Digital nomad visa in Spain

• The telework visa is for a non-EU citizen who is authorised to stay in Spain to work remotely, as an employee or a professional, for companies based outside Spain, using only computer and telecommunication systems.
• If you are an employee, you may work only for companies based outside Spain. If you are a self-employed professional, you may also serve a company in Spain, as long as that work is no more than 20% of your professional activity.
• You need to be a qualified professional: a graduate or postgraduate of a recognised university, vocational training centre or business school, or someone with at least three years of professional experience.
• The company you work for must show real, continuous activity for at least one year, and your employment or client relationship with it must be at least three months old when you apply.
• The Washington consulate says the work must be for companies; individuals, government agencies, universities, foundations and other non-profits do not count as clients.
• The visa is not for EU citizens or people covered by EU law. A spouse or partner, financially dependent children and relatives in the ascending line under your care can apply for visas to come with you.

Sources: Boletín Oficial del Estado (consolidated text), Consular Section. Checked 16 October 2026.

• The income test is 200% of Spain’s monthly minimum wage, which is €1,221 a month in 2026 (14 payments). To be safe, have more than €2,900 a month; the Washington and Canberra methods differ, so the sources run from about €2,400 to €2,850 a month.
• Washington publishes €2,442 a month for a single applicant. Canberra counts the minimum wage over 12 payments rather than 14 (its page still shows 2025 figures), which on the 2026 wage would give about €2,850 a month.
• The Ottawa and Wellington pages state only the percentage, 200% of the monthly minimum wage, and give no euro figure, so ask your consulate which amount it applies.
• For family members you add 75% of the minimum wage for the first and 25% for each further one. On Washington’s 2026 figures a main applicant with one family member shows about €3,400 a month; to be safe, have more than €3,400 a month.
• With two family members, Washington’s 2026 figures come to about €3,700 a month; to be safe, have more than €3,700 a month.
• You show income with an employment contract or a company certificate stating your pay, among other documents. The pages we read name no separate savings or deposit test.

Sources: Consular Section, Boletín Oficial del Estado, Embassy of Spain in Australia (consular section), Embassy of Spain in Ottawa (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Embassy of Spain in Wellington (Ministry of Foreign Affairs). Checked 16 October 2026.

• The main documents are the national visa application form, a recent passport photo, a valid passport with two blank pages and issued within the last ten years, proof that you live in the consular district, and proof of your income.
• An employee needs a company certificate showing at least three months with the employer, the pay, and explicit permission to work remotely from Spain. A self-employed person needs proof of at least three months of work for companies outside Spain and of a relationship that continues for at least a year.
• The company must show it has operated for at least a year: in Washington’s case with a state Division of Corporations certificate, in Canberra’s with an Australian Business Register certificate, each apostilled and translated into Spanish.
• You need a degree or proof of at least three years’ experience, with foreign documents apostilled or legalised and officially translated; regulated professions also need recognition of the qualification.
• You need a criminal record certificate from each country where you lived for more than 180 days in the last two years, with a signed declaration of no criminal record in the last five years, and an official Spanish translation by a sworn translator.
• Health insurance must come from an insurer authorised in Spain with no co-payment or coverage limit; travel insurance is not accepted. It is not needed if you prove Spanish public Social Security coverage.
• You also show Spanish Social Security coverage: the company’s registration in Spain, your own registration as self-employed, or (for employees with company consent) a certificate of coverage under a social security agreement. You sign a declaration that you will meet your Social Security obligations before work begins.
• You need an NIE (foreigner identity number) before you apply, and the consulate may ask for more documents or an interview.

Sources: Consular Section, Embassy of Spain in Ottawa (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Boletín Oficial del Estado (consolidated text), Embassy of Spain in Australia (consular section), Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH). Checked 16 October 2026.

• You apply at the Spanish consulate that covers where you legally live. From 1 September 2026 the Washington consulate takes applications only by appointment at the BLS visa centre; Ottawa takes them in person after an appointment and does not accept online applications.
• The legal deadline for a decision is 10 working days. Washington counts it from when the consulate forwards the file, not from your appointment, and it can be extended if an interview or more documents are needed.
• Once the visa is approved you must collect it within one month. A refusal is in writing, and you can ask the consulate to reconsider within one month or go to the High Court of Justice of Madrid within two months.
• If you are already in Spain legally, you can apply for the telework residence permit from inside Spain, without a prior visa. The Large Companies and Strategic Groups Unit (UGE) handles it electronically, has 20 days to decide, and silence counts as approval.
• Visa holders apply for the residence permit in the 60 days before the visa expires; the application extends your stay until it is decided.

