Two years after a refusal, a family of three — two adults and a child — was granted the digital nomad permit. The previous application had been handled by an unknown company; this time the package was assembled from scratch, and documents that contradicted the grounds were removed. The legal review period of 20 working days expired on 6 August, and from then on the application was deemed approved. But the written decision arrived only on 14 September, and until then the family could neither rent a home long-term nor book a fingerprint appointment.
- 2 years
- between the refusal and the new application
- for the same digital nomad permit; the previous application was handled by an unknown company
- 107 days
- of preparation before filing
- from 24 March to 9 July 2026: contract, translations, Georgian documents
- 20 working days
- legal review period
- expired on 6 August; from 7 August the application is deemed approved
- 47 working days
- from filing to the written decision
- filed on 9 July, three decisions arrived on 14 September
What they came with
The family had lived in Georgia for four years. The main applicant was registered there as a sole trader and provided creative services to a client in the United States. Two years earlier they had already applied for the digital nomad visa through an unknown company and been refused.
They came to us at the end of March, wanting to move before the start of the school year. The digital nomad visa allowed all three to file in one package from within Spain and to receive a residence permit for up to three years straight away. They decided to apply for it a second time, with the package assembled from scratch.
How the timeline ran
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01
Assessment
End of March. Checked whether the applicant's work could be framed as remote services for a foreign client, calculated the income threshold for a family of three and drew up a document list for each person.
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02
Contract and financial documents
April. The old documents described work done by hand and sent by post. The contract was rewritten: it now covers remote professional services for a term of three years. The client's letter was updated, and monthly statements of work were attached to the invoices for the last three months.
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03
Georgian documents and translations
May–June. Criminal record certificates, the sole trader certificate and tax statements were obtained in Georgia with an apostille. We asked the Spanish Embassy in Tbilisi how to handle the translation and chose an arrangement with a margin of safety — more on that below.
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04
Client documents
End of June. The client sent a fresh certificate that the organisation is active. The apostille on it took about a month in the United States, and by 1 July the package was ready.
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05
Entry
6 July. The family flew into Madrid. No entry stamps were put in at the border, and the police refused to process a declaration of entry, so the date of entry was evidenced with boarding passes.
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06
Filing
9 July. Three applications were filed with the UGE. The main applicant's documents did not fit into a single upload, so the rest were added to the same file, which produced two receipts.
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07
Deadline expired
6 August was the twentieth working day. On 7 August a certificate of positive administrative silence was requested from the authority.
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08
Waiting for the decision
August–early September. The certificate never came. Without a decision it was impossible to book fingerprints through the online system, and landlords would not agree to a long-term lease. On 9 September the applicant wrote to the head of the UGE.
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09
Decision
14 September. Three favourable decisions arrived. Next: a digital certificate, registration as autónomo and a fingerprint appointment.
What did not go to plan
What actually delayed or complicated the process, and what we did about it.
A previous refusal for the same visa
The previous application was prepared by an unknown company and was refused. A refusal does not bar you from applying for the same visa again, but the new package did not mention it: the cover letter was written in neutral terms, with no reference to the earlier application, and documents that might raise questions were prepared again. How a refusal, a new application and an appeal work is covered in the article residence permit refusal in Spain.
The documents described the wrong work
For the nomad visa the work must be done remotely. The client's letter left over from the previous application spoke plainly of physical goods sent by post. That contradicted the grounds and may have been one of the reasons for the earlier refusal. The contract, the client's letter and the invoice descriptions were rewritten for remote services, and payment was described as a fee under a service agreement rather than a salary. The contract term is three years: if the contract is shorter, the permit may be granted only for its term.
No sworn translators from Georgian
Spain has no MAEC sworn translators from Georgian, so the usual route — a sworn translation in Spain — is closed. The Spanish Embassy in Tbilisi replied that the document is valid with an apostille. The documents were prepared with a margin of safety: the Georgian original with an apostille and a translation into Spanish, plus an English version with an apostille and a sworn translation from English into Spanish. The application included the embassy's reply and a letter from the Barcelona Bar Association stating that a sworn translation from Georgian cannot be made in Spain.
Approved, but nothing on paper
By law, an application with no decision within 20 working days is deemed approved, and the authority must issue a certificate of silence within 15 days of the request. In practice the certificate did not come, and for five weeks the family lived with an approval they had no way to prove: they could rent a home only short-term, could not book fingerprints and could not get online access to public services either. The written decision arrived on 14 September.
What the costs were made of
| Item | Amount | Paid to |
|---|---|---|
| Our work | by agreement | to us; the amount is fixed before the work starts |
| Application fee | €73.26 per person | to the state; the family had three applicants |
| Residence card fee | €16.08 per person | to the state; paid after approval, before fingerprints |
| Apostilles in Georgia and the United States | at the official rate | to third parties — public authorities in Georgia and the United States |
| Sworn translations | at the translator's rate | to a third party; where a sworn translation was not required, an ordinary one was used |
State fees and third-party services cost the same whoever you work with. State fee rates are given as of the filing date and are subject to review.
What we did
- Reviewed the previous refusal and decided to apply for the nomad visa again as a family
- Rewrote the contract, the client's letter and the service description for remote work
- Found a way to translate the Georgian documents and confirmed it with the Spanish Embassy
- Wrote a neutral cover letter for the UGE
- Prepared the applicant's declarations, including the undertaking to register with social security
- Filed three applications and added the documents that did not fit into a single upload
- Requested a certificate of positive silence the day after the deadline expired
- Prepared the letter to the head of the UGE
- Wrote step-by-step instructions on obtaining a digital certificate and registering as autónomo
What the service did not cover
The previous digital nomad application was handled by an unknown company and was not part of our work. Registration as autónomo after approval is a separate service.
Administrative silence is approval by law, but not a document in your hands. We cannot make the authority issue a certificate or a decision on time. In this file the decision came soon after the letter to the head of the UGE, but in other files such letters have sped nothing up. If you need housing and a school by a particular date, allow two months after filing rather than 20 working days.
Questions we had to answer
Can you apply for the nomad visa again after a refusal?
Yes. A refusal does not bar a new application on the same grounds. What matters is understanding why you were refused, assembling the package from scratch and leaving out any documents that contradict the visa requirements.
What does approval by administrative silence mean?
If the authority has not issued a decision within 20 working days of filing, the application is deemed approved. But there is no document to show for it: you need to request a certificate of silence or wait for the written decision, and without paperwork it is hard to rent a home or book fingerprints.
How do you translate Georgian documents for Spain?
There are no sworn translators from Georgian in Spain. There are two workable options: a translation into Spanish with an apostille in Georgia, or an English version of the document with a sworn translation from English. It is safer to include with the application an explanation of why that translation was chosen.
What if no entry stamp was put in at the border?
Keep your boarding passes and tickets: they evidence the date of entry. In this file they were enough.
When should you register as autónomo after approval?
Straight after the decision, without waiting for the card. First you need a digital certificate, then registration with the tax office and social security as a single process.
Sources
The laws and official documents we relied on. Links go to the primary sources, so you can check them yourself.
- Ley 14/2013, de 27 de septiembre, de apoyo a los emprendedores y su internacionalización Art. 74 ter — requirements for remote work; art. 76.1 — 20-day review period, and with no decision the application is deemed approved
- Ley 39/2015, de 1 de octubre, del Procedimiento Administrativo Común Art. 24.4 — the certificate of silence is issued within 15 days of the request; art. 30.2 — Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays are excluded from periods