Entrepreneur Visa for Spain

Spain’s entrepreneur visa, often searched for as the “startup visa”, is for founders who will build an innovative business here. Money in the bank is not enough, and neither is buying property or opening an ordinary shop. What decides the file is a favourable report from ENISA, the public company that assesses the business plan. We prepare the plan and the evidence with you so that the report comes back favourable. Then we file the visa or the authorisation and set up your first month in Barcelona.

Our fee for the visa file, per applicant. Case study included: if you paid it first, its 100 € + VAT is deducted. Each additional family member: 100 € + VAT. After arrival, the TIE card (120 € + VAT) and the empadronamiento (60 € + VAT) are booked separately. Official fees, consular visa fees, apostilles, sworn translations and company formation costs are paid separately.

What “entrepreneur” means in Law 14/2013

The route sits in the international mobility section of Law 14/2013. It covers an innovative business activity of special economic interest for Spain. In practice ENISA (Empresa Nacional de Innovación) reviews the business plan and issues a report, and that report is the core of the file. ENISA looks at four things:

• The team: your professional background and why you can deliver this project.
• The innovation: what is new in the product, the technology or the business model, compared with what already exists.
• The market: who buys, how big the opportunity is, and the competition.
• The funding: how the project is financed and how long the money lasts.

A restaurant, a traditional consultancy or a property rental business can be perfectly viable and still not be “innovative” in this sense. Those projects usually belong on the self-employed visa, which judges viability, not innovation.

Three routes founders confuse

If you were looking at the old investor visa, it no longer exists: see what replaced it on our golden visa page.

From abroad or from Spain

If you live abroad, you request a visa at the Spanish consulate for your place of residence. It is issued for up to one year and lets you enter and start the project. If you are already legally in Spain, for example on another permit, the authorisation can be requested from here through the UGE-CE (Unidad de Grandes Empresas y Colectivos Estratégicos), for up to three years. Renewal depends on the business actually running as planned, so the plan you file has to be one you can live up to.

That is also why we keep a record from day one. At renewal the question is no longer whether the idea is good, but what has happened since: the company set up, the product built, clients signed, people hired, money raised or spent. Invoices, contracts, the company’s accounts and your registration with the Social Security are the evidence. A founder who can show each milestone the plan promised, or explain why it changed, renews on solid ground.

What else goes into the file

• Passport valid for the planned stay.
• The business plan and the favourable ENISA report.
• Proof of means to support yourself, and your family if they come with you.
• Health insurance with an insurer authorised to operate in Spain. See health insurance.
• Criminal record certificates from the countries you have lived in during the previous five years, apostilled or legalised and with a sworn translation into Spanish.

How we run your file

1. Case study. We read your project and tell you honestly whether it is an entrepreneur case, a self-employed case or neither, before you spend months on a plan.
2. Business plan. We structure it around team, innovation, market and funding, with the figures and evidence that support each claim.
3. ENISA report. We prepare the request and answer any follow-up questions.
4. Personal documents. Criminal records, apostilles, sworn translations, means and insurance, in an order that keeps everything in date.
5. Visa or authorisation. The consulate file if you are abroad, or the UGE-CE application if you are already legally in Spain, with family members at the same time.
6. Arrival and set-up. The TIE card within one month of entry, the empadronamiento, and the business itself: autónomo registration or an SL company.

Mistakes we see most

• A plan that describes a good ordinary business and calls it innovative. ENISA reads past the adjectives.
• Funding that covers the first months but not the period the plan claims.
• A team section that lists titles but not what each person has actually built before.
• Applying from Spain after the legal stay has expired, which closes the route from inside the country.
• Choosing the company structure before the visa, then having to change it to match the file.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a minimum investment? The law does not set a fixed investment figure for this route. What matters is that the funding is credible for the plan you present, which is exactly what ENISA assesses.

Can my co-founders apply too? Each founder who will live in Spain needs their own authorisation, and the plan has to explain each one’s role. We file them together so the files tell the same story.

Can my family come? Yes. Under Law 14/2013 your spouse or partner and children can apply at the same time as you.

What happens to my taxes? Once you live here you usually become tax resident in Spain, and how you set up the company changes what you pay. Plan it with our income tax service.

Comparing all your options? Our page on Spanish visas from abroad sets every long-stay visa side by side.

Official fees, ENISA criteria, validity periods and consulate requirements change, so we confirm the ones in force for your case before you file.