Spain Digital Nomad Visa: requirements and how to apply

Health insurance is where avoidable refusals happen

Full private health cover is a hard requirement under Ley 14/2013 art. 62.3.e, and the UGE information sheet is unusually specific about what it will not accept. The policy has to be with an insurer authorised to operate in Spain, and it has to cover the entire period of the authorization you are asking for.

Travel insurance does not qualify. Neither does a policy that only reimburses you afterwards, one with copays, or one with waiting periods. Those exclusions between them account for a lot of otherwise complete files, so read the policy schedule rather than the sales page before you buy.

Employees: your employer has to register with the TGSS first

On the employee route, the foreign company you work for must register with the Tesorería General de la Seguridad Social as a non-resident entity with no establishment in Spain, and commit to registering you in the Régimen General.

This is the single biggest practical blocker on the employee route, because it asks an employer with no other reason to deal with Spanish Social Security to open a file with it. Start that conversation with HR or payroll months before you plan to submit, not in the week you assemble the dossier.

If your country has a social security agreement with Spain, you can stay in your home system instead: the London consulate's checklist, for example, accepts the UK's A1 certificate, form CA3822 for employees and CA3837 for the self-employed.

Bank statements now need a signature, a stamp or a notary

A PDF downloaded from your online banking is no longer enough on its own. Statements have to be signed by the bank, rubber-stamped by the bank, or notarised, and a notary declaration is accepted.

One bank certificate or summary can cover the other statements for the same account holder and the same account, which is usually the cleanest way to present three months of income.

There is a second half to this that catches people out. The movements that make up your qualifying income have to be individually marked, "marcados expresamente para su identificación de forma separada del resto", so the caseworker can pick your income out of everything else on the statement. Unmarked statements are one of the most common reasons a file draws a subsanación request.

Your job title decides whether the work counts as remote

Any title or description tied to running production, premises or people is read as work that happens at least partly on site. Senior management, HR, production and facility management all imply you need to be where the action is.

The example the office itself uses is a bakery: its General Manager is not doing a remote job, while marketing, accounting or software development for that same bakery could be. If your contract title oversells your operational role, sort that out with your employer before you file.

Do not apply as the owner of your own business

You can technically apply as the owner of the company you work for, but it creates a conflict in the paperwork. The work contract is effectively with yourself, it implies you are present at the place of business, and it complicates your tax position later.

What is expected instead is third-party contracts with real business clients, with the supporting documentation behind them. Applying as an employee or as a contractor to outside clients is the more straightforward route, and if someone recommends the business-owner path, get a second opinion before you file.

Three years of experience needs a government-issued record

If you are qualifying on experience rather than a degree, a work contract on its own is not accepted as proof, whatever you may have read. What is wanted is a government-issued employment history, the equivalent of Spain's vida laboral, apostilled and translated by a sworn translator.

You may be asked to produce the original paper document

The UGE has started asking applicants to present an original document so it can be checked for authenticity, something it had not needed to do before on this route. Keep every original together and never send away the only copy of anything.

If you are approved as an autónomo, register straight away

The UGE information sheet requires self-employed applicants to register with RETA "antes de comenzar la actividad en España", before starting the activity in Spain. The office's FAQ goes further: failing to register promptly leads to extinction of the authorization, for the holder and for dependent family members.

No numeric deadline has been published, so treat autónomo registration as an immediate task rather than something with a grace period. Book the cita, then keep every appointment confirmation and receipt so you can show you were in the process.

Late registration has become a live problem at renewal, and it is much easier to avoid than to fix.

A non-lucrative visa cannot be converted into a DNV

The UGE FAQ is explicit: the non-lucrative authorization does not permit work, so remote work done while holding one cannot be used to satisfy the three-month prior relationship the DNV requires. Having worked on it is in itself an infringement of the non-lucrative conditions.

This catches people who arrived on the easier visa intending to move across later. If that describes you, get advice on your specific situation before you file anything.

Regulated professions need homologación or a written declaration

If your qualification belongs to a regulated profession, nursing, engineering, architecture, law and psychology among them, you either homologate the qualification in Spain or provide a notarised declaration that you will not practise that profession here.

It catches people who qualify on a degree that happens to be regulated even though the remote work they actually do is not. Decide which of the two routes you are taking before you file, because discovering it afterwards costs you a round trip.

Changes have to be reported within 30 days

The seventh additional provision of Ley 14/2013, paragraph 2, requires holders to notify any change affecting the conditions of the authorization within thirty days. A new employer, the loss of the client you invoice, a change of address and changes in your family situation all count.

Paragraph 4 of the same provision allows the authorization to be extinguished when the conditions that justified it are no longer met. Reporting on time is what keeps a change an administrative formality instead of a question at renewal.