Digital Nomad Visa for Spain

Spain’s digital nomad visa, officially the residence for international telework, lets you live in Barcelona while you keep working remotely for a company or for clients outside Spain. We prepare the whole application, either for the Spanish consulate where you live or, if you are already in Spain legally, for the UGE-CE. We start with a case study that checks the rules that decide these files: how long you have worked with the company, how long the company has existed, your qualifications and your income against the minimum wage.

Our fee for the visa file, per applicant. Case study included: if you paid it first, its 100 € + VAT is deducted. The fee is the same whether you apply at the consulate or from Spain through the UGE-CE. Each additional family member: 100 € + VAT. After arrival, the TIE card (120 € + VAT) and the empadronamiento (60 € + VAT) are booked separately. Consular fees, the UGE-CE fee, apostilles, sworn translations and the TIE fee 790-012 are paid separately.

Two ways in: consulate visa or authorisation from Spain

The route was created by Law 28/2022 on start-ups, which added international telework to the mobility regime of Law 14/2013. It can be requested in two places, and the choice changes how long your first permit lasts.

Applying from Spain looks better on paper, but it only works if your stay is still legal on the day of filing, and the calendar of a Schengen short stay is unforgiving. The case study decides which door is realistic for you.

The requirements that decide the file

• Remote work for companies outside Spain, done with computer and telecommunications tools. As an employee, your employer is abroad. As a self-employed professional, your clients are abroad, and Spanish clients may represent up to 20% of your total activity.
• At least three months of real and continued work with the company or clients before you apply, proved with contracts, invoices or payslips.
• A company that has been operating for at least one year, proved with its registration documents.
• Qualification: a university degree, or at least three years of professional experience in the field.
• Means: 200% of the Spanish monthly minimum wage (SMI) for you, plus 75% for the first family member and 25% for each additional one. The SMI is updated each year, so the figure moves with it.
• Company authorisation for you to work remotely from Spain, with the terms of the job.
• Health insurance and a clean criminal record from the countries you have lived in during the last five years.

For a broader explanation of who the route suits, see our guide to the digital nomad visa in 2026. This page is about how we build and file yours.

Social Security and tax: decide before you file

Where your home country has a Social Security agreement with Spain, or is in the EU, you can keep contributing there with a certificate of coverage. Where there is no agreement, you register in the Spanish system, and your employer or you as a self-employed worker must be ready for that. Many refused or delayed files trace back to this one point.

Tax is the second decision. Living in Spain more than 183 days a year normally makes you tax resident, and digital nomads may opt into the special regime for inbound workers, known as the régimen de impatriados or “Beckham law”. The option has its own deadline after arrival, so it belongs in the plan from day one. Our income tax service for foreigners covers it.

How we run your file

1. Case study. Your contract or client list, the company’s age, your degree or experience, your income and your family. We confirm the route fits and choose consulate or UGE-CE.
2. Company pack. We draft the list of what the employer or your clients must sign and issue, in the wording the file needs.
3. Foreign documents. Criminal records, degree certificates and civil-status papers, apostilled or legalised and with sworn translations into Spanish.
4. Means and insurance. We check payslips, invoices and bank evidence against the SMI ratio, and the policy against the cover required.
5. Filing and follow-up. Consulate appointment file, or electronic filing with the UGE-CE and answers to any request for more documents.
6. Arrival. For a consulate visa, the TIE card within one month of entry, and the empadronamiento in Barcelona.

Mistakes we see most

• Applying one month after signing with a new employer, before the three months of prior work exist.
• Working for a company founded less than a year ago, or through a personal company set up just for the visa.
• Invoicing mostly Spanish clients as a freelancer, beyond the 20% limit.
• No answer on Social Security: no certificate of coverage and no Spanish registration planned.
• Choosing the consulate visa by default and then renewing after one year, when filing from Spain could have given three.

Frequently asked questions

Can my family come with me? Yes. Your partner and children can apply with you or later, and each one raises the income you have to prove by the percentages above.

Can I work for a Spanish company? Not as an employee on this visa. Self-employed holders may have Spanish clients up to 20% of their activity. If a Spanish employer wants to hire you, see our work visa service.

I have savings but no remote job. Is this the right visa? No. If you will live on your own means, the route is the non-lucrative visa. Our page on Spanish visas from abroad compares every long-stay visa.

Do I still need a NIE? Your visa or authorisation carries your NIE. The TIE card is the physical document that shows it.

The minimum wage, consular and UGE-CE fees, and document requirements change and differ between consulates, so we confirm the ones in force for your case before you file.