Digital nomad visa in Spain: how to get a residence permit in 2026

The Spanish digital nomad visa is a residence permit for people who work remotely for an employer or clients outside Spain. In 2026 it requires at least €2,849 a month and a contract over three months old. Filed from Spain, the permit is issued for three years within 20 working days; via a consulate you first get a one-year visa.

Step-by-step guides with checklists and PDFs: Bank statement for a Spanish digital nomad permit: how to prepare it for the UGE; How to fill in the MI-T form for a Spanish digital nomad permit; How to get residence permits for a digital nomad’s family in Spain.

What it is, who it suits and how much it costs

• What it is. A Spanish residence permit for working remotely for clients or employers abroad (the Digital Nomad Visa, officially teletrabajador de carácter internacional).
• Who can apply. A citizen of a non-EU country can apply for the Spanish digital nomad visa if they are employed by a foreign employer, freelance or run a sole proprietorship with contracts with foreign companies, or earn income from their own company abroad: the contract or employment relationship must be more than three months old, and the company more than 12 months old.
• How much money. The minimum income in 2026 is €2,849 a month for the applicant, €3,918 for a couple and €4,274 for a family with one child: the threshold is calculated as 200% of the annual SMI €17,094, plus €1,069 for the first family member and €356 for each additional one.
• How long it takes. An application for the digital nomad residence permit filed with the UGE from within Spain is decided within 20 working days, and silence counts as approval; the whole journey from the first document to the residence card takes three to four months on average.
• How long it is granted for. When you apply from Spain, the digital nomad residence permit is issued straight away for up to three years; when you apply through a consulate, you first get a 12-month national visa, which is then replaced with a three-year residence permit; renewals are for two-year periods.
• How much it costs. The mandatory fees for the Spanish digital nomad residence permit in 2026 are fee 790-038 of €73.26 per person and fee 790-012 for the residence card of €16.08; on top of that you pay for health insurance, apostilles and sworn translations.
• Where to apply. Digital nomad applications are filed either online with the UGE while you are legally in Spain and have an electronic signature — your own or that of a representative holding a power of attorney — or in person at the Spanish consulate general for your place of residence. Which office that is, and what the file costs depending on your nationality, is set out in the guide to applying at the Spanish consulate in your country. Canadians pay one of the highest reciprocity fees, CAD 2,140 against €73.26 when the permit is requested from inside Spain: see moving to Spain from Canada.
• What most often sinks a case. Refusals of the Spanish digital nomad visa are most often caused by health insurance with co-payments, a carencia (waiting period) or from a foreign insurer, a missing certificate of applicable social security legislation for employees, and calculating income from the monthly SMI (€2,442) instead of the annual one (€2,849). If you have already been refused, what to rebuild and how to appeal is covered in our guide to a residence permit refusal in Spain.

Below is everything you need to know if you are planning to move to Spain on this basis: who this permit suits, how much you need to earn, which documents to provide, where refusals most often come from and what happens with taxes after the move. The figures have been checked against the BOE and the websites of Spanish ministries; links to the primary sources are at the end.

This article is about the Spanish visa and permit: conditions, income, documents, timings and renewal. For wider questions there are two other pages: what a digital nomad is, on the way of life and the professions, and which countries issue digital nomad visas, comparing more than forty of them.

If you would rather not do it yourself. We handle this route end to end: a review of your case before signing a contract, apostilles and sworn translations, an employer letter that meets UGE requirements, filing with an electronic signature and dealing with requests for further documents — full-service digital nomad residence permit. The rest of the article walks through the same procedure step by step, so you can go through it on your own. Who can legally file on your behalf and how to check them before paying is covered in lawyer, immigration adviser or gestor in Spain.

What the digital nomad visa is, in plain words

The digital nomad visa is a basis for relocating, not a one-off entry permit. It lets you live in Spain and keep working for a foreign employer or clients; it does not give you the right to be employed by a Spanish company, and your income must come from abroad. Two documents hide under one name: the visa is issued by the consulate in your country, and the residence permit by the UGE immigration service once you are in Spain.

What the Spanish digital nomad residence permit gives you

The digital nomad residence permit gives you the right to live in Spain for up to three years from the first decision, work remotely for foreign companies, bring your spouse and children, travel freely around Schengen and use Spanish healthcare and schools. After five years of residence you become eligible for permanent residence, and after ten for citizenship.

• Three years of residence straight away, and the clock towards citizenship starts on the same date — see how to get Spanish citizenship faster — when you apply from Spain, then renewals for two years at a time.
• Remote work for clients abroad — for an employer or clients outside Spain; Spanish clients may account for no more than 20% of income.
• Residence permits for the family — a spouse or registered partner and children apply together with the main applicant; the law allows dependent parents too, but they are approved noticeably less often. Who counts as family, the income threshold and documents are covered in a digital nomad’s family.
• Travel around Schengen — up to 90 days in any 180 in other countries of the zone without a separate visa. The obligations that come with it are covered in our guide to the digital nomad permit instead of a Schengen visa.
• The Beckham Law — 24% on income up to €600,000 a year for six years, for employees.
• Healthcare and schools — the public system on the same terms as other residents.
• A path to permanent residence and citizenship — permanent residence after five years of residence, citizenship after ten.

What this permit does not give you: the right to be employed by a Spanish company, automatic exemption from Spanish taxes, or a guarantee of approval when your income is formally sufficient — the UGE looks at the source and stability of income, not just the amount.

How the digital nomad visa differs from the residence permit

Spanish law has two different documents, and literally everything else depends on which one you need.

If you are outside Spain, you apply for the digital nomad permit through a Spanish consulate general. There you are issued a 12-month national visa. You then exchange it for a three-year residence permit once in the country. Similar programmes in other countries are also applied for through a consulate — the scheme is almost the same everywhere.

If you are in Spain legally — under Schengen rules, as a tourist — you apply directly for the digital nomad permit and receive a residence permit for up to three years. You simply skip the intermediate visa conversion.

	Through a Spanish consulate	From Spain, with the UGE
What you get	A 12-month national visa	A residence permit for up to 3 years
How long it takes	As the consulate decides, usually from 3 weeks	20 working days
What you need to start	Nothing special	To be in Spain legally
Electronic signature	Not required	Required — your own or that of a person with a power of attorney
What comes next	Enter Spain and apply for the residence permit within the last 60 days of the visa	Police, fingerprinting, the card
If the authorities stay silent	it counts as a refusal	it counts as approval

The takeaway on the route for the Spanish digital nomad permit: if you have a valid Schengen visa and can travel, it is better to apply on the spot — the residence permit is granted for three years straight away. Most people do exactly that. The procedure is the same for all types of employment — only the set of documents differs. A separate case is moving with a status already obtained in another EU country: that is covered by EU long-term resident mobility. If there is no Spanish consulate in your country, the route through Spain is even more convenient: for Uzbek citizens, for example, the digital nomad visa is not accepted in Uzbekistan and has to be filed in person at a consulate in another country; see moving to Spain from Uzbekistan.

