Moving to Spain from the US in 2026: visas, documents, taxes and costs

Most Americans who move to Spain today keep their US job or clients and simply change where they live. The route that makes this legal is the digital nomad visa: it needs income from €2,849 a month, a remote contract with an employer or clients outside Spain, and an FBI background check with a State Department apostille. The golden visa no longer exists. And whatever route you take, the United States keeps taxing you as a citizen, so you will file in both countries.

The whole move on one page: what to do and when

Almost everything that goes wrong in an American move to Spain is a timing problem, not a paperwork problem. The FBI background check has to be recent enough for the consulate but old enough to be apostilled; the consulate appointment has to exist before the documents expire; the shipping container has to arrive within three months of you. Here is the whole sequence in one table.

Two deadlines on this list are the ones people miss. The six-month driving licence clock catches almost every American, because in most countries a US licence can simply be exchanged — in Spain it cannot. And the three-month customs window for your shipment: goods that arrive later than three months after you do lose the duty-free treatment unless you ask for an extension in advance.

Which visa fits your situation

Spanish law has around ten residence routes, but only five realistically work for someone leaving the US. The easiest way to choose is not by the name of the visa but by where your money comes from.

Residence routes for people moving from the US

Your situation	Route	Key requirement
You work remotely as an employee of a US company	Digital nomad visa	€2,849 a month and your employer’s written permission to work from Spain
You freelance or contract for US clients	Digital nomad visa	The same income, with no more than 20% of it from Spanish clients
You are launching a tech or innovative company	Startup visa	A favorable report from ENISA on the project
You live on a pension, savings, rent or dividends	Non-lucrative visa	€2,400 a month or equivalent savings; no work allowed
Your spouse or parent is a Spanish or EU citizen	Family route	Proof of the relationship; for some cases, proof of means

Digital nomad visa

This route covers most moves from the US: you keep your American contract and work from Spain legally. It was introduced by the 2022 startup law and has been open since January 2023. The digital nomad visa service page covers what we do on this route and what it costs.

Main requirements:

• Age 18 or over.
• Income of at least €2,849 a month, which is 200% of the current Spanish minimum wage (SMI). A second family member, a spouse or a child, adds 75% of the SMI, or €1,069; each further member adds 25%, or €356.
• The employer or client has existed for at least one year, and your working relationship with it has lasted at least three months. These are two separate conditions and people often mix them up.
• No more than 20% of your income from Spanish clients.
• A university degree in your field or three years of professional experience.
• Health insurance with no co-payments and no waiting periods.
• A criminal record certificate covering the last five years, with an apostille.

How long you get depends on where you apply. A visa issued by a consulate in the US is valid for one year, and in Spain you then apply for a three-year permit. If you apply from inside Spain while there legally, the permit is issued for three years straight away and can be renewed for two more.

Golden visa

Startup visa

The startup visa is for founders of innovative, scalable companies, mainly in tech, biotech, fintech and similar fields. The key document is a favorable report from ENISA, the public agency that assesses whether the business model is genuinely innovative. A consultancy, a restaurant or a regular shop will not qualify, however good the business plan. Details are on the startup visa page.

Registering the company itself is cheap: since the 2022 Crea y Crece law, a Spanish limited company (SL) can be formed with share capital from €1. What investors and accelerators look at is whether the founder can fund the first stage of the project.

Highly qualified professional permit

A separate track exists for highly qualified professionals hired by a company operating in Spain. It works when the employer is ready to show that it needs your specific qualification, most often in software, engineering, biotech or medicine. For an ordinary position this route is close to unrealistic.

Student visa

Studying at a Spanish university gives you a student stay for the length of the program, with the right to work up to 30 hours a week. These years do not count toward Spanish citizenship: Spanish courts do not treat a student stay as legal residence. After graduating, you can apply for the job seeker residence permit, which gives 24 months to find work or start a business without leaving Spain.

Marriage and family

Spouses of citizens of other EU countries living in Spain follow the EU free movement procedure, the fastest of all routes. Spouses of Spanish citizens have had their own residence permit in the immigration regulation since May 2025. Spouses of non-EU residents go through ordinary family reunification, which is slower and requires proof of housing and income from the sponsor. The same routes extend to children and dependent parents.