Sources: Consular Section, Embassy of Spain in Ottawa (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Boletín Oficial del Estado (consolidated text). Checked 16 October 2026.

• The Washington consulate’s visa fee is $190 for US citizens from 1 January 2026, paid by cash or money order, and the table is revised quarterly. The same table lists $106 for all other citizens not named separately, $1,566 for Canadian citizens and $3,020 for Australian citizens.
• The Canberra page asks for the fee in cash in local currency and gives no amount, the Ottawa page points to a separate consular fee table, and the Wellington page lists a fee payment with no amount. Ask your consulate for the current figure.
• Ottawa says the visa fee is not refunded if the visa is refused.
• The Australian Federal Police national police check costs A$57, or A$114 with fingerprints. The RCMP federal fee for a Canadian check is C$25 per check, plus any local fingerprinting fee. The New Zealand Ministry of Justice does not charge for a copy of your own record.

Sources: Consular Section, Embassy of Spain in Australia (consular section), Embassy of Spain in Ottawa (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Embassy of Spain in Wellington (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Australian Federal Police, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, New Zealand Ministry of Justice. Checked 16 October 2026.

• The visa lasts up to one year, or less if your work period is shorter. While it is valid it is enough to live in Spain and work remotely, and you do not need a foreigner identity card (TIE).
• The residence permit lasts up to three years, or less if you apply for a shorter work period, and is valid across Spain. You can renew it in periods of two years while the conditions that gave you the right continue.
• Where a permit lasts more than six months you apply for the TIE after it is granted. Washington says to apply for the permit and the TIE two months before the visa expires.
• A renewal application extends the old permit until it is decided, including when you file it up to 90 days after the old one ended, though a penalty procedure can follow.

Sources: Boletín Oficial del Estado (consolidated text), Consular Section. Checked 16 October 2026.

• Spain’s regulation gives long-term residence after five years of legal, continuous residence in Spain. Absences of up to six months in a row do not break continuity if they total no more than ten months in the five years (eighteen for work-related absences).
• The pages we read do not say whether years on a telework permit are treated differently from other residence years, so ask the immigration office before counting on it.

Sources: Boletín Oficial del Estado (consolidated text). Checked 16 October 2026.

• You are a Spanish tax resident if you spend more than 183 days in Spain in a calendar year, counting short absences unless you prove tax residence elsewhere, or if your main base of economic activities or interests is in Spain. Residence covers the whole calendar year.
• A residence permit and tax residence are separate questions. A tax resident pays personal income tax (IRPF) on income from all sources, subject to treaties.
• Spain’s special regime for people who move to Spain names holders of the international telework visa as meeting its work condition. You must not have been a Spanish tax resident in the previous five tax years, and you opt in on form 149.
• Under the regime you are taxed as a non-resident for the year of the move and the five that follow, only on Spanish-source income. Employment income is withheld at 24% up to €600,000 a year and 47% above. Work done before the move is outside the regime. No tax saving is assumed here.
• A spouse and children under 25 (any age if disabled) can also opt in if they meet the conditions and their combined taxable income is lower than yours.

Sources: Agencia Tributaria (Spanish Tax Agency). Checked 16 October 2026.

