Non-Lucrative Visa Spain
Advisors in Spain handles the non-lucrative visa filing for non-EU citizens who want to live in Spain on passive income or savings.
The non-lucrative visa lets non-EU citizens live in Spain on passive income or savings without local employment, runs one year initially, renews for two-year periods, and requires private health insurance extranjeria, the Spanish immigration authority, accepts.
The route suits retirees, early retirees and anyone who can document enough income or savings to live here without a Spanish job, whether that income comes from a pension, investments, or work done entirely outside Spain. It authorizes no work of any kind inside Spain, for a Spanish employer, a foreign one, or your own business.
Every case starts with the form below. Describe your situation, and an immigration attorney who handles non-lucrative cases takes yours directly, in English or Spanish, whichever you are most comfortable in.
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Who the Non-Lucrative Visa Is For
- The non-lucrative visa suits retirees, remote-income earners and anyone who can prove enough passive income or savings to live in Spain without local employment; it does not authorize work inside Spain, for a Spanish or a foreign employer.
- It fits retirees, early retirees and anyone living on savings, a pension or investment income who does not need to work in Spain to support themselves.
- It does not fit anyone who wants to work locally, who needs a work visa instead, or anyone who wants to keep working remotely for a non-Spanish employer or their own foreign business; the digital nomad visa fits that case better.
- "Retirement visa" is a common search term for this same permit. Spain has no separate visa category reserved for retirees; the income-or-savings test applies whatever the source of the money.
Want to work in Spain, locally or for a foreign employer, or run your own business from here? You need a work visa or the digital nomad visa instead; see immigration lawyers in Spain for work-visa routes.
What's Included When You Work With an Attorney
Your attorney handles every step below, from the first document to the first renewal.
- Income and savings documentation review. The attorney checks your bank statements, pension letters or investment income against the current threshold before anything is filed, so a weak file gets strengthened before a consulate ever sees it. Have your attorney review your income documentation.
- Private health-insurance policy check. Your policy gets checked against the no-copay, no-waiting-period standard consulates require before it is submitted with the rest of the file.
- Consulate application filing. The attorney files the application at the consulate covering your home jurisdiction and represents you through any request for further documents. Have your attorney file this for you.
- Post-arrival TIE card activation and empadronamiento. Once the visa is approved, the attorney handles booking the TIE appointment and registering your address at the local ayuntamiento. Ask about post-arrival registration.
- Your first renewal, after year one. The initial visa runs one year; the attorney handles the renewal filing before it expires, carrying your case into the two-year renewal period. Have your attorney handle your renewal.
- A Spanish bank account, opened at no extra cost. Relocators inside an attorney 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.
Non-Lucrative Visa Requirements
- Income or savings
- The main applicant has to show income or savings equal to 400% of Spain's IPREM index, the public income indicator Spanish administrations use to set thresholds, plus 100% of the IPREM for each dependent, according to Spain's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The IPREM stands at €600 a month for 2026, which puts the main applicant's threshold at €2,400 a month, or €28,800 a year, and adds €600 a month, or €7,200 a year, for each dependent. Spain's US consulates ask for 12 months of bank statements showing a stable balance at or above that level.
- Private health insurance
- The policy has to come from an insurer authorized to operate in Spain and carry no co-payments, no waiting periods and no coverage limits, covering the same risks as Spain's public health system, per the same Ministry of Foreign Affairs guidance. See expat health insurance in Spain for what a compliant policy looks like.
- Criminal record certificate
- A certificate from every country you have lived in over the last 5 years, apostilled and sworn-translated into Spanish where the consulate requires it.
- Medical certificate
- A doctor's certificate stating that you carry no disease with serious public-health consequences under the 2005 International Health Regulations, issued in the three months before the visa application, per the same Ministry of Foreign Affairs guidance.
- Proof of accommodation
- The consulate covering your jurisdiction decides what proves where you will live. Spain's US consulates ask for a sworn statement giving the address you will occupy for at least your first three months, alongside a written undertaking not to work while you are resident in Spain. Requirements are set nationally, and each consulate applies its own version of the document list, so the exact paperwork your attorney asks for depends on where you file.
How the Process Works
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You submit the qualification form
A few questions cover your situation and timeline. Answering them submits a service request to Advisors in Spain; nothing goes to a consulate yet.