American documents: the FBI check and the two kinds of apostille

This is where American files get stuck, and the reason is a detail nobody mentions until it bites: your documents need two different apostilles from two different authorities. The FBI background check is a federal document, so it is apostilled by the US Department of State in Washington. Your birth certificate, marriage certificate and university diploma are state documents, so each is apostilled by the Secretary of State of the state that issued it. Send a federal document to a state office, or the reverse, and it comes back unstamped weeks later.

Order the channeler version of the FBI check, not the mail-in one. A channeler returns the report in days rather than weeks, and it is the same document. Then send it straight to the apostille: the report is only useful while it is recent, and consulates expect a certificate issued within the last few months.

On the translation: it must be done by a traductor jurado — a translator appointed by Spain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. An American notarized or “certified” translation, however official it looks, is not the same thing and gets rejected at the counter. Translating in Spain is usually cheaper and always safer.

Which Spanish consulate covers your state

You must apply at the consulate that covers your state of legal residence — not the nearest one, and not the one with the earliest appointment. Applying at the wrong consulate means starting over.

Jurisdictions are adjusted from time to time and the split of California between Los Angeles and San Francisco is by county, so check your own consulate’s page before you book. What does not change is the principle: the consulate follows your legal residence.

How to apply from the US: step by step

Step 1: Choose the route and plan the timeline

Pick the route first, then work backward from your moving date. The longest part of the process is not the decision but the documents from the US, so they should be started before anything else.

Step 2: Gather the documents

The core set:

• A passport valid for at least one year, with two blank pages.
• The national visa application form, filled in Spanish or English.
• Two color photos, 3.5 × 4.5 cm, on a white background.
• Proof of income: the contract, a letter from the employer allowing remote work, and bank statements for the last three to six months.
• Health insurance from a Spanish insurer or one authorized in Spain, with full cover, no co-payments and no waiting periods. A €30,000 travel policy is not accepted for a national visa.
• A criminal record certificate with an apostille and a sworn translation.
• Proof of the consular fee payment.

Step 3: Apply at the consulate for your state

Spain has consulates general in Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco, San Juan and Washington. Each covers a set of states, and you must apply at the one that covers the state where you live. Appointments are booked online and fill up fast in the busiest consulates, so book before your documents are ready: moving a slot is easier than finding a new one.

Step 4: Wait for the decision

For the digital nomad visa, the consulate decides in about ten working days. Other routes take longer, from several weeks to a few months. Be ready to provide extra documents if asked.

Step 5: Arrive and register

After arrival you need to:

• Register your address at the town hall (empadronamiento).
• Request your residence card (TIE, Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero) within one month of entering Spain. Your foreigner identity number, the NIE, is printed on it.

If you fly with a connection in another Schengen country, you pass the external border outside Spain. In that case you must declare your date of entry yourself at a police station within three days.

Cost of living: Spain vs the US

The main reason to move is the gap in expenses while keeping American income. Below are rough monthly ranges for a household of two adults: a large US city on the left, Madrid or Barcelona on the right. These are our estimates for planning, not official statistics.

Monthly costs: a large US city vs a large Spanish city

Item	US	Spain
Two-bedroom apartment rent, central	$2,800–5,000	€1,200–2,000
Groceries for two	$700–1,000	€350–500
Utilities and internet	$250–350	€120–200
Public transport pass	$80–130	€20–55
Health insurance outside an employer plan	from $800 per person	€50–150 per person
Lunch at a café	$20–25	€12–15
Private daycare	$1,500–2,500	€300–600

Rents in the big cities have risen sharply in recent years, most of all in Madrid and Barcelona. Budget with a margin, and do not count on renting remotely before you arrive: landlords almost always want to meet the tenant and see an NIE.

Where Americans usually move

Americans move to the big cities, not to the coast. Of the 15,632 US citizens who registered as arrivals in Spain in 2024, Madrid took 4,030 and Barcelona 3,036 — together 45% of the whole flow. Valencia came third with 1,522. Málaga, the province the British choose first, took 981. About 57,400 US citizens were living in Spain on 1 January 2025, up 53% since 2021.

The two fastest-growing destinations are Alicante and Valencia, and both are places the British are leaving: UK arrivals in Alicante fell by half over the same four years. Where an American arrives now often means buying into a town whose English-speaking community is being replaced rather than built.

Madrid

The capital and the largest city, with about 3.3 million people. It has the biggest job market, especially in tech and business, excellent transport links and a large international community. The downsides are higher prices than most of Spain, summers that reach 40 °C, and more bureaucracy.