• Retirement visa in Spain
• Work permit in Spain
• Family visa in Spain

• Visas in Spain
• Spain

1. Telework (digital nomad) visa, Consular Section, Embassy of Spain in Washington, D.C.. Checked 16 October 2026. Written for residents of D.C., Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina; shows 2026 figures and fees. Other US states apply at their own consulate. Exact figures: EUR 2,442 a month for a single applicant; 75% (EUR 916) for the first family member and 25% (EUR 306) for each further one, so EUR 3,358 with one family member and EUR 3,664 with two.
2. Status table: Apostille Convention of 5 October 1961, Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH). Checked 16 October 2026. In force for Spain from 25 September 1978, the United States from 15 October 1981, Canada from 11 January 2024, Australia from 16 March 1995 and New Zealand from 22 November 2001.
3. Totalization agreement with Spain, US Social Security Administration. Checked 4 October 2026.
4. US citizens abroad: filing requirements, Internal Revenue Service. Checked 4 October 2026.
5. Foreign earned income exclusion limit, Internal Revenue Service. Checked 4 October 2026. Tax year 2026 figure (USD 132,900).
6. Physical presence test, Internal Revenue Service. Checked 4 October 2026.
7. Spain tax treaty documents, Internal Revenue Service. Checked 4 October 2026. Lists the 1990 treaty and the protocol amending it (2013); the treaty text itself was not reviewed.
8. Remote work (digital nomad) visa, Ottawa, Embassy of Spain in Ottawa (Ministry of Foreign Affairs). Checked 16 October 2026. In Spanish. For Ottawa and Gatineau; elsewhere Toronto or Montreal. Income of 200% of the minimum wage a month, no euro figure.
9. Criminal record checks: processing times and fees, Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Checked 16 October 2026. Federal fee 25 Canadian dollars per check, collected with any local fingerprinting fee; about 3 business days with no match, up to about 120 business days if manual processing is needed.
10. Leaving Canada, Canada Revenue Agency. Checked 4 October 2026. Canadian residents leaving Canada.
11. Tax treaties in force, Department of Finance Canada. Checked 4 October 2026. Canada–Spain convention signed 23 November 1976; protocol signed 18 November 2014.
12. Canada–Spain social security convention, Government of Canada. Checked 4 October 2026. In force since 1 January 1988; protocol since 1 May 1997.
13. Certificate of coverage (Spain), Canada Revenue Agency. Checked 4 October 2026. Form CPT125, employed and self-employed people.
14. Visa for digital nomads, Canberra, Embassy of Spain in Australia (consular section). Checked 16 October 2026. The page still shows 2025 figures (minimum wage EUR 1,184 in 14 payments, EUR 1,381.33 over 12; EUR 2,762.66 a month). Covers the ACT and Queanbeyan; others use Sydney or Melbourne.
15. National police checks, Australian Federal Police. Checked 16 October 2026. Fee 57 Australian dollars (114 with fingerprints); most checks posted within 48 hours, fingerprint checks 15 to 30 business days; the page does not mention apostilles.
16. Treaties in force, Australian Treasury. Checked 4 October 2026. Table last updated 24 March 2026; Spain listed as in force.
17. Australia–Spain tax treaty text, Boletín Oficial del Estado. Checked 4 October 2026. Signed 24 March 1992; in force 10 December 1992.
18. Australia–Spain social security agreement, Boletín Oficial del Estado. Checked 4 October 2026. Signed 31 January 2002; in force 1 January 2003.
19. Remote work visa, Wellington, Embassy of Spain in Wellington (Ministry of Foreign Affairs). Checked 16 October 2026. In Spanish. For applicants resident in the Wellington district. Income of 200% of the minimum wage a month, no euro figure; no fee amount on the page.
20. Get your own criminal record, New Zealand Ministry of Justice. Checked 16 October 2026. Free; the Ministry aims to answer within 20 working days; the page says some countries want the record apostilled, which the Department of Internal Affairs does.
21. Authentication Unit: document requirements, New Zealand Government (govt.nz). Checked 16 October 2026. The unit apostilles New Zealand documents; the page lists no fee and does not name criminal record checks.
22. Social security agreements, Work and Income (Ministry of Social Development, New Zealand). Checked 4 October 2026. Spain not listed.
23. New Zealand–Spain tax treaty, Inland Revenue (New Zealand), Tax Policy. Checked 4 October 2026. In force; signed 28 July 2005, effective in Spain generally from 1 January 2007.
24. New Zealand tax residence, Inland Revenue (New Zealand). Checked 4 October 2026. New Zealand tax residents.
25. Ley 14/2013, articles 62, 71 and 74 bis to 76 (international mobility), Boletín Oficial del Estado (consolidated text). Checked 16 October 2026. Telework articles added by Law 28/2022, in force from 23 December 2022.
26. Real Decreto 126/2026, minimum wage for 2026, Boletín Oficial del Estado. Checked 15 October 2026. EUR 1,221 a month (14 payments), EUR 17,094 a year, from 1 January 2026.
27. Real Decreto 1155/2024, Regulation of Organic Law 4/2000 (foreigners), Boletín Oficial del Estado (consolidated text). Checked 16 October 2026. In force from 20 May 2025.
28. When an individual is resident in Spain, Agencia Tributaria (Spanish Tax Agency). Checked 15 October 2026. In Spanish; page updated 21 July 2026.
29. Special regime for people moving to Spain (régimen especial de impatriados), Agencia Tributaria (Spanish Tax Agency). Checked 16 October 2026. In Spanish. Article 93 of the income tax law as amended by Ley 28/2022, for people who become tax resident from 2023: five prior years of non-residence; option via form 149; 24% withholding on employment income up to EUR 600,000, 47% above.