Digital nomad visa to Spain

The Digital nomad visa is a reliable immigration route to Spain for foreign professionals who work remotely.

The professional activities of digital nomads are either directly or indirectly related to modern digital technologies, and the fact that they are not tied to a specific workplace makes them easy to relocate.

The term “digital nomad” is precisely defined in Spanish Law 14/2013 on ntrepreneurs (Ley de Emprendedores). Recent amendments to this law have significantly simplified the process of obtaining a Digital nomad visa. With the qualified assistance of our company’s specialists, you will not only obtain a residence permit within a reasonable time frame, but also enjoy all the benefits of your immigration status.

Vasily Kluev

Client Service Director, Immigration Adviser (IAA)

The Digital nomad visa allows you to work remotely from a prosperous country with a mild climate. Digital nomads can bring their families to Spain, take advantage of preferential tax treatment, travel freely to other European countries, and apply for permanent residence and citizenship.

Who is the Spanish Digital nomad visa for?

The Spanish immigration authorities distinguish between three categories of applicants:

1. Employees of foreign companies working remotely.
2. Freelancers.
3. Online business owners.

The following requirements apply to representatives of these categories:

• The company employing the remote employee must have been in existence for at least one year at the time of visa application. The employment relationship between the company and the employee must have lasted for more than three months.
• A similar requirement applies to the company of an entrepreneur conducting business online.
• 20% of the income of freelancers and online business owners may come from Spanish sources.

Requirements of the Spanish immigration programme for digital nomads

General requirements

1. The applicant must be over 18 years of age.
2. The visa applicant must have no criminal record.
3. A medical certificate must be provided to confirm that the applicant does not have any dangerous infectious diseases.
4. Before submitting an application, the applicant must obtain a NIE – foreign identification number. The NIE can be obtained by contacting the Spanish consulate or directly from the Spanish immigration service, depending on where the applicant is located at the time.

Professional requirements

1. Documentary evidence of remote professional activity:
   • if the application is submitted by an employee – an employment contract with a foreign company that has been operating for more than 1 year;
   • if the application is submitted by a self-employed person, valid contracts with clients concluded more than 3 months prior to submitting the visa application.
2. The applicant must confirm that they have a relevant higher education degree. A university diploma with a bachelor’s or master’s degree, or a diploma from a college or prestigious business school, will serve as proof.
3. If the applicant does not have the appropriate education, extensive work experience for more than 3 years in their professional field can serve as proof of competence.

Financial requirements

1. The applicant must have sufficient funds available to pay the registration fee and purchase medical insurance that covers the cost of medical care in Spain.
2. Proof of income

Digital nomads must prove that they earn at least 200% of the minimum wage set by the Spanish government, abbreviated as SMI from the Spanish Salario Mínimo Interprofesional.

The minimum amount of acceptable monthly income will increase if the digital nomad travels to Spain with their family. The increase will be:

• 75% of the SMI for the first dependent listed in the application;
• 25% for each additional relative.

At the beginning of 2026, the SMI in Spain is €1,184 .

• To be eligible for a visa to Spain, a digital nomad must earn ≥ 200% of the SMI = €2,368 per month.
• The minimum monthly income will increase by 75% SMI = €888 if he adds his spouse to his application.
• A visa for a third dependent will increase the minimum income amount by 25% SMI, which corresponds to an additional €296 per month.

Minimum income for immigration to Spain on a Digital nomad visa

Spanish residence permit under the Digital nomad visa for family members

A digital nomad can include the following in their visa application:

1. Wife, husband or partner.
2. Minor children.
3. Financially dependent children over the age of 18.
4. Ascendants – parents, grandparents if they are part of the digital nomad’s family and are also dependent on them.

Adding dependents to the application inevitably increases the minimum monthly income that the main applicant for a Digital nomad visa must prove. The calculation of the minimum income for digital nomads with families is given in the previous section of the article.

After moving to Spain on a dependent family member visa, adult relatives of a digital nomad can find employment and engage in business activities.

What documents should a digital nomad prepare?

1. Visa application form – a completed 6-page questionnaire signed by the applicant.
2. Receipt for payment of the registration fee.
3. Passports with a validity period of less than 1 year and passports issued more than 10 years ago are not accepted.
4. Photo of the applicant.
5. Contract with a company registered abroad or valid contracts with clients. The documents must confirm that the applicant’s employment or professional relationship with these companies has lasted for more than 3 months.
6. Documents from the employing company or client company, including the date of registration, which must be more than 1 year old.
   For example, a certificate from the Commercial register containing information about the date of establishment of the enterprise and its field of activity.
7. Proof of qualifications – a copy of a university degree in a relevant field or documents confirming professional experience of more than 3 years.
8. Proof of income for digital nomads – contracts, invoices, bank statements and tax returns.
9. NIE
10. Medical insurance covering all medical expenses in Spain for 1 year.
11. International medical certificate.
12. Police certificate of no criminal record for the last 2 years. Additionally, the applicant submits a standard form confirming that they have not been subject to criminal prosecution in the 5 years prior to submitting the application.

If a digital nomad is applying for a visa to Spain with their family, they must prepare a comprehensive list of documents confirming their relationship, ties, and financial dependence on the applicant.

Documents in a foreign language from government agencies must be apostilled and additionally accompanied by a sworn translation into Spanish.

A sworn translation is an official translation of a foreign document for use in Spain, performed by a highly qualified translator licensed by the Spanish government. Imperial & Legal orders Spanish translations of official documents for its clients only from sworn translators.