Barcelona

A Mediterranean city with beaches, mountains close by and a strong tech scene. Almost a third of residents are foreign-born. It is also the most expensive city in Spain, crowded with tourists year-round, and in Catalonia Catalan sits alongside Spanish in schools and public offices.

Valencia

Valencia has topped the InterNations Expat City Ranking in recent years. It balances cost, climate and infrastructure well, has good beaches and a growing community of remote workers. It has fewer international schools than Madrid and less English-language infrastructure.

Málaga

The center of the Costa del Sol attracts American retirees and families looking for a slower pace. Its international airport has seasonal direct flights to New York, and the English-speaking community is large. Career options are narrower, summers are very hot, and some places close in the off-season.

Other options

Alicante on the Costa Blanca offers coastal life at lower prices. Seville, Bilbao, San Sebastián and the islands, Mallorca, Ibiza and Tenerife, each suit a different lifestyle. The choice usually comes down not to atmosphere but to numbers: rent, salaries, transport and schools differ more than you would expect.

The choice of province decides more than the view. It sets your regional income tax, whether the wealth tax applies to you, and the rent you will pay per square metre — differences that run into thousands of euros a year on the same income. Our map of Spain by province puts them side by side: the size of the American, British and Irish communities, average rent and household income, with regional income and property purchase taxes and rent per square metre on separate layers. Compare the provinces before you commit to a city, because moving your fiscal residence later means re-registering everything.

Your US driver’s licence does not transfer. Plan for it

Spain has licence-exchange agreements with dozens of countries, and the United States is not one of them. There is no federal US driving licence to sign an agreement with — licences are issued by states — so there is nothing for Spain to recognise. The practical result is blunt: an American who becomes a Spanish resident has six months to get a Spanish licence, and getting it means passing both exams from scratch, theory and practical, no matter how long you have been driving.

Two pieces of good news. The theory exam is officially offered in English, so you are not fighting the language and the highway code at once. And the six months run from when you become a resident, not from when you land — but do not test that boundary: driving on an expired-for-Spain licence voids your insurance, which matters far more than the fine.

Start in month two or three, not month five. Driving schools in the big cities have waiting lists, and the practical exam is a queue of its own. If you are moving to a coastal town where a car is not optional, treat this as part of the move, not as an errand for later.

Bringing your dog or cat

Pets travel on a tight clock, and the clock runs backwards from your flight. You need a microchip that meets the ISO standard, a rabies vaccination given after the microchip, and an EU health certificate completed by a USDA-accredited veterinarian and then endorsed by USDA APHIS. The endorsement must happen within 10 days of your pet’s arrival in the EU, which means the vet visit is scheduled to the day, not to the week.

Two details worth knowing before you book anything. If your pet’s microchip is an older non-ISO American chip, a Spanish vet may not be able to read it, and the chip must be readable on arrival — either replace it or travel with your own reader. And EU rules on pet certificates changed in 2026: new non-commercial certificates take effect on 1 October 2026, with certificates issued under the old form endorsed until 30 September. If your move straddles that date, confirm which form applies before the vet appointment.

Airlines are the other constraint. Cabin, hold and cargo have different rules, different maximum temperatures and different seasonal blackouts, and some breeds are refused outright. Book the animal’s place before you book your own.

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Shipping your things: what menaje de casa means

Household goods can enter Spain free of duty and VAT under the regime called menaje de casa, but the exemption comes with conditions that are easy to fail by accident:

• The goods must have been in your use for at least six months before the move. A newly bought sofa is an import, not a household effect.
• You need a certificate of change of residence from the Spanish consulate in the US, confirming that you were registered there and are moving your residence to Spain. Request it before you leave — it is a consular document, and afterwards you are on the wrong continent.
• The shipment must arrive within three months of you. Later than that and the exemption is gone unless an extension was requested.
• Everything must be declared as menaje de casa, with a detailed inventory, not as general freight. The label on the paperwork decides how customs treats the container.

Run the arithmetic before you ship. A 20-foot container from the East Coast is a serious sum, and on the Spanish side you pay 21% VAT on most replacement purchases anyway. Furniture, appliances and anything electrical with a US plug are usually cheaper to re-buy than to move. What is worth shipping is what cannot be re-bought: documents, tools of your trade, instruments, art, the things with history.

Spanish citizenship for Americans

An American can apply for Spanish citizenship by residence after ten years of legal and continuous residence in Spain. This is the general period under article 22 of the Spanish Civil Code. The two-year period applies only to nationals by origin of Ibero-American countries, Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea and Portugal, and to Sephardic Jews. The US is not on that list.

