Relokato / Destinations / Spain
🇪🇸 Spain
Non-Lucrative and Digital Nomad residence routes, NIE, padrón and TIE — with deadlines and the official source for each step.
Relokato is not a law firm and does not provide legal services or legal representation. Use of this platform does not create an attorney-client relationship. The information provided is not a substitute for the advice of a licensed attorney. This platform is not a substitute for the advice of an attorney, in the terms of Texas Government Code §81.101(c).
21
Tasks in your Spain playbook
5–7 yr
LAU residential lease — 5 years, or 7 if the landlord is a legal person
24%
Beckham Law income tax rate
€0
To start your plan
One-time cost to move
$8,000–$12,500
Relokato planning estimate for a one-time move to Spain, as of September 2026. Single person moving from the US. One-time relocation costs only — government fees, apostilles, flights, shipping, rental deposits, and any professional help you choose to use. This estimate includes any professional fees you choose to incur; it does not imply representation is required. An estimate, not a quote.
Consular visa and TIE fees, apostilles and sworn translations, flights, shipping, and the deposit a Spanish lease asks for. No agency fee: on a LAU residential lease, real-estate-management and contract-formalisation costs are the landlord's, whether the landlord is an individual or a company.
Living costs are separate and depend on your lifestyle — see our cost calculator for a full breakdown.
Pick your route
Residence routes
published by the Spanish government.
Non-Lucrative Visa
Non-Lucrative Visa
No work in Spain. Show sufficient means of subsistence to live in Spain without working — €2,400/month (IPREM × 4) plus €600/month per accompanying family member. Renewable; after five years of legal, continuous residence you may become eligible to apply for long-term residence.
The index — monthly IPREM
€600 per month (monthly IPREM)
The IPREM (Indicador Público de Renta de Efectos Múltiples) is the index the non-lucrative income test is written against. Both amounts below are multiples of it.
Requisitos visado de residencia no lucrativa — Spanish consular requirements sheet (Real Decreto 1155/2024, Reglamento de Extranjería, art. 62) · source page as read 4 September 2026
Means of subsistence — main applicant
€2,400/month — 400% of the monthly IPREM
The test is sufficient means of subsistence to live in Spain without working — pension, rent, dividends, savings or other resources not derived from work activity in Spain.
Requisitos visado de residencia no lucrativa — Spanish consular requirements sheet (Real Decreto 1155/2024, Reglamento de Extranjería, art. 62) · source page as read 4 September 2026
Means of subsistence — family member
€600/month for each accompanying family member — 100% of the monthly IPREM
Added to the main applicant's amount for every family member travelling with you.
Requisitos visado de residencia no lucrativa — Spanish consular requirements sheet (Real Decreto 1155/2024, Reglamento de Extranjería, art. 62) · source page as read 4 September 2026
Digital Nomad Visa
Digital Nomad Visa
Remote work for a company outside Spain if you are employed; if self-employed, Spain-based clients are allowed up to 20% of your total professional activity. €2,442/month income (200% of the monthly SMI). After five years of legal, continuous residence you may become eligible to apply for long-term residence — and time spent outside Spain is limited, which matters on this route.
Income
€2,442/month — 200% of the monthly SMI
The multiple is the rule and the euro figure is what it comes to at the 2026 SMI. It moves whenever a new Real Decreto sets the SMI.
PRIE (Ministerio de Economía, Comercio y Empresa) — Teletrabajadores de carácter internacional · source page as read 4 September 2026
Family unit of two
€915.75/month added for a family unit of two — 75% of the monthly SMI
This is not a per-dependant rate. The family unit of two counts the holder and the accompanying or reunified person, and the amount is added to the principal's 200% of SMI.
Ministerio de Inclusión, Seguridad Social y Migraciones — UGE, "Teletrabajadores"; corroborated by Exteriores · source page as read 4 September 2026
Each further family member
€305.25/month for each member beyond those two — 25% of the monthly SMI
Added once for every further member of the family unit, on top of the principal's amount and the amount for the unit of two.
Ministerio de Inclusión, Seguridad Social y Migraciones — UGE, "Teletrabajadores"; corroborated by Exteriores · source page as read 4 September 2026
Who counts as family
Who may join: the spouse or person in an analogous relationship of affection; minor children; adult children economically dependent on the holder who have not formed their own family unit; and dependent ascendants
Art. 62(4) is wider than "spouse and children". Adult children qualify only where they are economically dependent and have not formed a family unit of their own.
Ley 14/2013, Art. 62(4), consolidated text last updated 9 April 2025 · 6 September 2026
Prior relationship with the company
At least three months of relationship with the foreign company before you apply
The employment or professional relationship with the company located outside Spain must have run for at least three months before the application is filed.
