Non-lucrative visa or digital nomad visa, which one is legal for you?

Key rules

• Non-lucrative visa: It does not let you work in Spain, whether employed or self-employed.
• Digital nomad visa: It allows remote work for companies outside Spain, with Spanish clients limited to 20% of professional income.
• Yearly figures: Both income thresholds are set again each year, and you use the figure for the year you apply.

If you will live on savings or passive income and not work, the non-lucrative visa fits. If you will keep working remotely for companies or clients outside Spain, the digital nomad visa is the legal route. Both are for non-EU nationals.

Choose the non-lucrative visa if you do not work

This route is for people who can support themselves without working in Spain. You must show income or savings of at least 400% of the IPREM per year for the main applicant and 100% for each dependant. In 2025 that was €28,800 and €7,200.

• You apply at a consulate abroad and collect your TIE in Spain within one month of entry.
• The first authorisation lasts one year. After that it can be renewed for two years.

What about working on this visa?

You may not work in Spain. If you want to work, you must first change to a work authorisation, filed inside Spain after your first year of residence. Until then, no remote income counts as permitted work.

Choose the digital nomad visa if you work remotely

This route is for people who work remotely for companies outside Spain, or who are self-employed with clients mostly outside Spain.

You need to show:

• A university degree, a vocational qualification from a reputed institution, or at least three years of professional experience.
• If you are self-employed or work through a company, proof that the company has existed for at least one year.
• Income of at least 200% of the monthly minimum wage for the main applicant, which is €2,763 a month in 2025, plus 75% for the first dependant and 25% for each further one.
• Health insurance and a clean criminal record.

Residence is granted for up to three years. It can be renewed for two-year periods and can lead to long-term residence. The application is filed at a Spanish consulate abroad, or from inside Spain while you are legally there, and goes to the large-companies unit (UGE).

How to decide

1. Ask whether you will do any work that is not passive. If yes, the non-lucrative visa is the wrong route.
2. Check where your clients or employer are. If more than 20% of your professional income would come from Spanish clients, the digital nomad route does not fit.
3. Check your qualifications. Without a degree, a vocational qualification or three years of experience, the digital nomad route is closed.
4. Check your money. Compare your income with each route's threshold.

Documents you need

Documents for the non-lucrative visa

• Valid passport.

• Criminal record certificate from every country you lived in during the past five years, clean and apostilled.

• Medical certificate.

• Proof of funds showing you can live without working in Spain, as set out in the income figures for this route.

• Full private health insurance valid in Spain, with no co-payments or waiting periods.

• Proof of accommodation in Spain.

• Completed application forms and proof that you paid the fee.

Documents for the digital nomad visa

• Valid passport.
• Degree or vocational qualification, or proof of three years of professional experience.
• Employment contract or client contracts showing remote work for companies outside Spain.
• Proof of income at the monthly threshold above.
• Health insurance valid in Spain, and a clean criminal record certificate.

What if you qualify for more than one route?

Choose the route that fits what you will actually do in Spain, then compare cost and the residence clock.

Work rights usually settle it: if you need any income from Spanish sources, non-lucrative is out; if most of your income comes from Spanish clients, the nomad route is out too.

Then compare the residence clock

Long-term residence needs 5 years of continuous residence. Non-lucrative, digital nomad and work years count in full. Student years count at 50%, so four years of study count as two. Short stays and tourist time do not count.

If you want to settle in Spain permanently, a route that counts in full gets you there sooner.

Check cost

The non-lucrative visa pays the 80 EUR consulate visa fee and the TIE card fee. The digital nomad visa pays the same when filed at a consulate abroad; filed from inside Spain it has no visa fee, only the TIE card fee.

Think about tax before you commit

Both routes make you tax resident once you pass 183 days in Spain, and from then on your income from abroad is taxable in Spain too. Changing route later can be harder than choosing well now.