Residence on a residence permit counts toward the ten years, including the digital nomad visa. Years as a student do not. Besides the time, you must pass the DELE A2 Spanish exam and the CCSE test on the Spanish constitution and culture.

When naturalizing, Spain requires you to declare that you renounce your previous nationality, and the US is not among the countries exempted (article 23 b of the Civil Code). On the American side, that declaration does not by itself end your US citizenship. The State Department presumes that a US citizen who acquires another nationality intends to keep US citizenship, and formal renunciation is done only in person at a US embassy or consulate. Discuss your own situation with a lawyer before relying on this.

Taxes and money for Americans

The US–Spain tax treaty

The US is one of very few countries that tax their citizens on worldwide income regardless of where they live. Someone moving to Spain from the UK stops being a UK tax resident; an American stays on the IRS books for life. The income tax treaty between the US and Spain, together with US credit rules, is what prevents paying tax twice on the same income.

When you become a Spanish tax resident

You are a Spanish tax resident if any of these applies:

• You spend more than 183 days in Spain in a calendar year.
• The center of your economic interests is in Spain.
• Your spouse and minor children live in Spain permanently, unless you prove otherwise.

General income tax scale (IRPF) for Spanish tax residents, 2026, combined state and typical regional rates

Annual taxable income	Rate
up to €12,450	19%
€12,450–20,200	24%
€20,200–35,200	30%
€35,200–60,000	37%
€60,000–300,000	45%
over €300,000	47%

Half of the scale is set by the state and half by the region, so the same salary leaves different take-home pay in Madrid and in Catalonia. The top brackets hit exactly those who move with a Californian or New York salary, and they should look at the Beckham regime before moving: a flat 24% on income up to €600,000 for the year of arrival and the next five years.

Non-residents pay a flat rate on Spanish-source income: 19% for EU and EEA residents, 24% for everyone else, including residents of the US.

Property tax and wealth tax

Property owners pay an annual municipal tax (IBI) of roughly 0.4% to 1.1% of the cadastral value, depending on the town. Wealth tax applies to net assets above a threshold that depends on the region, typically €700,000 plus up to €300,000 for your main home, at rates from 0.2% to 3.5%. Some regions reduce it to zero, but the national solidarity tax on fortunes above €3 million then applies instead.

FBAR and FATCA

US persons must file an FBAR when the combined value of their foreign financial accounts exceeds $10,000 at any point in the year. Under FATCA, Spanish banks report the accounts of American clients to the IRS, so opening a Spanish account also means more paperwork on the bank’s side.

How to avoid paying tax twice

• Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE) excludes part of your foreign earned income from US tax. The limit is indexed every year; for 2025 it was $130,000. Check the current figure on the IRS page.
• Foreign Tax Credit lets you credit tax paid in Spain against your US tax. With Spanish rates of 30% to 47%, the credit usually covers the US liability in full, and in practice it often works better than the FEIE.
• The Beckham regime gives a flat 24% instead of the progressive scale. For an American it has a downside: the less tax you pay in Spain, the less you can credit against US tax, and part of the saving may go to the IRS. Run both sides at once, with an adviser who knows both systems.
• Keep supporting documents for at least five years. The Spanish tax agency can review the last four years.

Modelo 720: reporting foreign assets

This is a purely Spanish obligation that Americans tend to learn about last. A Spanish tax resident must report assets held outside Spain by 31 March if any of three categories, accounts, securities or real estate, exceeds €50,000. With a US brokerage account, a house in Florida or a 401(k), you will almost always cross that line.

401(k), IRAs and US funds

For Spain, a 401(k) and an IRA are foreign assets and must be shown on Modelo 720. How contributions, growth and withdrawals are taxed depends on the type of account and on how the US–Spain treaty applies to it, so confirm the treatment of your own accounts with a tax adviser before you move.

A separate and more unpleasant issue is US mutual funds and ETFs. For Spain they are ordinary assets, but EU brokers do not sell them to EU residents, and US brokers often close accounts for clients with a European address. Sort this out with your broker before moving, not after a letter about a frozen account arrives.

Social Security

The US and Spain have a totalization agreement. It does two things: it prevents paying social security contributions to both systems at once, and it lets US and Spanish work credits be combined when calculating benefits. If you are sent to Spain by a US employer, you may be able to stay in the US system with a certificate of coverage; check eligibility with the Social Security Administration. If you become self-employed in Spain (autónomo), you pay into the Spanish system.

