Digital Nomad Visa Spain
Spain's digital nomad visa lets remote employees and freelancers with mostly foreign clients live and work from Spain.
The 2023 Startups Law created the visa for employees of non-Spanish companies and freelancers who keep at least 80% of their work with clients outside Spain; it grants a renewable residence permit, filed from inside Spain or through a consulate abroad.
You qualify by working remotely for a company based outside Spain, or by freelancing for clients based mostly outside Spain. Advisors in Spain handles each qualifying case: an immigration lawyer reviews eligibility, files the case with Spain's immigration authority and handles the residency paperwork that follows approval.
The qualification form below starts your case, and the lawyer handling it covers both application routes, filing from inside Spain and filing through a consulate abroad.
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Who Qualifies for Spain's Digital Nomad Visa
- You qualify for Spain's digital nomad visa if you work remotely for a non-Spanish employer or freelance with clients mostly outside Spain. A lawyer helps when income mixes employment and freelance work, dependents are involved, or an earlier application was refused.
- The non-lucrative visa bars paid work and requires only passive income such as pensions or investments; this visa is built around active remote work or freelance income, which is the main thing that separates the two routes.
- A standard work visa needs a Spain-based employer and a local job offer, while the digital nomad visa is built for an employer or clients based outside Spain, so the direction of the paperwork runs the opposite way.
- A lawyer earns their fee back on a case that mixes employment and freelance income, adds family members to the application, or refiles after an earlier refusal. A single freelancer with one clear client base, no dependents and a clean record can often manage a straightforward filing alone.
A straightforward case with one employer or one main client, no dependents and no prior refusal can often be filed directly with UGE-CE or the nearest consulate without a lawyer. See our guide on getting an NIE for the paperwork that follows approval either way.
What's Included When You Work With an Immigration Lawyer
The lawyer handles every step below directly, from eligibility review to the paperwork that follows approval.
- Eligibility and income-documentation review. The lawyer checks that your route, employee or freelancer, actually clears the income, work-relationship and document bar before anything is filed, and flags gaps in your paperwork early.
- Application filing. Your lawyer files the case: through UGE-CE if you are applying from inside Spain, or through the nearest consulate if you are applying from abroad. Have the lawyer file your UGE-CE application.
- Family-member applications. A spouse or registered partner, dependent children and dependent parents can be added to the case, each with their own document set. Have a lawyer handle your family members' applications.
- Post-approval registration: NIE, TIE and empadronamiento. The lawyer helps you obtain your NIE, apply for your TIE card, and register your address through empadronamiento once the case is approved. Every approved case needs those three steps next.
- Sworn translations and apostille coordination. Your criminal record certificate and any other foreign document get routed to a MAEC-listed sworn translator and, where the receiving office asks for one, an apostille, so nothing gets rejected at the counter for a missing stamp. See the sworn translation guide and the apostille guide.
- A Spanish bank account, opened at no extra cost. Applicants inside a lawyer engagement get bank-account assistance bundled in for free; it is not a separate line item. Ask about opening an account as part of your case.
Income, Work and Document Requirements
- Employee route: remote work for a non-Spanish company
- Proof of an ongoing employment relationship of at least three months with a company established outside Spain, plus the company's written permission to work remotely from Spain, per the criteria published by Spain's consulates.
- Freelancer route: clients mostly outside Spain
- Work for companies based in Spain cannot exceed 20% of your total professional activity, per Article 74 bis of Ley 14/2013 as amended and confirmed by Spain's own investor and entrepreneur residency portal. The measure is the share of your work, not the share of your billing.
- Minimum income: 200% of Spain's minimum wage (SMI)
- The 2026 SMI is €17,094 a year under Real Decreto 126/2026, so the main applicant shows 200% of it: €34,188 a year, about €2,849 a month. A first family member adds 75% (€12,820.50 a year) and each further dependent adds 25% (€4,273.50). Spain's consulates set the threshold against the annual SMI, so the euro figure moves each time the SMI does.
- Qualifications, and your employer's track record
- A degree from a recognized university or business school, or at least three years of relevant professional experience. The foreign company or clients you work for need at least one year of continuous, genuine activity behind them.
- Health insurance with full coverage
- A public or private policy from an insurer authorized to operate in Spain, active for the whole permit period, with no co-payments and no coverage limit; travel insurance does not qualify.
