I don't think the story is that different for the UK, the main points: The UK now has monthly quotas, which makes it impossible for business to sponsor visas so

I don't think the story is that different for the UK, the main points: The UK now has monthly quotas, which makes it impossible for business to sponsor visas some months. Companies have to become licensed sponsors first, which makes it hard for a small, new company to start sponsoring. They're limiting the number of certificates a licensed company can sponsor at the moment. This is not mentioned as part of the official caps, it's something they could silently do to limit immigration severely. In fact these are so effective that the quota limits are rarely reached, allowing the government to claim that the quota is not too low. With all the challenges above, it's still possible to get visas sponsored in the UK, but you have to be clever about it. I suspect the same is true in Spain. I have been told the same is true for the USA. You have to use the right immigration lawyer, one that large companies use and that have optimised their process with getting visas, and adapt that process weekly to deal with changing attitudes from the authorities and has a good ongoing working relationship with the authorities. You have to start talking to them early on, to get an idea how to time these things to increase the chances of it working out. Also be willing to fork out the extra $1000-$2000 or so instead of trying it on your own.