Banking: why a Spanish bank may say no to an American

American clients carry FATCA reporting obligations for the bank, and some Spanish banks — particularly the smaller and online-only ones — decline US citizens rather than take on the compliance. This is not personal and it is not a credit decision; it is a policy question, and the answer differs from bank to bank and sometimes from branch to branch.

What works in practice: open the account in person at a branch of one of the large banks, with your passport, NIE and padrón certificate, and say up front that you are a US citizen. Do not try to open remotely before you arrive — the account that matters for rent, utilities and social security is a resident account, and it needs the NIE. Keep a US account open too: a US-domiciled brokerage often closes positions for clients with a foreign address, so tell your broker before, not after, you change it.

Work and business in Spain

Entering the Spanish job market is possible, but it is the slowest path. Without Spanish, the choice narrows to international companies, and salaries look modest after American ones. The most realistic fields are software and data, English teaching and international schools, tourism and hospitality, and services for expats.

The average net salary in Spain is around €1,770 a month. That gap explains why most Americans never enter the local job market and keep a remote contract in the US.

Opening a business in Spain takes an NIE, a Spanish bank account, registration with the tax agency and, for a limited company, registration at the Commercial Registry. If you want to work for Spanish clients without the 20% cap, the usual path is to switch from the digital nomad visa to self-employment after a year; our services page lists the routes we handle.

Language

Spanish is not required for the visa, but it changes everyday life. In big cities and tourist areas many people speak English; in government offices, hospitals and public schools, almost no one does. Start learning in the US: even A2 by the time you move removes half of the practical problems of the first months, and you will need a certified DELE A2 for citizenship later anyway.

Four regions have a second official language: Catalan in Catalonia, Valencian in the Valencian Community, Basque in the Basque Country and Galician in Galicia. It is not a formality there: some official letters arrive only in that language, and public schools teach in it.

Health care

Spain’s public health system is available to residents who pay into Spanish Social Security and to their family members. It is free at the point of use except for prescriptions, doctors are well trained, but waiting lists for non-urgent procedures can be long and you rarely choose your doctor.

People buy private insurance for two different reasons. The first is quick access to a doctor, often in English. The second is the visa: the consulate requires a policy from a Spanish or Spain-authorized insurer, with cover equivalent to the public system, no co-payments and no waiting periods. US insurers’ policies and travel plans are not accepted, and this is one of the most common formal reasons for refusal. Large Spanish insurers include Sanitas, Adeslas, Asisa and DKV; prices depend mostly on age.

Medicare stops at the border

This is the single most expensive surprise for American retirees. Medicare does not cover care outside the United States — not Original Medicare, not Medicare Advantage, with only narrow exceptions near the Canadian and Mexican borders. Moving to Spain does not pause it or transfer it; it simply stops being useful while you are there.

What replaces it, in order of how most people arrive at it:

• Private Spanish insurance. Required for the visa anyway: full cover with a Spanish insurer, no co-payments, no waiting periods. A €30,000 travel policy is not accepted.
• The public system through work. If you register as autónomo or are employed in Spain, you and your dependants are in the public system through social security contributions.
• Convenio especial. After a year of registered residence, people outside the system can pay into the public one directly — a monthly fee that is modest by American standards and rises with age. It covers care in Spain and does not cover you back in the US.

If you keep Medicare Part B while living abroad you are paying a premium for coverage you cannot use — but dropping it and re-enrolling later carries a permanent late-enrolment penalty. That trade-off depends on whether you intend to return, and it is worth an hour with an adviser before you cancel anything.

Schools for children

Public schools are free for all children, including foreigners; registering your address is enough. Teaching is in Spanish, and in Catalonia, the Basque Country and Galicia largely in the regional language. Children under ten usually catch up within a school year; teenagers find it harder.

Many American families choose international schools. American schools such as the American School of Madrid, the American School of Barcelona and Benjamin Franklin International School in Barcelona follow a US curriculum and award a US diploma, which matters if you might return or apply to an American university. The trade-off is that children stay in an English-speaking bubble and learn Spanish more slowly. British schools with GCSE and A-levels, and schools with the International Baccalaureate, are the other option. Fees at international schools typically run from €8,000 to €20,000 a year.