And a word about the name. “Digital nomad visa”, “nomad visa” and “Digital Nomad Visa” are colloquial names for the same thing. In official documents it is teletrabajador de carácter internacional, an international teleworker. This is worth knowing: that is the term under which you will find the right sections in forms and on government websites, whereas searching for “nomad” will turn up nothing. What this lifestyle is and what it costs you is covered in the article who a digital nomad is.

Requirements and conditions: who can get the digital nomad residence permit in Spain

For the digital nomad visa, the law divides everyone into two groups: those who are employed and those who carry out professional activity through remote work — freelancing, sole proprietorship, self-employment. The difference is not a formality: documents, restrictions and taxes all depend on it.

	Employed	Freelancer, sole proprietor, self-employed	Own business
How you prove it	An employment contract with a foreign company	Contracts with foreign corporate clients	Salary and dividends from your own company
Work for the Spanish market	Not allowed at all	Allowed, but no more than 20% of activity	No more than 20% of revenue from Spain
How long the relationship has lasted	Contract older than 3 months	Contracts older than 3 months	Company older than 1 year
Social security	Complicated — see the separate section	You undertake to register as autónomo (self-employed)	Depends on the situation
Beckham Law	Available	No	Depends on the form of income

Who this residence permit suits and who it does not

It suits you if your income comes from abroad and does not depend on a single Spanish client: employees of foreign companies, freelancers and sole proprietors with foreign clients, owners of companies outside Spain. It does not suit you if you plan to be employed by a Spanish company, if your main income comes from private individuals, or if it is irregular: the UGE looks at the source and stability of income, not just the amount.

The 20% limit on income from Spanish clients applies only to freelancers, sole proprietors and the self-employed. An employee may not work for a Spanish employer at all — not 20%, not 5%: all employment income must come from a company registered outside Spain.

Profession and sector do not matter. Developer, designer, marketer, accountant, translator — any work that can be done on a laptop qualifies. What matters is how the income is structured, not what you do: for contracts with clients you can set up an SL or register as autónomo.

What income you need for the Spanish digital nomad visa

The minimum income for the Spanish digital nomad residence permit in 2026 is €2,849 a month for the main applicant, i.e. €34,188 a year. The threshold equals 200% of the minimum wage and is calculated from the annual amount: SMI €17,094 ÷ 12 = €1,424.50, multiplied by two. For the first family member, 75% of this amount is added — €1,069 a month; for each additional one, 25% — €356. Age does not matter: a child and an adult raise the threshold by the same amount.

The correct threshold is €2,849 a month. The wrong figure of €2,442 comes from multiplying the monthly SMI €1,221 by two instead of the annual one: the difference is more than four hundred euros a month, and that is enough to sink a case.

The minimum income for the Spanish digital nomad residence permit in 2026 by family size ranges from €2,849 a month for a single applicant to €4,986 for a family of five:

Minimum income for the Spanish digital nomad residence permit, 2026 (from the annual SMI €17,094)

Family size	Monthly income	Annual income	How it is calculated
1 person — main applicant only	€2,849	€34,188	200% SMI
2 people — applicant and spouse or partner	€3,918	€47,009	200% + 75%
3 people — applicant, spouse and child	€4,274	€51,282	200% + 75% + 25%
4 people — applicant and three family members	€4,630	€55,556	200% + 75% + 25% × 2
5 people — applicant and four family members	€4,986	€59,829	200% + 75% + 25% × 3

If your employer is your own or a family company

This is allowed. The law requires the company to have real and continuous activity for at least a year, the employment relationship to have lasted at least three months before you apply, and written permission to work remotely (Article 74 ter of Law 14/2013); it does not bar owners or their relatives. In practice, when the employer is your own company or your spouse’s, the UGE checks more closely that the job is real. If you both control the company and run it — as founder and CEO — approval has been harder to get since late 2025: the UGE takes the view that a company cannot be run fully remotely. If you do not control the company and work as an employee, even in a senior role, this problem does not arise. Prepare in advance: the employment contract and a company letter permitting remote work from Spain, payslips and a bank statement showing the salary coming in, proof of social security contributions in the company’s country, and evidence of the company’s activity over the year — a registry extract, accounts, contracts with clients.

If you became CEO or a co-owner of the company after getting the permit

The new position does not cancel the permit by itself: the law requires remote work for a company outside Spain with real activity (Article 74 ter of Law 14/2013), not a particular job title. But at renewal the UGE checks whether the conditions on which the permit was granted still hold, and a director — especially one with a stake in the company — faces more questions. To reduce the risk of losing the permit, check in advance:

• Whether you told the UGE. If the appointment changed your contract, salary or the nature of your work, report it within 30 days (Additional Provision 7 of Law 14/2013); see if your conditions changed before renewal.
• Your social security certificate. If you stayed in your home country’s social security, the certificate is issued for a worker sent by the employer, and since late 2025 the UGE in practice asks for the company’s letter on the posting. If you sign that letter yourself as director, attach the decision of the shareholders or the board on your appointment and on working from Spain.
• Income and the company’s stability. At renewal your income must be at least 2 849 € a month, and the company must be genuinely active. If its business is at risk, plan a change of basis before the renewal window.
• The Beckham Law. A director’s position does not end the regime: the law expressly allows it for company directors (Article 93 of the Personal Income Tax Law). The limit applies if the company counts as a passive holding (entidad patrimonial) and your stake in it is 25% or more.
• The company’s own taxes. If the company is in fact run from Spain, the Spanish tax office may ask whether its place of effective management is here (Article 8 of the Corporate Tax Law). Go through this with a tax adviser before the tax office raises it.

If the risk is high, you do not have to wait for the renewal window: while you are legally in Spain, you can apply on another basis or modify your digital nomad permit — for example, switch to freelancing with several clients (UGE FAQ, question 18). Each option has a price: the Beckham Law is not available to freelancers. How to change basis and renew is covered in digital nomad permit renewal.

How to prove income

• a bank statement covering at least three months, showing payments from exactly the party named in the contract;
• a certificate of account ownership — requested more and more often;
• the contract itself, with the amount;
• payslips if you are employed, or invoices and statements of work if you are a freelancer.

The UGE cross-checks these documents, so the amounts must match, and the bank certificate must be in your name, stamped or signed by the bank. Income in another currency will be converted into euros at the exchange rate on the date of review — so it makes sense to build in a margin of about ten per cent. Otherwise the rate may move and you will find yourself below the threshold after you have already applied.

What income the UGE will not count

The UGE does not count income in cryptocurrency for the Spanish digital nomad residence permit. You need a contract with a client and payments into a bank account. If all your income is in crypto, the only way out is to move payments into the open and build up at least three months of transparent history. Applying earlier is pointless.

Cash and transfers outside the contract are not counted by the UGE for the Spanish digital nomad permit either. A common story: part of the money bypasses the contract “for optimisation”. Such income will not be counted.

Income solely from private individuals is not suitable for the Spanish digital nomad residence permit. Online schools, courses, private consultations. If you have no corporate clients with contracts at all, the case will not go through — nothing can replace contracts with companies.

