Digital Nomad Visa Spain: Who Qualifies and How It Works

What the route is

The formal name is teletrabajo de carácter internacional — international teleworking. It sits in Ley 14/2013, article 74 bis, a different law from the one governing the Non-Lucrative and Student routes. That is not a technicality: the conditions are written differently, and some requirements people assume apply everywhere apply here and nowhere else.

The law defines it as a third-country national authorised to remain in Spain to carry out labour or professional activity remotely, for companies located outside Spanish territory, using computer, telematic and telecommunications means exclusively. If any part of your work needs you physically present at a Spanish workplace, this is the wrong route.

The qualification gate

This is the condition most summaries leave out, and it disqualifies people before anything else is considered.

Article 74 bis.2 restricts the route to qualified professionals. You must be able to evidence either:

• that you are a graduate or postgraduate of a university of recognised standing, of vocational training, or of a business school of recognised standing; or
• at least three years of professional experience.

The three years of experience and the three months of prior relationship with your employer or client are two separate conditions. They are frequently confused. You need both: the experience or qualification to be eligible at all, and the three-month relationship to evidence the specific work you are relying on.

You must also be over 18, and have no criminal record in Spain or in the countries where you have lived for the last two years for offences under Spanish law, plus a responsible declaration covering the last five years.

Employee or freelancer — and the 20% rule

This is the biggest fork in the route, and the law treats the two cases very differently. Getting it wrong is not a paperwork problem; it changes what you are allowed to do once you are here.

Read the first row again if you are employed. The 20% allowance is written for professional activity, not for employees. An employee on this route who picks up work for a Spanish company is outside the terms of the authorisation.

What your employer or client has to prove

Part of the burden sits with the business, not with you, and it is worth checking early because you cannot fix it yourself:

• The company or group must have carried on real and continuous activity for at least one year.
• There must be documentation showing the work can be performed remotely.

A newly incorporated company, or one that cannot evidence a year of trading, will not support an application however solid your own position is.

The income requirement

Means are expressed as percentages of Spain's minimum wage, the salario mínimo interprofesional (SMI):

• Main applicant: a monthly amount representing 200% of the SMI.
• A family unit of two, counting you and one joining family member: at least 75% of the SMI.
• Each additional family member beyond those two: a further 25% of the SMI.

These are gross amounts, before tax and social security deductions. We publish the percentages rather than euro figures because the SMI is revised — any euro amount on a website dates the moment it changes. Take the current SMI and calculate at the point you apply.

Visa or authorisation — and why the difference is years

Two routes in, with very different durations. This is the single most useful thing to understand before you start.

The consequence: entering on the visa gives you one year, and you then have a specific 60-day window before expiry to move onto the three-year authorisation. Miss that window and you are managing an expiry rather than a renewal. If you are already legally in Spain, you may be able to go straight to the three-year authorisation.

Where the published requirements come from matters here. The Ministry publishes the requirements centrally for the authorisation path. If you are applying for the visa at a consulate, that office publishes its own checklist and may ask for things the central guidance does not mention. Read your own office's list — this is not a contradiction, it is how the system is structured.

Health cover — and when you do not need a policy

Three separate sources set the conditions here, and they say different amounts. Keeping them apart is what stops you buying the wrong thing.

• The law. Ley 14/2013, article 62.3 e) requires public or private health insurance taken out with an insurance entity authorised to operate in Spain. Note that this route puts the “authorised in Spain” condition in the statute itself.
• Ministry guidance. The Secretariat of State for Migration's requirements for this route add that the cover must be comparable to that provided by the Spanish National Health System, and that travel insurance, reimbursement-only policies, and policies with copayments or waiting periods are not accepted.
• The consulate. If you apply for the visa abroad, your office may publish further formatting or wording conditions of its own.

That middle point is worth dwelling on. On the Non-Lucrative route, no-copayment and no-waiting-period conditions come from individual consulates and vary between offices. On this route they are stated in the national guidance. A policy that satisfies an NLV application may not satisfy this one.

Two situations where you do not need a private policy at all:

• If you are covered by an international social security coordination instrument that provides healthcare cover, you supply a certificate of entitlement from the institution you are insured with, instead of a policy.
• If, once the authorisation is granted, you will register with Spanish social security, the insurance documents are not required.

Work out which of the three situations you are in before you buy anything — the cover options for this route are set out on our Digital Nomad Visa insurance page, linked below.

Bringing family

Family may join or accompany you. For this route family means your spouse or partner in an analogous relationship, minor children, adult children who depend on you economically and have not formed their own family unit, and dependent ascendants.

The income requirement rises as set out above, and each family member carries their own documentary requirements. If you are applying with an unmarried partner, check early how you can evidence the relationship — that is a common late discovery.

Documents

• Valid passport or travel document.
• Evidence of your qualification or of three years' professional experience.
• Evidence of the employment or commercial relationship covering at least the last three months.
• Evidence that the overseas company has traded for at least a year and permits remote work.
• Evidence of economic means — typically payslips or invoices and bank records for the preceding three months.
• Criminal record certificate for the countries you have lived in over the last two years, plus a responsible declaration covering five.
• Health cover evidence, or the social security certificate that replaces it.

Foreign documents generally need legalisation or apostille and an official translation into Spanish. That has its own timetable and is the usual reason an otherwise complete application waits.

Renewal

The authorisation renews in two-year periods provided the conditions that created the right still hold. The realistic risks are that your working relationship has changed, that income has fallen below the threshold, or — for professionals — that Spanish client work has crept above the 20% limit. Check your position against the conditions before the renewal rather than at it.

Where applications run into trouble

• No qualification and under three years' experience. The eligibility gate, missed because most summaries omit it.
• Confusing the three years of experience with the three months of relationship. They are different conditions and you need both.
• An employee taking Spanish client work. The 20% allowance applies to professional activity, not to employees.
• A company that cannot evidence a year of activity. Nothing you do fixes this.
• Missing the 60-day window before the visa expires to apply for the authorisation.
• Buying a policy before checking whether you need one. Social security registration or a certificate of entitlement may remove the requirement.
• Leaving apostille and translation until last. It is the longest lead item in the pack.

Sources and dates

Every figure on this page that can change carries its source below. Figures tied to the SMI are index-linked and revised, so confirm the current value when you apply.

FAQs