Just about everybody loves the idea of working remotely from Spain. And it’s no surprise either.
Given the meteoric rise of remote work during the pandemic, more people than ever are now able to work remotely from practically anywhere in the world. And given Spain’s beautiful, varied landscape, vibrant cities and year-round sunny weather, it’s atop the list of remote working destinations for hundreds of thousands of knowledge workers worldwide.
The launch of the country official digital nomad visa – also known as the “Visado para teletrabajar en España” in Spanish – therefore came as excellent news for remote workers in late December of 2022.
Let’s kick this program overview off with a couple of FAQs to address these questions:
To be eligible for the Spanish Digital Nomad Visa, you will have to prove that you have sufficient economic resources to support yourself and any family members accompanying you during your period of residence in the national territory.
Here are the minimum Spanish DNV income requirements for 2024:
- Primary applicant: 200% of the monthly minimum wage in Spain (SMI) – so €2,650+ in 2024.
- Spouse: 75% of the monthly minimum wage in Spain (SMI).
- Additional dependents (children, financial dependent elderly parents, etc.): 25% of the monthly minimum wage in Spain (SMI).
These amounts can be evidenced by an employment or freelancer contract, payroll statements, a certificate from the company that is moving the employee, etc. Importantly, you cannot derive more than 20% of your total income from a client in Spain. You can use the below table for ease of reference:
Applicants |
Monthly salary or income 2024 |
Total annual salary or income 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Primary | €2,650+ | €31,800 |
| Spouse | €1,978.50+ | €23,850 |
| Additional dependents (e.g. kids) | €662.50+ | €7,950 |
| Family of Four | €5,953.50+ | €71,442 |
In addition to the financial requirements:
- You cannot be in Spain illegally.
- You cannot have a criminal record in Spain or in the country or any countries where you have been resident for five years prior to applying for Spain’s Digital Nomad Visa.
- You are required to have public health insurance or private health insurance arranged with an insurance company licensed to operate in Spain.
- You must also have sufficient economic means to support any family members who will be accompanying you during your period of residence in Spain.
Yes, provided thery can prove a professional relationship with a foreign company (or companies) for whom they will be working for a minimum period of three months, and the company authorizes the freelancer to work for them from Spain.
An international teleworker is authorized to stay in Spain to carry out an employment or professional activity, remotely, for companies located outside of the national territory of Spain, through the exclusive use of computer, telematic and telecommunication means and systems.
What are the benefits of the Spanish Digital Nomad Visa?
In addition to offering settlement rights in Spain and offering visa-free access to the rest of the EU, it is expected that the Spanish Nomad Visa Program (and/or its ”parent”, the Spanish Startup Visa Program), will offer a raft of additional benefits, including:
- Tax benefits and incentives, including a reduction in the company tax rate, and Non-Resident Income Tax (the latter drops from 25% to only 15%).
- The EU’s most beneficial tax treatment of returns on stock options, making it ideal for startups with hypergrowth potential. The usage of stock options as remuneration is incentivized; the exemption on this type of income is raised from €12,000 to €50,000 per year.
- A streamlined company formation process
- The maximum cap on the deductible amount for investments in new startups or companies was raised from €60,000 to €100,000. In combination, the deduction rate has been increased from 30% to 50%.
- The period during which a company would be considered as “recently created”, and thus eligible for the above tax breaks and incentives, has been increased as well.
In combination, it is expected that these tax benefits and incentives will help cement Spain’s position as a leading destination for international startups and digital nomads.
We’ll update this page as more information about the program becomes available, so stay tuned for more information regarding the program requirements, launch date, and official website going live. (We expect it to be on a domain like www.nomadvisa.es, www.digitalnomadvisa.es, or spainnomadvisa.com).
A quick word on the new Spanish Startup Law
The Spanish parliament adopted a draft of the so-called Spanish Startup Law, in December 2021.
This new piece of legislation is designed to attract foreign startup founders, entrepreneurs, and digital nomads to the country.
But whereas Portugal is using its independent means visa – the D7 Visa Program – to roll out the red carpet for digital nomads, Spain is not allowing remote workers to utilize its non-lucrative visa in a similar manner.
And while it is expect that the new Spanish legislation will make it easier for remote workers to settle in Spain, the program’s emphasis appears to be more on startups and businesses, rather than individual digital nomads.
The bottom line?
Work on the assumption that you won’t be approved for the Spanish Non Lucrative Residency based on a remote work salary. But if you are able to obtain this residency on the basis of savings or passive income, it is difficult to see how you couldn’t conduct remote working activities within your own home.
But would that be legal, technically speaking?
No, it would not.
Are there thousands of people doing it though? Pretty much.
In contrast, the D7 residency in Portugal allows you to work in Portugal as an independent business person or remote worker. The Non-Lucrative Residency also doesn’t allow you to open a business in Spain, whereas you can start a business in Portugal as a D7 resident.
However, now that the Spanish Digital Nomad Visa is launched and accepting applications, working remotely from Spain has become a lot easier (and legal).
You can also familiarize yourself with the Spain Golden Visa program here.