If the payer is not the party named in the contract

The bank certificate must show payments that match the invoices (UGE guidance), and the joint instruction of 30 March 2023 requires proof that the funds are yours, lawfully obtained and available. So the UGE spots any mismatch between the contract and the payer straight away. Three common cases:

• An intermediary pays — a payment agent, a payout service, the client’s parent or sister company. Attach a document linking the payer to the client: an agency agreement, a letter from the client naming the payer, or the contract clause on how payment is made — and mark every such payment in the bank certificate.
• Your company pays. The chain of contract, invoice, payment into the company account and transfer to you is described in the section on your company abroad.
• The client or its bank is in a sanctioned or high-risk country. Under Law 10/2010 on the prevention of money laundering, Spanish banks monitor where a customer’s funds come from and, where the risk is higher, ask for documents on the source of income. Prepare the same chain in advance: both the UGE and the bank where you open your Spanish account will need it.

In practice the amounts in the contract, the invoices and the bank certificate must match; if an intermediary bank deducted a fee, explain the difference in a cover letter.

If your income comes from selling on marketplaces

Selling on Amazon, Etsy, Wildberries or Ozon is a separate case, and the UGE looks at it differently from freelancing under a contract. The digital nomad permit is granted for remote work for companies outside Spain, while a marketplace seller is trading: the buyers pay, and the platform only collects the money and passes it on under its standard terms. That is why the same two questions keep coming up — can a seller get the nomad permit at all, and are the platform’s terms enough in place of a contract. The answer depends not on how much you earn but on how your work is set up.

There are three forks:

• Where the income comes from. Your own trading in goods, services to sellers — running other people’s stores, listings, advertising, analytics — or a salary from your own company that does the trading.
• Who the client is. A company you have a contract with, or a platform you only have standard terms and sales reports with.
• Where the buyers are. If goods also go to buyers in Spain, for example through Amazon.es, part of the income becomes Spanish, and the Spanish share is capped for this permit.

Services to sellers fit the usual freelancer pattern. Your own trading does not: proof of income has to be built around your particular way of working, and sometimes another route is the honest choice, such as a self-employed (cuenta propia) permit. Before you start on the file, have your set-up reviewed in a consultation — that is where our digital nomad visa service begins.

What to provide on social security to get the residence permit

Almost nobody writes about social security in the context of the digital nomad visa, yet it is the most common technical reason for refusal among employees. The logic of the Spanish authorities is simple: they want to know who pays your contributions while you live in the country.

There are three options, and the one that applies determines the entire subsequent procedure for the residence permit.

If your country has an agreement with Spain

If a social security agreement is in force between your country and Spain, when applying for the digital nomad permit you stay in your own country’s social security system, and Spain recognises this. You need a certificate of applicable legislation.

It is issued by your country’s social security body, usually on the basis of an order posting you to Spain; if your employer will not post you and only gives a “no objection” letter, it may not be issued. For an employer from the EU, the equivalent is form A1.

The list of countries with an agreement is published on the Spanish social security portal. It includes Ukraine, the USA, Canada, Japan, China, Korea, Australia, Morocco, Tunisia, Moldova and almost all of Latin America. For EU countries the general European regulations apply.

Now the important part: Kazakhstan, Georgia, Armenia, Belarus, Turkey, Serbia, Israel and the UAE are not on the list. If you have already relocated once and are employed by a company registered in one of these countries, this option is not available to you. How this fits together with visas, taxes and rights is explained using the example of moving from Turkey to Spain. Pakistan is not on the list either — see moving to Spain from Pakistan; for Tunisia, which has an agreement, see moving to Spain from Tunisia. India has no agreement either — see the Spain digital nomad visa for Indians.

One more thing: the agreement exempts you from contributions but does not give you access to Spanish public healthcare. In this case private insurance is mandatory, for family members too.

This option is only for employees. Under the UGE FAQ, a self-employed person must register with RETA: carrying over the right under an agreement is not allowed for an autónomo.

If there is no social security agreement

If there is no social security agreement with Spain, for the digital nomad visa your foreign employer must officially register with the Spanish social security service as an employer and pay your contributions here. To be honest, few companies are willing to do this.

A freelancer, sole proprietor or self-employed person gives a written undertaking when applying to register as autónomo. After approval the undertaking must be fulfilled: alta (registration) in the social security system under the RETA scheme and tax registration with the Agencia Tributaria. If this is not done, the UGE is entitled to revoke the permit.

In practice, when you apply through a consulate the undertaking alone is often not enough: some consulates send a request for proof that the application for alta in RETA has already been filed (copia del justificante de presentación de la solicitud de alta en el RETA). You do not need to wait for the visa for this. The application is filed online on the Social Security portal Import@ss without a digital signature: you fill in your details, take a selfie and attach a photo of your passport; if you have no Social Security number, you request it there as well. Set the start date of your activity roughly to the month you plan to arrive — the application can be filed no earlier than 60 days before it. The proof of filing arrives by email, and that is what you send to the consulate.

The amount of contributions depends on your declared net income — there is a system of fifteen brackets, each with its own contribution base. The table for 2026 was set by Order PJC/297/2026 of 30 March, and the rate is 31.5% of the base. With income at the visa threshold, €2,849 a month, and almost no expenses, this is bracket 7: the minimum contribution under the order is €427.21 a month. For the first 12 months a new autónomo pays a reduced contribution (tarifa plana): in 2026 it is €80 plus the MEI surcharge, €88.64 a month in total (Spanish social security guide), if you have not been in RETA in the last two years; you must ask for it when you register. The contribution includes public healthcare for you and your family. The step-by-step calculation is in our article on insurance for a residence permit.

A nice detail: for the first six months after the move a passport is enough to register, and the NIE foreigner identification number can be obtained later.

What health insurance is accepted for the digital nomad residence permit

Not everyone needs a private policy with the application. The UGE information sheet for teleworker applications says it directly: insurance documents are not required if, after approval, you will register with the Spanish Seguridad Social. This is how the fifth rule of the Joint Instruction of 30 March 2023 works: anyone who will pay contributions in Spain meets the requirement with an undertaking to register.

• A freelancer, sole proprietor or self-employed person registers with RETA: no policy is needed with the application.
• An employee whose company registers with the Seguridad Social: no policy is needed either; the company’s registration and an undertaking to complete the alta are enough.
• An employee who stays in their home country’s social security under an agreement needs a private policy if the agreement does not cover healthcare.

The spouse and children of someone who has registered get healthcare as their beneficiaries and do not need a policy with the application either. The exception is a de facto partner not entered in a public register: they need a private policy. Between arrival and registration there is no public healthcare yet, and everyone covers this gap on their own. How much healthcare through RETA costs and how to check an insurer in the register is covered in our article on insurance for a residence permit.

For the Spanish digital nomad residence permit, only a policy is accepted from an insurer authorised to operate in Spain and listed in the DGSFP register, with coverage equivalent to public healthcare, with no copago — a co-payment per visit — and no carencia, a waiting period for services, paid for the whole year up front. The UGE does not accept policies from foreign insurers, even from large international companies. A co-payment of even one euro is grounds for a request for further documents.

The instruction itself does not name the absence of co-payments and waiting periods: it mentions coverage equivalent to public healthcare, an insurer in the DGSFP register, validity for the whole term of the permit and the fact that travel policies are not valid. But the UGE information sheet for applicants says it directly: travel policies, reimbursement-only policies and policies with co-payments or waiting periods are not accepted. That is why international nomad policies such as SafetyWing or Genki do not qualify.

