Spain's digital nomad visa: what the rules say in 2026

Search for Spain's digital nomad visa and almost every result opens the same way: it was created by the Startups Law of 2022. That is half true and it sends people to the wrong text. Ley 28/2022 did not regulate the route. It inserted a new chapter into Ley 14/2013, and the rules that decide whether an application succeeds live in articles 74 bis to 74 quinquies of that older law.

The distinction matters because it explains why the route survived the 2025 immigration overhaul untouched, and why the one number everyone quotes is now wrong.

The income figure in most guides is out of date

Two errors circulate. The first is the index: the requirement is tied to the SMI, Spain's minimum wage, not to the IPREM used for other permits. The second is the year. The minimum wage rose again on 1 January 2026 under Real Decreto 126/2026, to an annual reference of €17,094.

The applicant must show 200 per cent of the SMI, so €34,188 a year in 2026. A second family member adds 75 per cent of the SMI, and each further member 25 per cent, which works out at €12,820.50 and €4,273.50 respectively. The amounts are gross, before any withholding. Anything you read quoting roughly €2,520 or €2,646 a month was calculated from the 2023 or 2024 minimum wage and understates what is now required.

Who the route is for

It is for third-country nationals who work remotely, by exclusively computer and telecommunications means, for companies established outside Spain. Americans, Canadians, Australians and, since Brexit, British citizens all use it. Citizens of the EU, the EEA and Switzerland cannot apply and do not need to: they register instead, which is covered in residency in Spain for EU citizens.

There is a difference between employees and the self-employed that is often blurred. An employee may work only for companies based outside Spain. A self-employed applicant may also take on a Spanish client, provided that work stays within 20 per cent of their total professional activity. Note the wording: the cap is on the share of activity, not on the share of income, and it does not exist at all for employees.

What has to be proved

• The company or group has carried on real and continuous activity for at least one year.
• The working relationship has existed for at least three months before the application, whether as employment or as a commercial relationship.
• A qualification: a degree or postgraduate qualification from a reputable university, vocational college or business school, or three years of professional experience in comparable work.
• No criminal record in the countries of residence over the last two years, plus a signed declaration covering the last five.
• Health cover with an insurer authorised to operate in Spain. Travel insurance is not accepted, and neither are policies with co-payments, waiting periods or reimbursement-only cover.
• Social security. Either the foreign employer registers with the Spanish system and undertakes to enrol the worker, or the applicant produces a certificate of applicable legislation stating expressly that it covers remote work from Spain. An application for that certificate is not enough; it has to be issued.

Regulated professions are a separate trap. Either the qualification is formally recognised in Spain, or the applicant signs a notarised declaration that the profession will not be practised here.

You do not have to apply from abroad

This is the most useful and least reported part of the route. Article 74 quinquies allows anyone legally present in Spain to apply for the authorisation directly, with no prior visa. A lawful tourist stay counts. Filing also extends the applicant's existing stay until the file is decided.

So there are two doors. The visa is applied for at a consulate abroad, runs for a maximum of one year and is itself sufficient title to live and work remotely in Spain. The authorisation is applied for online at the Unidad de Grandes Empresas, runs for up to three years and renews in two-year blocks. Someone already in Spain on a tourist stamp goes straight to the second door.

The legal deadline for a decision on the authorisation is twenty days, and silence is positive: if nothing comes back, the application is deemed granted. Consulates have ten working days for the visa. Once an authorisation runs beyond six months the holder also has to obtain the residence card, which is covered in the TIE card in Spain.

The 24 per cent tax rate is not automatic

The route is often sold together with the special regime of article 93 of the income tax act, the one people call the Beckham regime: 24 per cent on employment income up to €600,000 and 47 per cent above it, for the year of the move plus the following five.

Three corrections are worth more than the headline rate.

First, the regime is not attached to the visa. The statute mentions the international teleworking visa as an example, not as a condition, and the real requirement is that the person becomes Spanish tax resident, elects into the regime, and was not resident in Spain in the previous five tax periods.

Second, holding the visa does not by itself make anyone a tax resident. That is decided by article 9 of the income tax act: more than 183 days in the calendar year, counting sporadic absences unless residence elsewhere is proved, or the main base of economic interests in Spain. Immigration status has no bearing on it.

Third, and this catches people: the regime is built around employment. A freelancer invoicing foreign clients generally does not qualify under the teleworking limb at all. The route is open to the self-employed; the tax break largely is not.

What changed, and what to ignore

Real Decreto 1155/2024, the new immigration regulation in force since 20 May 2025, replaced the whole of the previous regulation but does not mention teleworking anywhere. Articles claiming it reformed this route are wrong.

What did change is elsewhere in the same law: the golden visa was repealed with effect from 3 April 2025. Any guide still presenting the investor route alongside this one as live options was written before that and has not been revisited.

Frequently asked questions

Can I apply while I am in Spain as a tourist?
Yes. A lawful stay is enough to apply for the authorisation, and filing extends that stay until a decision is issued.

How long does it last?
The visa up to one year, the authorisation up to three, then renewals of two years while the conditions hold.

Do I need a NIE first?
The number comes with the process rather than before it, but it is worth understanding what it is and where it appears: see what a NIE number is and who needs one.

My income is close to the threshold. Does it have to be salary?
The test is the resources shown, gross, against 200 per cent of the minimum wage in force. Since that figure moves every January, an application prepared in December against last year's number can fail on arithmetic alone.

What if I do not meet the three-month or one-year seniority rules?
Then this is not the route, and the non-lucrative option may fit better. The difference is that it does not permit work at all: see the non-lucrative visa.

Is my employer taxed in Spain because I work from here?
Possibly. A home office can create a permanent establishment for the employer, and the OECD rewrote its guidance on exactly this point in November 2025. It is not automatic, but it is the question to settle before the move rather than after.

Why Buenaley?

Buenaley is a Spanish law firm working with international clients. On this route we work from articles 74 bis to 74 quinquies and the current minimum wage, not from last year's figures.

• The threshold recalculated against the SMI in force on the day of filing
• Employee and self-employed files handled differently, because the rules differ
• Social security position settled before filing, since it is the usual reason for a refusal
• Tax regime assessed separately from the permit, so nobody counts on 24 per cent they will not get
• Fixed price, agreed in advance

Already in Spain and wondering whether to file from here, or holding an offer that has to be documented? Send us the contract dates and the income figures and you will hear whether the file stands. Or start at the NIE page.