Spain's digital nomad visa: the 2026 rules

For employees and freelancers who work remotely for companies or clients outside Spain. Who it is for, the 2026 income test and how it is calculated, the two ways to apply, fees, renewal, and the special tax regime.

Spain’s digital nomad visa lets you live in Spain while you keep working remotely for an employer or clients outside it. Its official name is the international teleworker visa or permit, under Ley 14/2013. You apply at a Spanish consulate at home, or from inside Spain to the UGE, the government’s large-companies unit. Both use the same income test: twice Spain’s minimum wage. Time on the permit counts toward long-term residence.

Who it is for

The route is for remote work done entirely online for companies based outside Spain:

• Employees may work only for companies based outside Spain.
• Freelancers and business owners may also work for Spanish clients, up to 20% of their total professional activity.

Every applicant also needs:

• A degree or experience. A degree from a recognised university, vocational school or business school, or at least three years’ experience in similar work. A regulated profession needs your title recognised in Spain or a notarised promise not to practise it there.
• An established employer or client. The company must have been active for at least a year, and you must have worked with it for at least three months.
• A letter from the company. It authorises remote work from Spain and states the role, duties and salary in euros.

People living on pensions or savings use the non-lucrative visa instead.

The income test

You must show gross monthly income from your work of 200% of Spain’s minimum wage, the SMI. Spain sets the 2026 SMI at EUR 1,221 a month, paid in 14 payments, so EUR 17,094 a year (RD 126/2026). That gives two ways to read “monthly”:

The Houston consulate publishes the first column. The UGE publishes only the percentages, and some guides use the second column. Showing at least EUR 2,849 a month, or EUR 34,188 a year, covers both readings. Confirm the figure with your consulate or the UGE.

The amounts are gross, before tax and social security. The UGE asks for payslips or invoices for the last three months, plus a stamped bank certificate showing the matching payments. If your work income falls short, savings can cover the gap for the whole permit. The SMI usually rises each year, and the test rises with it.

Two ways to apply

From home. The visa lets you live and work remotely in Spain. In the 60 days before it expires, you can apply to the UGE for the residence permit. The Houston consulate asks you to get a foreigner number (NIE) before you apply.

From inside Spain. US, Canadian and UK citizens can visit visa-free and apply to the UGE during that legal stay. Applying extends your stay until the UGE decides. You cannot apply to the UGE from abroad.

Our Spain page lists the full requirements.

The documents

Besides the form, your passport and the proof of income above, the UGE asks for:

• your contract, and the company’s letter authorising remote work from Spain
• a company register certificate showing at least a year of activity
• your CV, and your degree or proof of three years’ experience
• a criminal record certificate from each country you lived in during the last two years, plus a signed declaration covering five years
• proof of social security cover, and health insurance unless you will join Spanish social security

Social security. Employees join Spain’s general scheme through their foreign employer. They can stay in their home system instead if a social security agreement covers the move and the home system issues a certificate saying so. Freelancers must join RETA, the self-employed scheme; the UGE says a home-country certificate does not replace it.

Health insurance. It must match Spain’s public system and come from an insurer authorised in Spain. Travel policies, reimbursement-only policies, co-payments and waiting periods are refused.

Consulates can ask for more. The Houston consulate wants an FBI check under six months old, with a federal apostille and a certified translation, and certificates from every country you lived in over five years. Foreign public documents need an apostille and a sworn Spanish translation.

Fees

Consular fees depend on your nationality and consulate. The UGE fee applies to each family member too. The visa cost calculator adds up the fees for your family, with police certificates and apostilles.

Family

Your spouse or partner, children under 18, dependent adult children and dependent parents can apply with you or join you later. They may work in Spain. Each adds to the income test.

Renewal and long-term residence

1. Visa: up to one year.
2. Residence permit: up to three years.
3. Renewals: two years at a time, while you still meet the conditions.
4. Long-term residence after five years of legal, continuous residence. Absences of up to six months at a time, and ten months in total, do not break it.

Spanish nationality by residence normally takes ten years for US, Canadian and UK citizens. It requires Spanish (DELE A2) and civics (CCSE) exams, and a formal renunciation of your old nationality.

Tax

The 183-day rule. Spain treats you as tax resident if you spend more than 183 days there in a calendar year, or if the main base of your economic interests is there. Residents pay Spanish income tax on worldwide income, including a salary from abroad.

The special regime for workers moving to Spain. Often called the Beckham law, it lets you be taxed as a non-resident:

• Who it covers. The Agencia Tributaria names employees with the international teleworker visa. You must not have been tax resident in Spain in the previous five years. Freelancers are not named; the regime covers self-employed work only in narrower cases.
• What you pay. All your work income counts as Spanish income and is taxed at 24% up to EUR 600,000 and 47% above. Other income from outside Spain, such as foreign dividends, is not taxed in Spain.
• How long. The year you become resident and the five years after.
• The deadline. You opt in on form 149 within six months of the start date in your social security registration, or in your home-country certificate.

Speak to a tax adviser before you move. US citizens stay liable for US tax on worldwide income wherever they live, so Americans keep filing US returns.

What catches people out

• Spanish clients have a limit. 20% for freelancers, and none for employees.
• Two readings of the income test. Plan for about EUR 2,849 a month.
• The non-lucrative visa is not a back door. It does not allow work, so the UGE will not accept remote work done on it.
• The tax deadline is short. Six months from your social security start date.

Compare living costs on our cost of living in Spain page or with the cost of living calculator. Compare other remote-work visas in our digital nomad visa guide, or read our guide to moving to Spain for every route.

This is general information, not legal, tax or immigration advice. Confirm every requirement with your Spanish consulate or the UGE before you apply.