Citizenship. The Spanish digital nomad residence permit is available only to citizens of countries outside the European Union, the European Economic Area and Switzerland. A holder of a passport from any of these countries neither needs it nor is eligible for it — they already have the right to live and work in Spain.

Age. The main applicant must be 18 or older on the date of application. Minors are included in the application only as family members of the main applicant and cannot apply on their own.

The employer company. The employer company must have been operating for at least 12 months on the date of application. This is proven by an apostilled extract from the company register of the country of registration and a sworn translation. The apostille is placed on the original extract, not on a notarised copy: copies used to be accepted, but not any more.

A contract older than three months. It is the age of the relationship that counts, not the term of the contract. The requirement of “a contract for at least three years”, which appears in other articles, is not in the law.

A degree or three years of work experience. Higher education, vocational training or a business school all qualify. There is no list of “recognised” universities and there never has been — they check that your qualifications more or less match the work under the contract, and they look at it quite broadly.

If you have no degree, you prove your work history with the official record of employment issued in your country, apostilled as a public document, and every document needs a sworn translation. Add certificates from previous employers to the employment record: start and end dates, position and specific duties similar to your current job — the UGE guidance requires experience “en funciones análogas al puesto” and employer certificates that match the employment record. Old contracts and certificates are a supplement; a cover letter will help tie it all together. Cases without a degree go through regularly; they just require care.

No criminal record. A criminal record certificate is needed from the country or countries where the applicant has lived for the last two years, with an apostille and a sworn translation. The threshold of “more than six months of residence” found in other sources is absent from the text of the instruction of 30 March 2023 — it is consular practice. Separately, you sign a declaration of no criminal record for the last five years: it is a standalone document that does not replace the certificate, and the five years refer specifically to the declaration. Neither the certificate nor the declaration is required if the applicant already holds a residence or stay permit in Spain for more than six months — a direct exception in the fourth instruction.

Legal stay, if you apply from Spain. You need an entry stamp in your passport. If there is no stamp — you entered by land or through another Schengen country — obtain a Declaración de Entrada (declaration of entry) from the police within three working days of crossing the border. Since late March 2026 the UGE has in some cases not accepted it as proof that you were in Spain on the filing date: a notarial deed of presence (acta notarial de presencia) on the day you file and kept boarding passes are safer. Since 10 April 2026 border stamps have been replaced by the electronic Entry/Exit System (EES). Entering on a Schengen visa is fine for applying; the isolated refusals in 2026 concerned entering on another country’s visa straight into Spain and filing immediately after arrival. The country that issued the visa may ask questions too: in autumn 2026 the French consulate asked a digital nomad who entered through France and reached Spain via Belgium to explain the route and prove that France was the main destination. A visa is issued by the country of main stay (article 5 of the EU Visa Code), and if the purpose of travel is not confirmed, the visa may be annulled or revoked (article 34). So your route should match the one declared in the application, and the days in the issuing country should be real.

Regulated professions. Doctors, psychologists, dentists, physiotherapists, teachers, engineers, architects, lawyers — a notarised waiver of practising the profession in Spain is added to the package. You can still work remotely for foreign clients; the waiver only states that you do not practise on the Spanish market.

List of documents

The common package of documents for all residence permit applicants

The full package for the Spanish digital nomad residence permit is 14 items for the main applicant and seven or eight for each family member. Ten items make up the common package, the same for all types of employment; the rest depend on the type of employment: an employee adds four documents, a freelancer, sole proprietor or self-employed person also four, and a business owner eight, so their package is four items longer, 18.

1. International passport: a scan of all pages, including blank ones. When applying from Spain — with the entry stamp.
2. Application form: MI-T when applying to the UGE, the national visa form when applying through a consulate. Fill it in, print it, sign it by hand and scan it.
3. Fee 790-038 — €73.26. Include both the form and the proof of payment in the package.
4. A 12-month health insurance policy with the receipt, if you will not register with the Spanish Seguridad Social after approval (details).
5. A criminal record certificate with an apostille and a sworn translation, plus the declaration. Certificates are needed from every country where you have lived in the last two years: how to get a Georgian one, for example, is explained in the article criminal record certificate from Georgia.
6. An apostilled degree or documents proving three years of experience.
7. A CV in free format: the UGE guidance requires it explicitly, and a simple translation is enough.
8. An apostilled extract from the company register — showing the company has been operating for more than 12 months.
9. A bank statement for three months and a certificate of account ownership.
10. Proof of legal stay.

Official MI-T form on the Ministry of Inclusion website ↗

Which documents an employee needs for the residence permit

An employee adds four more documents to the common package for the Spanish digital nomad residence permit, 14 in total:

• an employment contract older than three months;
• a letter from the company: its name, your position, the date the contract was signed, the amount of pay, the term and explicit permission to work remotely from Spain. Without the last point the letter is no good;
• a certificate of applicable legislation from your country’s social security, or proof that the employer has registered with the Spanish one;
• payslips for three months.

What the employer letter must contain

The employer letter must contain six mandatory points: the company name, the applicant’s position, the date the contract was signed, the amount of pay, the term of the contract and explicit permission to work remotely from Spanish territory. Without the last point the letter is no good — this is one of the most common reasons for a request for further documents. The letter does not need a sworn translation; a version in Spanish is enough.

Contract term and permit term. By law a permit obtained in Spain is granted for the period requested, up to three years (Article 74 quinquies of Law 14/2013, DGGM guidance 2/2025). In practice there have been decisions where the first permit was limited to the end date of the contract. So a fixed-term contract is best signed for at least three years, and an open-ended contract that can be terminated at any time is best accompanied by a company letter stating the intention to keep working together.

Which documents a freelancer, sole proprietor or self-employed person needs

The UGE guidance has no separate “self-employment certificate”: a freelancer proves the work for foreign clients itself, not a status. On top of the common package, a freelancer adds five documents:

• a contract with each client — a services contract (contrato profesional) in force for at least three months on the filing date; the client is a company outside Spain;
• an extract from the client’s commercial register or its equivalent in the client’s country: the company must have been genuinely and continuously active for at least a year. This is a requirement for the client, not for you, so ask the client for the extract in advance; it is an official document and needs an apostille and a sworn translation;
• invoices (facturas) for the three months before filing;
• a bank certificate for the same three months in your name, stamped and signed by the bank, with the payments of those invoices marked separately from other transactions;
• an undertaking to register with RETA — the autónomo social security scheme — after approval and before you start working in Spain; the exception is keeping your home country’s social security under an agreement (social security section).

The contract must match the route. An employment contract does not prove freelance work, and a services contract does not prove employment: the guidance says so directly. The route in the application, the type of contract and the social security scheme (RETA for a freelancer, Régimen General for an employee) must all say the same thing.

Registration of your self-employment. The guidance names the registration of your activity where three years of experience replace a degree: a current registration in your country shows the work is real. An official registration certificate is a public document and needs an apostille and a sworn translation.