What to watch in 2026

ETIAS for short trips

US citizens visiting the Schengen area for up to 90 days in any 180 will need ETIAS, an online travel authorization similar to the US ESTA. The EU expects to launch it in the last quarter of 2026; check the official travel-europe.europa.eu portal before any trip.

No investor route

Since April 2025 there is no residence for investment of any kind, neither property nor shares, bonds or deposits. Buying a home in Spain is now simply an investment; the right to live there has to come from another route.

Processing times for remote workers

Spain keeps competing for remote professionals, and it shows in the deadlines. An application filed with UGE from inside Spain is decided within 20 working days, and if the office does not answer in time, the application counts as approved. At consulates in the US, plan for a longer overall timeline because of appointment waits.

Is Spain right for you

Spain is likely a good fit if you work remotely or have independent income, value work-life balance over fast career growth, are ready to learn Spanish, and want a warm climate, safety and a slower pace for your family.

It is likely a poor fit if you are aiming for rapid career growth and US-level salaries, have no patience for bureaucracy, struggle with hot summers, or expect American-style service everywhere.

Final advice

1. Visit first. Spend at least a month in the city you are considering, ideally outside the holiday season.
2. Keep a year’s cushion. The first months go on deposits, furniture, insurance and translations.
3. Start with documents, not housing. The FBI check and the State Department apostille take longest, so launch them first.
4. Talk to your broker before moving. US brokers close accounts for clients with a European address, and EU brokers do not sell US ETFs.
5. Keep your US bank account. You will need it for taxes and for proving income at renewal.
6. Allow six months to settle in. The first half-year is the hardest for almost everyone.

Americans face a different set of rules, because the United States is not exempt from the renunciation and taxes its citizens wherever they live: see dual citizenship in Spain for Americans.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to be a US citizen to apply for a Spanish visa from the US?

No. Anyone legally residing in the US can apply at a Spanish consulate, whether on a green card, a work visa or a student visa. What matters is your state of residence, which decides the consulate that takes your application.

Can US citizens get the Spain digital nomad visa, and what are the requirements?

Yes. You need income of at least €2,849 a month from an employer or clients outside Spain, an employer or client that has existed for at least a year, a working relationship of at least three months, a degree or three years of experience in your field, health insurance with no co-payments and an apostilled FBI background check. You can apply at the Spanish consulate for your state or, during a visa-free stay, from inside Spain with the UGE.

How much do I need to earn for the digital nomad visa in 2026?

€2,849 a month for the main applicant, which is 200% of the Spanish minimum wage. A second family member adds 75% of the minimum wage and each further member 25%, so a family of three needs €4,274 a month. Income is shown with the contract, employer letters and three to six months of bank statements.

Can I keep working for a US company while living in Spain?

Yes, that is what the digital nomad visa is for. The company must have existed for at least a year and must allow you in writing to work from Spain. No more than 20% of your income may come from Spanish clients.

Will I pay tax in both the US and Spain?

You file in both countries, but in most cases you pay tax once. The US taxes citizens on worldwide income wherever they live, and the Foreign Tax Credit lets you credit the tax paid in Spain. At Spanish rates it usually covers the US liability in full.

Does Spain still have a golden visa?

No. Since 3 April 2025 every investor route has been abolished: property purchases from €500,000 as well as investments in shares, bonds or deposits. Applications filed before that date are still decided; new ones are not accepted.

How long does the visa process take from the US?

The consulate decides a digital nomad visa in about ten working days, but preparation sets the real timeline: the FBI check with a State Department apostille and sworn translations usually take six to ten weeks. From starting the documents to your flight, plan three to four months.

Where do I get the apostille for the FBI background check?

Only at the US Department of State in Washington. A Secretary of State apostilles state documents, while the FBI Identity History Summary is a federal document and needs a federal apostille. It is a separate procedure of two to three weeks.

Can I come as a tourist and apply from inside Spain?

Yes, applying from inside Spain is lawful while you are there legally, and it is often better: the permit is issued for three years straight away, while a consular visa gives one year. The downside is that you wait for the decision without leaving, and a refusal leaves less room to maneuver.

Can a US citizen get Spanish citizenship and keep US citizenship?

Citizenship by residence is granted after ten years of legal residence in Spain. When naturalizing, Spain requires a declaration renouncing your previous nationality, and the US is not among the exempted countries. The US State Department presumes that a citizen who acquires another nationality intends to keep US citizenship, and formal renunciation is done only at a US embassy or consulate. Discuss your situation with a lawyer before relying on this.

