Procedure · Visado y autorización de teletrabajo de carácter internacional
Spain's digital nomad visa (teletrabajo internacional)
Living in Spain while working remotely for companies abroad. Employees may only work for foreign companies; freelancers may bill a Spanish client, but for no more than 20% of their work.
Checked at source ·
- Official fee
- Sufficient resources — the law fixes no figure
- Official name
- Visado y autorización de teletrabajo de carácter internacional
- Forms
- —
- Steps
- 10
- Documents required
- 7
Source: Boletín Oficial del Estado — Ley 14/2013, de apoyo a los emprendedores y su internacionalización — teletrabajo internacional, arts. 62 y 74 bis a 74 quater (texto consolidado). Checked .
Who needs one
Non-EU nationals who want to live in Spain while working remotely for a company based outside it — either as an employee or on a professional, self-employed basis. This is the permit non-lucrative residence explicitly does not cover.
Step by step
Check you qualify on background
The route is for qualified professionals. You must be a graduate or postgraduate of a university of recognised prestige, or hold vocational training or a qualification from a business school of recognised prestige — or, failing all of those, have at least three years of professional experience. The three years are an alternative to the qualification, not an addition to it.
Understand the 20% rule, which is where freelancers turn on it
If you are an employee, you may work only for companies based outside Spain. Full stop. But if your relationship is professional rather than employed, you may also work for a company located in Spain, provided that work does not exceed 20% of your total professional activity. That figure is in the statute. A freelancer with one Spanish client is not automatically excluded; a freelancer whose Spanish clients are most of their income is.
Show the company has been trading for a year
The company or group you work with must have had real and continuous activity for at least one year. This is about the employer or client, not about you, and a newly incorporated company on the other side of the relationship will fail it however long you have worked in the field.
Show three months of relationship, and permission to work remotely
As an employee: proof the employment relationship with the non-Spanish company has existed for at least the three months before you apply, plus documentation that the company allows you to work remotely. As a professional: proof of a commercial relationship with one or more companies outside Spain over the same three months, plus documentation of the terms and conditions under which you will work remotely. In both cases you must also evidence that the work can actually be done remotely.
Get insurance from an insurer authorised in Spain
Public or private health insurance taken out with an insurance company authorised to operate in Spain. That last clause is the trap: a travel policy or a home-country policy that has no authorisation here does not satisfy it, whatever it covers.
Clear the criminal record requirement, which reaches back further than you think
No criminal record in Spain, nor in the countries you have lived in during the last two years, for offences recognised under Spanish law. On top of that you sign a responsible declaration that you have no criminal record over the last five years — so the certificate covers two years and your declaration covers five.
Know what the money requirement actually says
The law requires sufficient economic resources for you and your family during your residence, and fixes no amount. The figure you will see quoted everywhere is an administrative threshold applied by the Large Companies and Strategic Groups Unit, published in its own documentation rather than in the statute — which means it can change without any law changing. Check the current figure at the source before relying on it.
The visa lasts a year, and then converts
If you are applying from outside Spain, the visa for international teleworking runs for a maximum of one year — or for the length of the work period, if that is shorter. It is by itself sufficient title to reside and work remotely in Spain while it lasts, so nothing further is needed during that first year.
Apply to continue in the sixty days before it expires
To stay beyond the visa you apply for the residence authorisation for international remote workers, and the window is the sixty calendar days before the visa expires. Not after, and not at any time during the year — a specific window at the end of it.
Family can come with you or follow later
Your spouse or a partner in an analogous relationship, minor children, adult children who depend on you financially and have not formed their own household, and dependent ascendants may apply jointly and at the same time as you, or afterwards. Each of them must meet the general requirements too.
Documents you need
Evidence of qualification or three years' experience
A degree or postgraduate qualification from a university of recognised prestige, vocational training, or a business school of recognised prestige — or evidence of at least three years of professional experience instead.
Proof the company has traded for at least a year
Real and continuous activity of the company or group you work with.
Proof of three months of relationship
Employment contract with the non-Spanish company covering at least the last three months, or evidence of a commercial relationship over the same period.
Written permission to work remotely
From the employer, or the terms and conditions of the professional relationship setting out the remote arrangement.
Health insurance from an insurer authorised in Spain
Public or private. Authorisation to operate in Spain is part of the requirement, not a formality.
Criminal record certificate, plus a responsible declaration
Certificate covering the countries you have lived in during the last two years; the declaration covers five.
Evidence of economic resources
The law requires them to be sufficient without fixing an amount. The working threshold is published by the UGE-CE.
Common questions
Can I have a Spanish client on the digital nomad visa?
If you work on a professional, self-employed basis: yes, provided that work does not exceed 20% of your total professional activity. If you are an employee: no — an employee may only work for companies based outside Spain.
How much money do I need for the digital nomad visa?
Law 14/2013 requires sufficient economic resources and does not fix a figure. The amount usually quoted is an administrative threshold set by the Large Companies and Strategic Groups Unit and published in its own documentation, so it can change without any law changing. Check the current figure with the unit rather than trusting a guide.
Do I need a degree?
A degree or postgraduate qualification from a university of recognised prestige, or vocational training, or a qualification from a business school of recognised prestige. If you have none of those, at least three years of professional experience is accepted instead.
How long does it last?
The visa runs for a maximum of one year, or for the length of the work period if that is shorter, and is itself enough to reside and work remotely here. To continue beyond it you apply for the residence authorisation, in the sixty calendar days before the visa expires.
Will my existing travel insurance do?
Almost certainly not. The requirement is public or private health insurance taken out with an insurance company authorised to operate in Spain, so a policy from an insurer with no authorisation here fails regardless of what it covers.
How is this different from non-lucrative residence?
Non-lucrative residence forbids all employment and professional activity, so remote work for a foreign employer is not allowed on it. This permit exists precisely for that work. If you intend to keep working, this is the route, and applying for the non-lucrative one instead is a problem that surfaces later rather than sooner.
How long must I have worked for the company?
At least the three months before you apply — as an employee, the employment relationship; as a professional, the commercial relationship. Separately, the company itself must have been genuinely trading for at least a year.
Sources
Every fact on this page comes from one of these. We do not cite other guides, because a copy gives us no way to notice when the original changes.
- Ley 14/2013, de apoyo a los emprendedores y su internacionalización — teletrabajo internacional, arts. 62 y 74 bis a 74 quater (texto consolidado)Boletín Oficial del Estado
- Unidad de Grandes Empresas y Colectivos Estratégicos — Teletrabajadores de carácter internacionalMinisterio de Inclusión, Seguridad Social y Migraciones
This is information, not advice
Your own case depends on your nationality, your current status and your history with the administration — none of which a web page can see. Confirm anything that matters with the responsible authority or a qualified professional before you act on it.