What to call your status in the documents. A self-employed person is self-employed in English, and a sole proprietor is a sole proprietor or individual entrepreneur; in Spanish, trabajador por cuenta propia and empresario individual. Use the same terms across contracts, CV, certificates and the application: agree them with the sworn translator before your registration certificates are translated, so the same status is not named differently within one file.

How UGE checks a freelancer’s income. The amounts on the invoices and the marked payments in the bank certificate must match; how to prepare such a certificate is covered in the article on bank statements for a Spanish residence permit. Invoices, contracts and the bank certificate are not issued by public authorities, so the guidance does not require an apostille on them, but the translation must be sworn, as for the rest of the package (which documents need a sworn translation).

Your own company issues the invoices. If the client pays not you but a company you own or control, this is a different case — autónomo societario: the three months of contract are not needed, but documents on the company itself are. They are listed in the next section, and if the invoices go through your company because the client asked for it, see the section on invoicing through your company abroad.

Spanish clients: no more than 20%. A freelance digital nomad may work for Spanish companies, but their share must not exceed 20% of total professional activity (Law 14/2013). In practice, UGE does not check this share on the first application — it comes up after approval, so you need to stay within 20% for the whole term of the permit, not just on the filing date. If you want to work mainly for the Spanish market, that is a different route; the three options are set side by side in the comparison of the digital nomad, non-lucrative and cuenta propia routes.

If income falls short of the threshold. Converted into euros, income in another currency may fall short of the €2,849 monthly threshold, so do the maths at the current exchange rate before filing. If income falls short, UGE accepts a bank certificate of savings covering the difference for the whole permit term. In practice this works reliably when savings cover no more than 20% of the threshold; with a bigger gap the chances drop, so such a case is best reviewed before filing.

Which documents a business owner needs

If you are the sole owner of the company that pays you, or you control it, the UGE treats you as an autónomo societario. You then do not need to prove a three-month contract: 100% ownership or control plus more than a year of real company activity replaces it. Instead, the UGE guidance asks for documents on the company itself. If you both control the company and run it — as founder and CEO — approval has been harder to get since late 2025: the UGE takes the view that a company cannot be run fully remotely. If you do not control the company and work as an employee, even in a senior role, this problem does not arise. If you do apply as a business owner, five documents are added to the common package for the Spanish digital nomad residence permit:

1. An apostilled or legalised extract from the company register: the company has been operating for more than a year and you hold 100%. If your share is smaller, add the articles of association or a shareholders’ resolution showing your control.
2. The company’s latest corporate income tax return.
3. Evidence of investment in the means of production: the balance sheet, office lease, invoices for equipment and software.
4. A report from the social security authority of the company’s country showing the history of employees registered by the company, or an equivalent. If there are no employees, say so in a cover letter.
5. A company letter about your work: position, duties, that the work is done remotely by telematic means, salary in euros.

The register extract is apostilled; everything else is translated by a sworn translator. After approval an owner usually registers with Spanish social security as an autónomo — see the social security section.

If your company abroad invoices the client

Many freelancers work this way: there are one or two clients, but the contract and the invoices are in the name of your company rather than your own — a US LLC, a UAE free zone company, a company in Kazakhstan or Georgia. Often the client asked for it, because paying a company is simpler for them. In this case the UGE does not treat you as a freelancer but as an autónomo societario, and the “foreign company” in the UGE guidance is your own company, not the client.

• The year of activity is counted for your company. The law requires real and continuous activity of the company for at least a year (Article 74 ter of Law 14/2013). A company less than a year old will not pass on this route, even if the client has been operating for a long time.
• The three months of contract are not needed. They are replaced by 100% ownership or control of the company and its year of activity.
• Four company documents on top of the common package. The guidance asks for proof of ownership or control, the company’s latest corporate income tax return, evidence of investment in the means of production — equipment, software, premises — and a social security report from the company’s country with its employee history “or similar”. For a UAE company the corporate tax return is the return filed with the Federal Tax Authority: the tax applies to periods starting on or after 1 June 2023, and free zone companies must register too. If there are no employees, say so in a cover letter: a one-person company may have no headcount record to show.
• A company letter, as for an employee: position, duties, remote work, pay in euros. Permission to work from Spain is implied for an owner.
• Documents issued by foreign authorities need an apostille, or — for countries outside the Apostille Convention, such as the UAE — legalisation by that country’s foreign ministry and then by the Spanish consulate. The UAE procedure is in our guide to moving from Dubai to Spain.

Show the whole money trail. The guidance requires a bank certificate in your name in which the payments are marked separately and match the invoices or payslips. When a company stands between the client and you, in practice the UGE finds it easiest to check the full chain: the client’s contract with your company, the company’s invoices, the payments into its account and the transfers from the company to you as salary or dividends. The guidance does not expressly ask an owner for client contracts, but the UGE may ask about the size, activity and structure of the company (UGE FAQ, question 3), and a one-person company has no better way to show that the work is real.

Explain why the invoices go through a company. The guidance recommends a cover letter whenever the documents do not match the list exactly. If the client asked you to set up the company, attach their letter or the contract clause that says so: it shows the UGE that the company is a way of getting paid for your services, not a business you run from Spain. This matters because an owner who also runs the company has found approval harder to get since late 2025 (see above).

After approval the owner of such a company registers in RETA as an autónomo: according to the UGE FAQ, registration is compulsory for autónomos and those treated as such, and you cannot keep your home country’s social security under an agreement.

Which documents are needed for family members

For each family member included in the application for the Spanish digital nomad residence permit, a separate package of seven or eight documents is prepared:

• form MI-F, printed and signed by hand, with the signature as in the passport;
• a fee of €73.26 for each person, including babies — the amount is the same;
• a marriage certificate with a sworn translation and, for most countries — Ukraine, Belarus or the USA, for example — an apostille;
• if the marriage is not registered — a pareja de hecho (registered partnership) before a Spanish notary. This means one application for the two of you instead of two separate ones;
• children’s birth certificates with sworn translations;
• passports, insurance policies, proof of legal stay;
• a criminal record certificate and declaration — for adults;
• powers of attorney, if one person uploads the documents for everyone.

Which documents need a sworn translation

For the Spanish digital nomad residence permit, almost the whole package needs a sworn translation, and only public documents need an apostille: the criminal record certificate, the degree or the official employment record, the company register extract, the sole proprietor or self-employment registration document and, in most countries, civil registry certificates; the social security certificate of applicable legislation needs no apostille. The CV, which you can translate yourself, and an employer letter written in Spanish from the start do without a sworn translation.

An apostille goes on public documents issued by a state authority. Public documents are translated by a sworn translator or a consulate, the rest also by a sworn translator, and the CV may be submitted in a simple translation: this is what the UGE information sheet for digital nomads says. In practice a bank certificate is filed with a simple translation. A document drawn up in Spanish needs no translation.

How to find a translator, what a translation costs and which mistakes make you translate twice is covered in the article sworn translation for Spain.

How to prepare the files to avoid a request for further documents

• each applicant gets a separate folder;
• all files in PDF format;
• the whole set no larger than 24 megabytes, so you will have to compress files;
• file names in Latin characters only, without commas or special characters — otherwise a request for further documents;
• documents for one item go into one file, not scattered;
• forms, declarations and powers of attorney are signed by hand. Not with an electronic signature, but on a printout.

