000 euros for each trip made without having communicated the data of the people transported or having communicated them incorrectly, regardless of whether the Government Authority may adopt the immobilisation, seizure and confiscation of the means of transport, or the provisional suspension or withdrawal of the operating authorisation.
For the graduation of the sanctions, the body competent to impose them will conform to criteria of proportionality, assessing the degree of guilt and, where appropriate, the damage produced or the risk derived from the infraction and its importance.
In determining the amount of the penalty, particular account shall be taken of the financial capacity of the offender.
Unless they belong to a third party not responsible for the infraction, in the case of organised networks dedicated to clandestine immigration, vehicles, boats, aircraft, and any moveable or immovable property, of whatever nature, will be confiscated, that have served as an instrument for the commission of the aforementioned infraction.
In order to guarantee the effectiveness of the confiscation, the assets, effects and instruments referred to in the previous paragraph may be seized and made available to the government authority, from the first interventions, as a result of the sanctioning file that will resolve the relevant in relation to the confiscated assets.
In the case of hiring foreign workers who lack residence and work authorisation, the government authority may adopt, without prejudice to the corresponding sanction, the closure of the establishment or premises from six months to five years.
In the sanctioning files in the commission of infractions by carriers, if they violate the obligation to take charge of the illegally transported foreigner, the suspension of their activities, the provision of bonds, guarantees, or the immobilisation of the means of transport used may be agreed.
EXECUTION OF THE SANCTIONING RESOLUTION
The execution of the sanctioning resolutions will be carried out in accordance with the procedure applied. The resolution will adopt, where appropriate, the necessary precautionary provisions to guarantee its effectiveness as long as it is not enforceable, except for that of preventive internment during the period of voluntary compliance that would have been established in the expulsion resolution.
Administrative sanctioning decisions will be subject to appeal in accordance with the provisions of the laws. When the foreigner is not in Spain, he may file the appropriate resources, both administratively and judicially, through the corresponding diplomatic or consular representations, which will send them to the competent body.
Prescription
Very serious offences will be prescribed after three years, serious offences after two years and minor offences after six months, counted from the day on which the acts were committed.
Sanctions imposed for very serious offences will be prescribed after five years, serious penalties after two years and those imposed for minor offences after one year.
If the sanction imposed is that of expulsion from the national territory, the prescription will not begin to count until the period of prohibition of entry fixed in the resolution has expired with a maximum of five years.
The limitation period of the sanction will begin to count from the day following that on which the resolution imposing the sanction becomes final.
Translation from the Spanish government website.