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Your attorney takes your case
An attorney who handles non-lucrative applications for your jurisdiction takes your case directly.
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Documents get collected and reviewed
Income evidence, the criminal record certificate and the health-insurance policy are checked against the current threshold and the no-copay standard before anything is filed.
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The attorney files your consulate application
Your application goes in at the Spanish consulate covering your home jurisdiction, with an interview where the consulate requires one.
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You get your approval and collect the visa
Once the residence authorization is approved, the consulate issues the visa itself, valid for 365 days per Spain's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and you collect it in person or by post.
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You travel to Spain and activate your TIE
You must request your TIE appointment within one month of entering Spain, and the attorney handles booking it and the empadronamiento registration alongside it.
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Your first renewal, after year one
The attorney files the renewal before the initial one-year visa expires, carrying you into the first two-year renewal period set by article 64 of the Reglamento de Extranjeria, the immigration regulation at Real Decreto 1155/2024.
Timing: What to Expect and What Causes Delays
Two one-month decision periods, plus the wait for a consulate appointment
Spain's immigration office has one month to rule on the residence authorization once the consulate passes your file to it, and silence at the end of that month counts as a refusal, under article 63 of Real Decreto 1155/2024. The consulate then has one month, counted from the day after it receives the favorable ruling, to decide on the visa itself, per Spain's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
What delays it
Incomplete or unclear income documentation is the most common holdup, followed by a health-insurance policy that fails the no-copay, no-waiting-period standard, and a criminal record certificate that reaches the consulate unapostilled or untranslated. Consulate appointment backlogs add further delay on top of the legal decision periods.
What to prepare now
Gather 12 months of bank statements or pension evidence, request your criminal record certificate and apostille early, and confirm your health-insurance policy meets the no-copay standard before the qualification form goes in.
Legal and Tax Considerations Alongside Your Residency
Spanish tax residency depends on time spent in the country, not on which visa you hold. Spend more than 183 days in a calendar year in Spain and the Agencia Tributaria treats you as tax resident, and that status change follows automatically once the threshold is crossed; most non-lucrative visa holders cross it in their first year, since the visa itself expects you to live in Spain.
The visa’s own no-work condition also keeps one popular tax regime off the table. Spain’s Beckham Law special tax regime is built for people who move to Spain because of an employment contract, a company directorship, or a short list of qualifying visas; a non-lucrative applicant files under none of those categories, so the regime does not apply to this route. Higher-net-worth applicants should raise wealth-tax exposure separately with their attorney once they know their numbers, since it depends on assets held, not on the visa itself.
The attorney handling your case flags which of these questions apply to your case during the initial consultation, before any filing starts.
Visa categories, income thresholds and the sourced timing figures on this page are current as of August 20, 2026, and are reviewed every six months against BOE, extranjeria and consulate guidance.
Your timeline affects which appointment slots your attorney can still reach
Tell us when you need this resolved, and it is flagged when we review your enquiry.
Common questions
How much income or savings do I need for the non-lucrative visa?
Is it hard to get a non-lucrative visa for Spain?
Can I apply for a non-lucrative visa from the USA?
Do I need private health insurance for the non-lucrative visa?
Can I work in Spain on a non-lucrative visa?
Do I need an attorney to apply for the non-lucrative visa?
Is the non-lucrative visa the same as the retirement visa?
Can a solicitor in the UK help with a Spanish non-lucrative visa application?
Can I bring my spouse and children on the non-lucrative visa?
Why Work With Advisors in Spain
The attorney handling your case runs your filing directly, from the first document to your first renewal.
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Every attorney meets the same standard before taking a case.
We do not take on a case we cannot handle well. Every attorney meets the same standard before taking a case, and when your case is not something we handle, we tell you so plainly.
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Every attorney works in English or Spanish.
You explain your case once, in English or Spanish, to the attorney handling the consulate filing.
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Coordinated support for related matters.
The consulate filing, the tax question it raises, and the renewal that follows: we coordinate related requirements, with responsibility and scope agreed for each service.
Contact us
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We read every request ourselves, assess the requirements and reply by email with the appropriate next steps.
We review your enquiry today. If you have not heard back within two working days, write to us and we chase it the same day.