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How to get the digital nomad residence permit in Spain: step-by-step guide

Below is a guide to both routes. The order of steps matters: it is designed so that the longest tasks start first.

How to get the digital nomad residence permit from within Spain

1. Order criminal record certificates. Preparing these certificates is the longest part of the whole process: two to three weeks with an apostille, sometimes more. Start with them.
2. Enter Spain and record your entry. A stamp or a Declaración de Entrada within three working days.
3. Pay fee 790/038. In the form: self-assessment “Principal”, taxable event no. 7, section “Initial authorisation”. This is where people get confused most often — you will not find a “digital nomad” line; look for teleworker.
4. Sort out the electronic signature. Either get your own on the FNMT website or give a power of attorney to someone who has one. An NIE number is not required in advance: when you apply to the UGE, it is assigned together with the decision.
5. Submit the documents online to the UGE with the full set — on the UGE-CE platform of the Ministry of Inclusion. This is not Mercurio: Mercurio is used to file applications with the provincial immigration offices, whereas digital nomad applications are reviewed by the UGE.
6. Wait 20 working days.
7. Book a police appointment for fingerprinting.
8. Pay fee 790-012 — €16.08 for the card.
9. Give your biometrics.
10. Collect the residence card after about forty days. You will need to book another appointment.

How to apply for the residence permit through a Spanish consulate general

1. Put together the package according to your consulate’s requirements — they differ slightly.
2. It is better to request an NIE number in advance; this will cut delays.
3. Book an appointment and submit the documents in person.
4. Receive a one-year D visa.
5. Enter Spain.
6. Within the last 60 days of the visa, while it is still valid, apply to the UGE for the three-year residence permit.

Through a visa centre or directly at the consulate the route is exactly the same — only the booking process and the list of local requirements differ.

If you have two citizenships: which passport to apply with

You can apply with either passport, as long as neither is issued by an EU or EEA country or Switzerland: with such a passport you do not need the nomad permit at all. The application runs on one passport — its number and nationality go into the form, the decision and the TIE card. A typical version of the question: can you enter Spain on an Argentine passport when the company documents are issued to you as a Belarusian citizen.

The passport decides the route. If one of your passports gives visa-free entry to the Schengen area — Moldovan, Israeli or US, for example — you can enter Spain on it and apply to the UGE from inside the country: a permit for up to three years straight away, without a year on a national visa. With a passport that needs a visa, the consulate is the only way: a one-year D visa first, then the switch to the residence permit.

Apply with the passport you entered on. The UGE checks lawful stay by the entry stamp or the Declaración de Entrada, and both are tied to a specific passport. Enter on one and apply with the other, and the file will have no proof of lawful stay.

What the choice does not change. Criminal record certificates are needed from the countries where you lived in the last two years — by residence, not by nationality. Income, the contract and social security are assessed the same way: a social security agreement depends on the country where you are insured, not on your passport.

If your second passport is Latin American. Nationals by birth of Ibero-American countries, and of Portugal, Andorra, the Philippines and Equatorial Guinea, can apply for Spanish citizenship after two years of lawful residence instead of ten. The count starts from your first residence permit — more in the article on Spanish citizenship.

Applying through a consulate: where, how long, and what you actually get

The consular route is the only one available while you are still outside Spain. It is shorter than people expect, but three features of it decide everything.

You apply where you live, not where your passport is from. The application is taken by the consulate in whose demarcation you lawfully reside (RD 1155/2024, article 26.1). So a British citizen living in Texas files in Houston, and a third-country national living in the UAE files in Abu Dhabi, attaching proof of their status in the country of filing. The same rule governs filing from Armenia and Serbia, where many remote workers settled after 2022. Choosing another consulate is not up to you: only the Ministry of Foreign Affairs may designate a different office, and only where there is a justified reason.

The decision takes 10 working days. That is not the general immigration deadline but the one set by law 14/2013 itself (article 75.5), and consulates restate it on their own pages. A request for documents stops the clock: you get 10 days to respond, extendable by five. The visa must then be collected in person within a month, or the grant is treated as renounced (RD 1155/2024, article 28.4).

The visa itself lets you live and work. Under article 75.4 of law 14/2013 the national visa on this ground proves lawful residence by itself, and no TIE card is required. But it lasts a year at most, and that is the key difference from applying inside Spain.

The fee deserves a separate word: the consulate adds a reciprocity amount on top of the base charge, and that amount follows your nationality rather than the country you file in. The 2026 tariffs show it plainly — an Australian pays considerably more for this visa than a British applicant, wherever either of them applies.

Beyond that, the procedure depends on the country: consular demarcations, police certificates and the 2026 fee tables are set out in the guide to applying at the Spanish consulate in your country.

Applying from your country: guides by country

The requirements above are the same for every nationality. What differs is the country you apply from: which Spanish consulate covers you, the visa and reciprocity fees, whether documents need an apostille or legalisation, the police certificate, social security and tax treaties, and whether you can keep your nationality. Country guides:

• North America, the UK and Oceania: the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand.
• Asia: India, the Philippines, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Singapore, China.
• The Gulf, the Middle East and Africa: Dubai and the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iran, Israel, Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana.
• Latin America: Mexico, Brazil, citizenship in two years for Ibero-Americans.
• Europe outside the EU: Serbia, Montenegro.

Your country is not on the list? The rules above apply to you in full; the consulate and document questions are covered in the guide to applying at the Spanish consulate in your country.

Processing time for the residence permit application and what to do about a request for documents

The law gives the UGE 20 working days. If no decision is issued within that time, the application is deemed approved — this is called positive administrative silence, and it is a rarity in Spanish bureaucracy. What to do if the deadline has passed and there is still no decision is covered in UGE silence.

A request for further documents (requerimiento) arrives if something is missing or the documents contain discrepancies. You are given 10 working days to reply and can ask for five more. Miss the deadline and a refusal follows.

A request often arrives near the end of the period, and the decision tends to follow soon after the answer. In the case Nomad permit from Poland: a bank statement request and approval in 34 days UGE sent a request on 19 October, the answer went in on the 23rd, and approval came the next working day.

A refusal must state its reasons and can be appealed. But it is often quicker to fix the cause and reapply than to argue — it depends on exactly what the refusal says.

In total, from Spain the whole journey takes 3–4 months: 3–5 weeks for certificates and translations, 20 working days for UGE review, 1–3 weeks waiting for a police slot and about forty days for the card to be produced — 14–18 weeks altogether. Through a Spanish consulate general it takes 1.5–2 months to get the national visa: the same document collection plus the review, for which the law allows ten working days but in practice it takes three weeks or more. The three-year residence permit after entry is a separate application and adds about three more months.

Where the ten days come from. The deadline is set by article 75.5 of Ley 14/2013: visa applications are processed and the decision is notified within ten working days. The rule itself contains one caveat: if the applicant is subject to consultation under article 22 of the EU Visa Code, the deadline follows the general rules of that code. Consulates regularly go beyond ten days, and citing the rule makes sense not for the sake of an argument but when the silence has dragged on and you need a written basis for a complaint.