2 options for digital nomads to immigrate to Spain

1. Visa application submitted abroad through the Spanish consulate
   In this case, the consulate will issue the digital nomad with a 1-year entry visa.
   Upon arrival in Spain on a visa, the foreign specialist rents accommodation, registers their residence, collects documents a second time and applies for a three-year residence card.
   The advantage of this method is that your digital nomad visa will be valid for one year. You will not need to visit Spain several times during the residence permit application process.
   The disadvantage is that the procedure for obtaining a Spanish residence card will take more than five months. You will have to collect the supporting documents twice during the legalisation process.
2. Application for a residence card submitted by a digital nomad from Spain
   First, you travel to the Kingdom of Spain on a Schengen visa (not necessarily a Spanish one). Then, from Spain, you submit your application and upload a package of documents online to the UGE-CE website, a government organisation whose remit includes business immigration issues.
   A decision on your application will be made within 20 days. If you do not receive a response from the immigration authorities within this period, it will be interpreted as a “silent approval” in favour of the applicant.
   Once you have received approval from the UGE-CE, our specialist will help you make an appointment with the immigration department of the police and travel to Spain again. The appointment at the immigration department lasts 15-20 minutes, during which time you hand over the originals of your documents, confirm your identity and submit a photo and fingerprints for your biometric resident card, which you can collect in 2-3 weeks.

Advantages of this option:

• you only need to collect supporting documents for the application once;
• you apply for a resident card immediately;
• the process of obtaining a residence permit is reduced to 3 months.

Disadvantages of this method:

• you will need a Schengen visa;
• You will have to visit Spain several times before you are issued with a residence card.

Residence permit renewal

When the first resident card expires, digital nomads can extend their residence permit in Spain for another 2 years.

Foreign specialists who have moved to Spain on a Digital nomad visa can renew their residence card an unlimited number of times if they comply with the requirements for their immigration category.

Obtaining permanent residence

As a rule, a permanent residence card is issued after 5 years of residence in Spain. However, not every digital nomad is eligible for a permanent residence permit. The Spanish immigration authorities only grant permanent residence to applicants who:

• 5 years of continuous residence in Spain.

Short trips abroad are permitted: up to 6 months per year, but no more than 10 months in total over 5 years.

• have a sufficient command of the Spanish language.

Obtaining Spanish citizenship

After living in Spain for 10 years, expats can apply for naturalisation.

A pleasant exception to this rule are immigrants from Portugal, Andorra, Equatorial Guinea, the Philippines and Latin American countries, as well as Sephardic Jews. They are given the opportunity to apply for Spanish citizenship after 2 years of residence in the country.

Taxes and social security contributions in Spain

Until relatively recently, expats viewed the Spanish Digital nomad visa as a way to obtain a convenient European residence permit without the burdensome obligations associated with permanent residence in the country and a change of tax residence.

Now, the digital nomad visa is increasingly referred to as a residence visa. If you spend more than 183 days a year in Spain, you automatically become a tax resident.

Spanish income tax is calculated on a progressive scale, reaching 30%. Fortunately, digital nomads have the opportunity to take advantage of a preferential tax regime, better known as the “Beckham Law”.

What is the “Beckham Law”?

The Beckham Law establishes a favourable tax regime for impatriates – foreign citizens who have come to the homeland of Cervantes and Salvador Dali for work.

By applying for the Beckham Law tax regime, you will receive a fixed tax rate of 24% on the portion of your income that comes from your professional activities, as long as your earnings do not exceed €600,000.

If a Digital Nomad visa holder abroad has income from passive sources such as dividends, capital gains and interest on bank deposits, tax will be levied at a progressive rate of 19-26%.

This favourable tax regime is available to impatriates in the year of their move, plus the following 5 tax years. Only expats who have not been tax residents of Spain for the previous 10 years are eligible for tax benefits under the Beckham Law.

Social security

The Spanish authorities require that even remote digital nomads be socially protected. Therefore, there are several options for immigrants to interact with the social security system:

• For employees of foreign companies, either the employer registers with the Spanish Seguridad Social system and pays contributions, or the employee provides a certificate of coverage of A1 or equivalent from the employer’s country.
• For freelancers, the standard solution is to register with the Spanish autónomos regime RETA / Régimen de Trabajadores Autónomos de la Seguridad Social española and pay contributions – initially at a reduced rate, and from the second year onwards – depending on the declared income.

Algorithm for obtaining a residence permit in Spain for a digital nomad

The renewal application can be submitted in advance – 60 days before the expiry date of your current residence card.

How Imperial & Legal helps digital nomads move to Spain

Our specialists minimise the client’s involvement in the process of obtaining a Spanish visa. By contacting us, you will save time, avoid bureaucratic mistakes and receive a ready-made solution within a reasonable time frame.

Our consultants provide digital nomads with as much useful information as possible, without omissions. No matter how sensitive the issue, from the tax implications of long-term residence in Spain to the cost of medical insurance for elderly relatives.

From the initial consultation to the submission of documents for Spanish citizenship, you will find our specialists to be reliable assistants.

After moving to Spain, you can always count on qualified support from Imperial & Legal, as the range of tasks handled by our staff is not limited to visa support. We advise on tax optimisation, buying and renting property, asset restructuring, registering new businesses and acquiring existing companies.

If you work remotely and have been thinking about moving to Europe for a long time but don’t know how to take the first step in this direction, contact our company’s consultants!