- Criminal record certificate, apostilled
- A certificate from every country you lived in over the last two years, issued within the last three months and apostilled, plus a signed declaration covering the last five years.
How the Process Works
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You submit the qualification form
A few questions cover your route and timeline. Answering them submits a service request to Advisors in Spain; nothing goes to UGE-CE or a consulate yet.
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An immigration lawyer takes your case
The lawyer handling your digital nomad visa case prepares the filing and replies to you directly throughout.
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Your lawyer reviews eligibility and documents
The lawyer checks your income, work relationship and paperwork against the requirements before anything is filed, and flags gaps early.
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Your lawyer files your application
Filing runs through UGE-CE if you apply from inside Spain, which grants a residence permit valid for three years, or through the nearest consulate if you apply from abroad, which issues a visa valid for up to one year, per Ley 14/2013's teleworker provisions.
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You get a decision
UGE-CE must resolve a complete filing within 20 working days; an application left unanswered after that period is approved by positive administrative silence. Consulate processing times are not published as a fixed range, so ask the specific consulate for a current estimate.
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You collect your card and register
The lawyer helps you complete the post-approval steps once the decision lands: your NIE, your TIE card, and empadronamiento at the local town hall.
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You renew before it expires
The UGE-CE residence permit renews for two-year periods as long as the conditions that qualified you still hold; a consulate visa holder can apply for the UGE-CE residence permit from inside Spain before the visa runs out.
Timing: What to Expect and What Causes Delays
20 working days for a UGE-CE filing
The statutory resolution period for a residence permit filed with UGE-CE from inside Spain, with the application approved by positive administrative silence if that deadline passes unanswered. Consulate visa processing time is not published as a fixed range and depends on the specific consulate; ask for a current estimate before filing.
What delays it
Incomplete income documentation, a criminal record certificate filed without its apostille, and consulate appointment backlogs each push a case back further. A UGE-CE filing missing the employer's or client's proof of one year of continuous activity is a common reason for a request for further documents.
What to prepare now
Gather your passport, your apostilled criminal record certificate, your income documentation and your health insurance policy before the qualification form goes in, and start any sworn translation early since MAEC-listed translators book up around visa season.
Tax Considerations Once You're Working From Spain
Spanish tax residency turns on time spent in the country, not on the visa held. Spend more than 183 days in a calendar year in Spain and the Agencia Tributaria treats you as tax resident, whatever residence permit you carry, and that status follows automatically once the threshold is crossed.
Digital nomad visa holders who meet the criteria may be able to elect Spain’s special tax regime for inbound workers, under Article 93 of the Ley del IRPF as extended to remote workers by the 2023 Startups Law. The flat rate and the income cap that come with that election sit in the digital nomad visa tax guide, which carries the current figures; your lawyer confirms which of them apply to your own numbers.
A case that shifts toward broader immigration and residency work, the non-lucrative visa, or a route toward Spanish citizenship raises the same tax question again, under different rules each time. The lawyer handling your case flags which of these apply to you during the initial consultation, before any filing starts. The visa and immigration hub covers every related route Advisors in Spain handles.
Visa categories, deadlines and the sourced figures on this page are current as of August 20, 2026, and are reviewed every six months against BOE, extranjeria and consulate guidance.
We handle both filing channels, UGE-CE and consulate
Tell us whether you're filing from inside Spain through UGE-CE or from abroad through a consulate, and the lawyer on your case handles it directly.
Common questions
Do I need an immigration attorney or adviser to apply for the digital nomad visa?
How much money do I need for a digital nomad visa in Spain?
How hard is it to get Spain's digital nomad visa?
How long does the digital nomad visa last, and can I renew it?
What's the difference between the digital nomad visa and the non-lucrative visa?
Can I bring my family on a digital nomad visa?
What happens after I submit the qualification form?
Can a UK solicitor help with a Spain digital nomad visa application?
Why Work With Advisors in Spain
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Every immigration lawyer meets the same standard before taking a case.
We do not take on a case we cannot handle well, and every immigration lawyer on the team meets the same standard before they start work. We say so plainly if your case is not something we handle.
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Every immigration lawyer works in English or Spanish.
You explain your case once, in English or Spanish, to the lawyer handling it directly.
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Coordinated support for related matters.
Immigration, the tax questions your visa route raises, and whatever follows: we coordinate related requirements, with responsibility and scope agreed for each service.
Contact us
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