Summary of stages, timings and money:

Stage	How long it takes
Apostilled criminal record certificates	2–3 weeks
Sworn translations	1–2 weeks
Health insurance policy	1–3 days
Fee 790/038	On the day of application
UGE review	20 working days
Police appointment and fingerprinting	1–3 weeks waiting for a slot
Production of the residence card	about 40 days
Total	3–4 months

How much the digital nomad residence permit costs

When you apply from inside Spain, the state fees are €89.34 per person: €73.26 for the review of the application (form 790-038) and €16.08 for the TIE residence card (form 790-012). The amounts are the same for adults and children; a family of three pays €268.02. Everything else is documents before filing and monthly contributions after approval, and those depend on whether you work for yourself or as an employee.

What for	How much	Paid to, and when
Fee 790-038 — review of the application	€73.26 per person	The state, before filing
Fee 790-012 — TIE card	€16.08 per person	The police, before fingerprinting
Apostilles on foreign documents	Set by the issuing country, per document	The authority issuing the apostille, while collecting documents
Sworn translations	By the number of pages; translators set their own rates	A sworn translator, while collecting documents
Consulate — if you apply for the visa abroad	Consular fee, plus the visa centre fee if there is one	The consulate or its visa centre, when applying
Health insurance	Depends on the insurer and age. Not needed if you register with Spanish social security after approval	The insurer, before filing
Autónomo contribution (RETA) — self-employed	€88.64 a month for the first 12 months (reduced flat rate), if you have not been in RETA in the last two years	Spanish social security, monthly after approval
Régimen General contributions — employees	A percentage of salary: part is withheld from you, part is paid by the employer	Spanish social security, monthly after approval

Self-employed or employed: where the difference lies. A freelancer registers with RETA after approval, and the contribution itself provides healthcare: no private policy is needed for the application (UGE guidance), and the reduced flat rate of €88.64 a month applies for the first 12 months (Spanish social security guide). An employee of a foreign company who registers with the Régimen General does not buy a policy either. A private policy with no co-payments or waiting periods — for yourself and each family member — is needed by someone who keeps home-country social security under an agreement, if that agreement gives no right to healthcare in Spain. How to choose the policy is in the insurance section.

What drives the total most. The number of family members — fees, insurance and translations are counted per person — and the number of documents from different countries: every official document needs its own country’s apostille and a sworn translation.

What our service covers and how payment works is on the digital nomad visa service page.

What happens after approval

After a positive UGE decision on the Spanish digital nomad residence permit, four steps remain, and together they take about two months.

Freelancers, sole proprietors and the self-employed do not need to wait for the card: register with RETA and the tax agency (Agencia Tributaria) right after the UGE decision, before you start working from Spain. UGE requires registration “immediately after obtaining the authorisation”; if a check finds you are not registered, the permit is withdrawn for you and your family (UGE FAQ, questions 7–8). The decision and your passport are enough: for the first six months the passport replaces the NIE and TIE (art. 76.5 Ley 14/2013). The quickest route is a PAE point, which handles both registrations at once. If you came on a digital nomad visa, register on arrival, before you start working from Spain.

1. Notification of the decision. The decision arrives in your online account; an NIE number is assigned along with it if you did not have one before.
2. Police appointment for fingerprinting. The wait for a slot is one to three weeks, depending on the province. Before the visit you pay fee 790-012, €16.08 per person.
3. Giving biometrics. A personal visit with your passport, the decision and the receipt.
4. Collecting the TIE card. Production takes about forty days, and you will need to book a separate appointment to collect it. What the card looks like, what the numbers on it mean and how it differs from the NIE are covered in our article on the TIE card.

What taxes you pay in Spain

When a nomad becomes a tax resident

The main criterion is more than 183 days in Spain in a calendar year. They also look at the centre of economic interests and whether your spouse and minor children live here. Having a Spanish residence permit does not by itself make you a tax resident: they count days and ties.

Hence the practical conclusion: if you move on 2 July or later and had not been in Spain earlier that year, days alone will not make you resident for that year. But if the core of your income is already here (autónomo registration, Spanish clients) or your spouse and children live here, the tax authority may treat you as resident for the year of the move too.

Who can use the Beckham Law

Digital nomad permit holders often ask about this special tax regime: a flat 24% instead of the progressive scale. The Startups Law extended it to remote workers, and ever since the internet has been full of the claim that all digital nomads pay 24%. How the Beckham Law for residence permit holders works in practice is covered in a separate article.

The claim that all holders of the Spanish digital nomad permit pay 24% under the Beckham Law is wrong — the exact wording of the law matters here. Article 93 refers to “employees holding a visa for international telework”.

Freelancers and autónomos are not entitled to the Beckham Law on this basis. It is only for those in employment. Article 93 has other grounds — entrepreneurial activity or a highly qualified professional at a startup — but both require a separate favourable report and do not apply to an ordinary freelancer.

If you are employed and can claim the regime:

• you must not have been a Spanish tax resident in the last five years;
• the application is filed on Modelo 149 within six months of the start date of activity shown in the social security registration certificate. The deadline is strict: miss it and you can never get the regime;
• it applies for the year of the move plus the next five, up to six years in total.

What it gives: 24% up to €600,000 a year, 47% above that. Foreign dividends and interest are not taxed in Spain. Wealth tax only on Spanish assets. No need to file Modelo 720 and 721 on assets outside Spain.

What it takes away: the personal and family allowance and all deductions do not apply. All employment income, including income earned outside Spain, is treated as Spanish and taxed in full.

At what income the Beckham Law pays off

A simplified calculation: one person without children, employment income only, a personal allowance of €5,550 and a deduction of €2,000 applied, the basic scale without regional differences, social security contributions not taken into account.

Annual income	Standard scale	Eff. rate	Beckham 24%	Which is better
€36,000	≈ €7,311	20.3%	€8,640	Scale, €1,330 cheaper
€48,000	≈ €11,667	24.3%	€11,520	Beckham, €150 cheaper
€60,000	≈ €16,107	26.8%	€14,400	Beckham, €1,700 cheaper
€90,000	≈ €29,447	32.7%	€21,600	Beckham, €7,850 cheaper
€120,000	≈ €42,947	35.8%	€28,800	Beckham, €14,150 cheaper

Under these assumptions the break-even point is about €47,000. Below it the standard scale is cheaper; above it, more expensive. Taking into account deductible social security contributions, children and regional scales, the point moves up, roughly to 55–65 thousand.

In other words, on modest incomes the Beckham Law does not pay off.

The calculation is illustrative; it shows orders of magnitude. Your specific amount depends on the region, family composition, other sources of income and how payments are structured.

Rates, deductions, returns and filing procedure after the move are covered in a separate breakdown: taxes after getting the residence permit.

How to avoid double taxation

If Spain and the country where the income originates have a treaty, tax is paid under its rules and tax paid abroad is credited. If there is no treaty or it is not applied, you cannot simply cite it; the situation has to be analysed separately.

How to renew the residence permit and get citizenship

Renewal of the digital nomad residence permit is for two-year periods, as long as the conditions on which the permit was granted remain in place. When to apply, which documents are needed in 2026 and what happens if you are late is covered in renewing a digital nomad permit. The law sets no minimum number of days in Spain for renewal — but you must renew the document on time. When a nomad permit can be terminated early is covered in our guide to residence permit cancellation in Spain.