Where do most Americans live in Spain?

Madrid and Barcelona. In 2024 they took 4,030 and 3,036 of the 15,632 American arrivals, 45% of the whole flow, followed by Valencia with 1,522. Unlike the British, Americans choose the big cities rather than the coast: Málaga took 981 and Alicante 835. About 57,400 US citizens lived in Spain on 1 January 2025.

Which part of Spain is growing fastest for Americans?

Alicante and Valencia. American arrivals in Alicante rose 83% between 2021 and 2024 and in Valencia 79%, against 31% in Madrid. Both are places the British are leaving: UK arrivals in Alicante fell by half over the same years, so the English-speaking community there is being replaced rather than expanded.

Can I exchange my US driver’s licence in Spain?

No. Spain has no licence-exchange agreement with the United States, because licences there are issued by states rather than federally. You may drive on your US licence for six months after becoming a Spanish resident, and after that you need a Spanish licence, which means passing both the theory and the practical exam. The theory exam is officially available in English.

Can I bring my dog or cat from the US to Spain?

Yes. You need an ISO-standard microchip, a rabies vaccination given after the microchip was implanted, and an EU health certificate completed by a USDA-accredited vet and endorsed by USDA APHIS. The endorsement must happen within 10 days of your pet’s arrival in the EU, so the vet visit is scheduled backwards from your flight. Check the airline’s own rules before booking: they differ by cabin, hold and breed.

Will my Medicare cover me in Spain?

No. Neither Original Medicare nor Medicare Advantage covers care outside the United States, apart from narrow exceptions near the Canadian and Mexican borders. In Spain you use private insurance, which the visa requires anyway, or the public system through work, or the convenio especial after a year of registered residence. Dropping Medicare Part B to save the premium carries a permanent late-enrolment penalty if you return, so decide that with an adviser.

Can I ship my furniture to Spain without paying duty?

Yes, under the menaje de casa regime, if the goods have been in your use for at least six months, you hold a certificate of change of residence from the Spanish consulate in the US, and the shipment arrives within three months of you. Everything must be declared as household goods with a detailed inventory. In practice, furniture and electricals are often cheaper to re-buy in Spain than to ship.

Will a Spanish bank open an account for a US citizen?

The large banks will; some smaller and online-only ones decline US citizens because of FATCA reporting obligations. Open the account in person at a branch with your passport, NIE and padrón certificate, and say up front that you are a US citizen. Keep a US account open as well, and tell your US broker before you change your address: some close positions for clients resident abroad.

Which Spanish consulate do I apply to?

The one whose jurisdiction covers your state of legal residence, not the nearest one and not the one with the earliest appointment. Spain has consulates general in Washington, New York, Boston, Miami, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Juan. California is split between Los Angeles and San Francisco by county, so check your own consulate’s page before booking.

Sources

• US Department of State — apostilles on federal documents, including the FBI Identity History Summary.
• DGT — exchange of foreign driving licences and the list of countries with an agreement; the United States is not on it.
• USDA APHIS — pet travel from the United States to Spain.
• Spanish customs — duty and VAT relief for household goods (menaje de casa) on transfer of residence.
• Medicare.gov — coverage outside the United States.
• INE, Estadística de Migraciones y Cambios de Residencia — immigration from abroad by province and nationality, 2024. Table 69693.
• INE, Censo Anual de Población — foreign residents by nationality, 1 January 2025.
• Ley 14/2013, de 27 de septiembre, de apoyo a los emprendedores y su internacionalización — highly qualified professionals and remote workers. BOE-A-2013-10074.
• Ley 28/2022, de 21 de diciembre, de fomento del ecosistema de las empresas emergentes — the startup law that created the digital nomad route. BOE-A-2022-21739.
• Ley Orgánica 1/2025, de 2 de enero — abolition of residence for investment from 3 April 2025. BOE-A-2025-76.
• Real Decreto 126/2026, de 18 de febrero — Spanish minimum wage (SMI) for 2026. BOE-A-2026-3815.
• Código Civil, articles 22 and 23 — citizenship by residence and renunciation. BOE-A-1889-4763.
• Internal Revenue Service — Foreign Earned Income Exclusion. FinCEN — Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR).
• European Union — ETIAS information on travel-europe.europa.eu.

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Last updated September 2026. The information is current as of that date; laws and consular requirements change, so check official sources before you apply.