Spain Digital Nomad Visa: A Perfect Solution For Remote Workers

Eligibility

You can apply for Spain’s digital nomad visa (officially the visado de teletrabajo de carácter internacional) if you work remotely for a company or clients based outside Spain. You need one of these:

• A university degree or a recognized professional qualification, or
• At least 3 years of relevant professional experience

If you’re an employee, you need to show a working relationship of at least 3 months with your current employer, and that employer needs to have been operating for at least 1 year. If you’re self-employed, you need at least 1 year of continuous freelance activity, and contracts showing your clients are mostly outside Spain.

No more than 20% of your income can come from Spanish companies. The rest has to come from abroad. This is the rule that separates a digital nomad visa from a standard Spanish work visa.

You also need a clean criminal record from every country you’ve lived in over the past 5 years, and health insurance that covers you in Spain with no copayments.

Income requirement

For 2026, the main applicant must show a monthly income of at least €2,849 (€34,188 a year). This figure comes from the official rule that requires 200% of Spain’s SMI (Salario Mínimo Interprofesional, the national minimum wage), which was set at €1,221 a month, or €17,094 a year over 14 payments, by Royal Decree 126/2026.

The 200% requirement itself is stated on Spain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs consular pages. The euro figure changes every year because the SMI changes every year, so a threshold you read from 2023 or 2024 is no longer accurate.

You can prove this income with payslips, invoices, contracts, or 3 to 6 months of bank statements showing the money landing in your account.

Extra income for family members

If you’re bringing family, the threshold goes up:

• Spouse or partner: add 75% of the SMI, which is €1,068 a month (€12,820.50 a year)
• Each additional dependant, such as a child: add 25% of the SMI, which is €356 a month (€4,273.50 a year)

So a couple needs about €3,917 a month combined, and a family of four (couple plus two children) needs around €4,629 a month.

Required documents

The exact checklist varies slightly by consulate, but you’ll generally need:

• Valid passport, with at least a year of validity remaining and 2 blank pages
• Completed visa application form (EX-01)
• Passport-style photo
• Employer letter confirming your remote role, your salary, and permission to work from Spain, or client contracts if you’re self-employed
• Proof of your working relationship going back at least 3 months (employees) or your business’s history going back at least 1 year (self-employed)
• Proof of income: payslips, invoices, tax returns, bank statements
• Apostilled criminal record certificate covering the past 5 years
• Private health insurance with full coverage in Spain and no copayments
• Proof of accommodation in Spain
• Proof of your qualification or 3 years of experience
• Certified Spanish translations of any document not already in Spanish

If you’re bringing family, add marriage or birth certificates showing your relationship to them, also apostilled and translated.

How to apply

From your home country

Apply at the Spanish consulate that covers where you live. Book an appointment, submit your documents in person, and pay the visa fee. The legal processing time is 10 working days, though in practice it often takes 3 to 6 weeks. Once approved, you get a visa valid for 1 year. After you arrive in Spain, you register at your local town hall (empadronamiento) and then apply for your TIE, the physical foreigner ID card.

From inside Spain

If you’re already in Spain on a tourist stay or visa-free entry, you can apply directly for the residence authorization through the UGE-CE (Unidad de Grandes Empresas y Colectivos Estratégicos), the government unit that handles this visa. This route gets you a 3-year residence authorization straight away, rather than the 1-year visa you’d get from a consulate. The legal processing time is 20 working days, though 4 to 8 weeks is common in practice. You must stay in Spain while your application is being processed.

Costs and fees

Budget for these costs, on top of any income you need to demonstrate:

• National visa fee: around €80
• TIE card fee: around €16
• Certified translations: €50 to €150 per document
• Apostilles: cost varies by country, often €20 to €80 per document
• Legal help, if you use an immigration lawyer: typically starts around €1,500

Permit duration and renewal

If you apply from a consulate abroad, your first visa lasts 1 year. Once you’re in Spain, you convert it into a residence authorization valid for 3 years. If you apply directly from inside Spain, you get the 3-year authorization from the start.

After that, you renew for 2 years at a time, as long as you still meet the income and remote-work conditions. Once you’ve held legal residence for 5 years total, you can apply for permanent residency. Time spent in Spain on this visa also counts toward the residence requirement for citizenship.

The Beckham Law: a reduced tax rate for digital nomads

Spain’s special expatriate tax regime, known as the Beckham Law, is available to digital nomad visa holders and can cut your tax bill substantially. Instead of Spain’s standard progressive income tax, which climbs toward the mid-40s in percentage terms, you pay a flat 24% on your Spanish-sourced professional income, up to €600,000 a year.

To qualify, you need to:

• Not have been a Spanish tax resident at any point in the 5 years before you move
• Hold a valid digital nomad visa
• Apply within 6 months of registering with Spanish Social Security

Both employees and self-employed remote workers can qualify, though self-employed applicants register through the RETA self-employment system, which is what starts the 6-month clock. The regime lasts 6 tax years: the year you arrive, plus the 5 that follow. Miss the 6-month application window and you lose access to the flat rate, so this is worth arranging before or right after you land, not months later.

FAQ

Do I need a job offer from a Spanish company to qualify? No. The visa requires the opposite: your income has to come mainly from outside Spain. Working for a Spanish company beyond the 20% income cap disqualifies you.

Can I bring my family with me? Yes. You can include a spouse or partner and dependent children on the same application, but you need to show extra income for each of them, as set out above.

Does the income threshold change every year? Yes. It’s tied to Spain’s SMI, which usually rises each January. Always check the current SMI before you calculate your required income, rather than relying on last year’s figure.

Can freelancers with multiple clients apply? Yes. You need at least 1 year of continuous self-employed activity and contracts showing that most of your client income comes from outside Spain.

Is the Beckham Law automatic once I have the visa? No. You have to apply for it separately, within 6 months of registering with Social Security in Spain. Getting the visa doesn’t put you on the flat tax rate by itself.

What happens if the SMI rises during my visa period? Your original approval isn’t affected. But when you renew, you’ll need to show income that meets the threshold in effect at the time of renewal, not the one you originally qualified under.

See if this fits your situation

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