If you want to apply for Spain’s digital nomad visa, it’s important to first know if you qualify. Read on to find out all the requirements, from your nationality, income, employers, qualifications, experience and more.

Spain’s digital nomad visa or DNV is known as the visado de teletrabajador de carácter internacional on most of the official Spanish websites and first launched in 2023.

You can apply either through a consulate in your home country, which will give you a one-year authorisation, or apply while you’re in Spain on a tourist visa, which will give you a three-year authorisation. Both of these can be renewed for up to five years.

But, to reach that point, you have to make sure you meet a long list of strict requirements to even begin the application process.

What are the requisites for the DNV?

You must be from a non-EU country

The DNV is open to non-EU citizens only. If you’re from the EU, you can simply move here and register for your green residency certificate.

You must be an employee working remotely or self-employed

To qualify, you must be a remote worker employed by a company abroad or work for yourself for clients abroad. The visa doesn’t allow you do be employed by a Spanish company.

No more than 20 percent of your income can be from Spain

We’ve already established that you can’t be employed by a Spanish company, but if you’re self-employed, you can’t have too many Spanish clients either, as no more than 20 percent of your income can come from inside the country.

You must prove you earn a sufficient amount

In order to be granted the visa you must prove that you earn 200 percent of the minimum interprofessional salary (SMI). This is equal to monthly income of at least €2,646 in 2024. If you are self-employed and your income changes, you must show you have an average equal to or above that amount for the past six months.

You must prove higher earnings if bringing family members

If bringing family members on the visa, such as a spouse and children you must prove that you have an extra 75 percent of the SMI or minimum wage. In 2024 this equals to an extra €1,984.50 per month on top of the €2,646. And for each additional family member after this, such as children, you will have to prove you have an extra 25 percent of the SMI, which is another €661.50. So for a family of three, you will need €5,292 per month or €63,504 per year.

You must have worked for your company or client for three months or more

In order to prove that you have a stable situation, you must have worked for your current clients or company for at least three months. You can show this by sending copies of your contracts.

The company you work for must have been in existence for at least one year

Your employers or clients must not be from a very new start-up company, as you have to prove they have been trading for at least one year or more to be eligible.

Prove you have the correct qualifications and experience

You must have at least 3 years’ experience working in your field or must prove that you have the specific qualifications to do so, such as a degree or professional certificate from a recognised school or course.

You must not have a criminal record

Criminal record checks are part of the application process. You must have a certificate from the country you’ve been living in for the past two years and also sign a declaration of the absence of criminal records for the last five years.

Your company must give you permission to work in Spain

If working remotely as an employee, it’s vital that your company gives you permission to work from Spain and provides you with a written consent letter.

You may need a certificate of social security coverage

If you’re an employee and your country has an agreement with Spain you will need a certificate of social security coverage. For those in the UK for example, this is the A1 certificate. Keep in mind this is not possible if you’re self-employed.

You may need proof that your company has registered with Spain’s social security

If your country does not have an agreement or you can’t get a certificate show proof, your company must register with the Social Security department in Spain and pay the fees on your behalf.

If self-employed, you must sign up to the autónomo system

For self-employed people, you will have to provide a sworn statement saying that you will sign up for the Spanish autónomo (self-employed) system upon arrival. This means that you will pay your own social security fees and be eligible for public healthcare.

You may need private health insurance

If you or your employer are not paying into Spain’s social security system then you will need to prove you have private health insurance. This will most likely need to provide the same coverage as the public health system and with no co-payments.

If you are from the UK and have the A1 certificate, you may be able to request the S1 form which allow you to use the Spanish public health system, so therefore you may not need the private insurance.