Permanent residence — this is where days are counted strictly. You need five years of legal residence, and you may be absent for no more than six months in a row and no more than ten months in total over the five years. Time spent on the digital nomad visa counts in full towards the period for permanent residence.

Spanish citizenship — ten years for most people. Two years for citizens of Latin American countries, Portugal, Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea and for Sephardic Jews. To obtain Spanish citizenship you will need to pass the DELE A2 and CCSE exams.

Hence an important conclusion for those who do not plan to move straight away and see the residence permit as a “backup option”. At the renewal level the scheme works: you can keep the card while living mostly elsewhere. At the level of permanent residence and citizenship it does not — you will have to accumulate days. And in any case the status requires you to file Spanish tax returns on time: reporting after getting the residence permit is usually handed over to a gestor (tax and admin agent).

What the nomad permit gives beyond the right to live in the country: the ability to travel freely around the Schengen area, access to public healthcare and schools, and the right of family members to work. In other words, the residence permit opens up the same everyday opportunities that locals have.

Why applications are refused

1. Insurance. With co-payments, with carencia, a travel policy, from a foreign insurer. The absolute leader among requests for further documents.
2. Social security for employees. No certificate of applicable legislation, and the employer is not registered with the Spanish social security service.
3. Non-transparent money. The statement does not show payments from the party named in the contract, or an intermediary pays without a document linking it to the client (what to attach).
4. Wrong income calculation. The same €2,442 instead of €2,849, or no margin for the exchange rate.
5. Weak proof of experience. A degree in an unrelated field, an apostille on the wrong document, employer certificates without dates and duties or not matching the employment record, documents without a cover letter.
6. Entry not proven. Neither a stamp nor a Declaración de Entrada.
7. Apostille on a copy of the register extract instead of the original.
8. Employer letter not in the right form. The position, contract date, amount or permission to work from Spain was left out.
9. Technical errors. Cyrillic in file names, exceeding the size limit, documents in no particular order.
10. Discrepancies between documents. One position in the contract, another in the letter, a third in the CV. The whole set is read.
11. The case falls under an intra-company transfer. A permit is not issued on this basis — articles 73 and 74 of Law 14/2013 apply instead.

Reviews from people who already have this residence permit

Which residence permit to choose

	Digital nomad	Non-working residence permit	Startup visa
Who it is for	Remote work for foreign clients	The financially independent: passive income, savings	Founders of an innovative project
Can you work	Yes, remotely for foreign clients	No, not at all, including remote work	Yes, on your own project
Money	€2,849/month	400% of the annual IPREM for the applicant plus 100% for each family member	Funds in an account plus project approval
First term	Up to 3 years from Spain, a one-year visa through a consulate	One year, then renewals for two	3 years
Processing	20 working days, silence is positive	Up to 3 months, silence is negative	20 working days
Beckham	If employed	No	If conditions are met

How this visa compares with the other routes is shown in the list of services: prices, timelines and requirements for each.

If you are choosing between the digital nomad visa, the non-lucrative permit and self-employment in Spain, all three routes are set side by side in the comparison of the digital nomad, non-lucrative and cuenta propia routes.

A separate story is if you have already lived in Spain for more than a year on a digital nomad or startup visa permit and want to work for the local market without the 20% limit. Then you need not a different visa but a modification of the permit to Cuenta Propia (self-employment). If your own project is closer to you, it has its own route — the startup visa residence permit.

Why it is important to keep control of your documents

The most common problem when renewing the Spanish digital nomad permit is that the applicant does not know what was submitted in their name three years earlier. There are no copies of the package, it is unclear what exactly was entered in the forms, and there is no access to the case history at the UGE. Renewal confirms that the conditions on which the permit was granted still apply; you cannot confirm that conditions you have never seen still apply.

Hence a rule worth following with any representative, including us: demand a copy of everything submitted in your name. The full set in PDF, the case number, access to correspondence with the UGE. A refusal to provide copies is sufficient reason to change representative.

The second half is essentially the same. The digital nomad permit is not obtained once; it is maintained: annual tax returns, autónomo reporting, RETA contributions, renewal every two years and, on the way to permanent residence, counting days of absence as well. Getting it takes three to four months; maintaining it takes all the years until permanent residence. When choosing who to entrust with the application, it makes sense to check whether that person will stay with you for the second, long part.

How to tell that your permit will really be obtained, not a scam

The Spanish digital nomad residence permit is a genuine state programme under Law 14/2013: the decision is taken by the UGE and can be verified. The scams come from intermediaries, not the state — they take money for a “guaranteed approval”, file carelessly or disappear after payment. Five checks before you sign:

• Decisions, not promises. Ask to see anonymised UGE decisions on real cases. Ours are collected in the registry of approvals: the date, route and authority of each decision.
• A specialist you can verify. A lawyer can be found in their bar association’s register. Irina Firsova is a member of the Barcelona Bar, No. 46.385, verifiable in the official ICAB search.
• A contract before payment — with the price, scope of work and timelines. “Pay the full amount first, contract later” is a reason to stop.
• Nobody guarantees 100% approval. The decision is taken by the state. An honest adviser talks about your chances and what they do if there is a request for documents or a refusal.
• Copies of everything filed. After filing you should have the proof of registration of the application (justificante de registro) and copies of all documents, not just the intermediary’s word.

From abroad there are two ways to apply: through the Spanish consulate for the district where you legally live, receiving a visa for one year, or by entering Spain legally and applying to the UGE from inside the country straight away for a three-year permit. Details are in the consulate section above.

Frequently asked questions

Which laws the residence permit requirements are based on

The programme appeared in December 2022: Law 28/2022 on promoting the startup ecosystem added a new chapter V bis to Law 14/2013. It contains articles 74 bis to 74 quinquies: who a teleworker is, the requirements, the visa and the residence permit. Article 76 sets out the procedure and those same 20 working days with positive silence.

The percentages for family supplements and the insurance and social security requirements come from the Joint Instruction of 30 March 2023 of the Directorate-General for Migration and the Directorate-General for Consular Affairs. The UGE reviews applications in accordance with it.

The income threshold is tied to the SMI, which for 2026 was set by Royal Decree 126/2026 of 18 February.

It is worth knowing separately: the new immigration regulation (RD 1155/2024), which came into force in May 2025, applies to this type of residence permit only where Law 14/2013 has no rule of its own (Final Provision 13 of Law 14/2013). Requirements, timelines and the UGE application follow Law 14/2013, while, for example, where to lodge a consular visa application follows the general regulation.

• Law 14/2013 — chapter V bis and article 76
• Law 28/2022 on startups
• Royal Decree 126/2026 — SMI for 2026
• PRIE portal — section on digital nomads
• UGE-CE — the service that reviews applications
• Fee 038 — online payment
• List of countries with a social security agreement
• Article 93 — the Beckham Law, guidance from the tax agency
• Form MI-T

If you would rather not put the package together yourself, there is a full-service residence permit application.

The information is correct as of the date of publication. UGE and consular requirements change, and calculations are simplified for clarity. Before submitting documents, check the current versions.