PRIE (Ministerio de Economía, Comercio y Empresa) — Teletrabajadores de carácter internacional · source page as read 4 September 2026
Company activity
The company, or the group it belongs to, must show real and continuous activity for at least one year
Art. 74 ter(a) puts it as "la existencia de una actividad real y continuada durante al menos un año de la empresa o grupo de empresas" — real and continuous activity, which is wider than trading in the sense of commercial sales.
Ley 14/2013, Art. 74 ter(a), consolidated text last updated 9 April 2025 · 6 September 2026
Qualification or experience
A graduate or vocational qualification, or at least three years of professional experience
Either satisfies the requirement: a degree or postgraduate qualification from a recognised university, recognised professional training or business school, or professional experience of at least three years in a comparable role.
PRIE (Ministerio de Economía, Comercio y Empresa) — Teletrabajadores de carácter internacional · source page as read 4 September 2026
Remote-working evidence
Proof that the work can be carried out remotely
Documentation showing the whole working relationship can be conducted at a distance, and that the company authorises you to perform it from Spain.
PRIE (Ministerio de Economía, Comercio y Empresa) — Teletrabajadores de carácter internacional · source page as read 4 September 2026
Work for a company in Spain
Professional (self-employed) variant: work for a company in Spain may not exceed 20% of your total professional activity
The cap belongs to the professional variant only. On an employment relationship there is no allowance at all: the employer must be located outside Spain (Ley 14/2013 art. 74.1).
PRIE (Ministerio de Economía, Comercio y Empresa) — Teletrabajadores de carácter internacional · source page as read 4 September 2026
How long it lasts
The visa runs for one year (or the length of the work period, if shorter); the residence authorisation for three years, renewable for two at a time
The consular teleworking visa is issued for a maximum of one year, or for the duration of the work period where that is shorter. The residence authorisation applied for from inside Spain runs for three years and is renewable in two-year periods, provided the conditions that produced it still hold.
PRIE (Ministerio de Economía, Comercio y Empresa) — Teletrabajadores de carácter internacional · source page as read 4 September 2026
Signing a lease
What the LAU gives you
on a residential lease.
Both rules below sit in Título II of the LAU, which governs leases whose primary purpose is your permanent housing need. Seasonal and non-residential lets fall under Título III and neither rule applies to them — worth knowing, because a first contract offered to a new arrival is often a seasonal one.
How long a residential lease runs
5 years of compulsory annual extension, or 7 where the landlord is a legal person
Art. 9(1): the lease is compulsorily extended year by year until it reaches five years, or seven where the landlord is a legal person. Art. 10(1): once that minimum has elapsed, if neither party gives the notice the article prescribes, the contract continues by annual extensions for up to three further years — that continuation depends on the absence of notice and runs in yearly increments, it is not automatic.
Who pays the agency and contract costs
On a LAU residential lease, real-estate-management and contract-formalisation costs are borne by the landlord
Art. 20(1), as amended by Ley 12/2023: "Los gastos de gestión inmobiliaria y los de formalización del contrato serán a cargo del arrendador." The earlier text limited this to landlords that were legal persons; that qualifier was deleted, so it applies whether the landlord is an individual or a company. It governs Título II residential leases only — seasonal and non-residential lets sit under Título III, and many new arrivals sign those.
Special regime · Art. 93 LIRPF
The Beckham Law could save you
tens of thousands in tax.
Where the art. 93 conditions are met, employment income is taxed at a flat 24% up to €600,000 for the year of the move and the following 5 tax periods. This is not a flat rate on Spanish income only: while the regime applies, all employment income you obtain is deemed obtained in Spanish territory, and you are not treated as a resident for double taxation treaty purposes. An international double-taxation deduction is available. The election is made on Modelo 149 within six months, and the date the six months run from is not always a Spanish Social Security registration — see below.
Relokato tracks the deadline, surfaces the right form (Modelo 149), and sets out the published conditions — so the regime is not lost to a missed date.
24% flat rate6-month windowModelo 149 electionUp to 6 tax years
Check this first
Your driving licence:
exchange, or start again?
The first question is not how long you have. It is whether your licence can be exchanged at all — that depends on an exchange agreement between Spain and the country that issued it. For a licence issued in the United States there is no such agreement.
First question — is there a convenio?
Exchange is possible only where Spain has an exchange agreement (convenio) with the issuing country
DGT publishes the list of countries with a convenio de canje. Check yours on that list before planning anything else — it decides which of the two paths below you are on.
DGT — Países con convenio de canje · source page as read 4 September 2026
If there is none
No convenio — including licences issued in the United States — means obtaining a Spanish licence from scratch
Where the issuing country has no exchange agreement with Spain, the licence cannot be exchanged. You sit the Spanish theory and practical examinations like any new driver.
DGT — Canjes de permisos extranjeros · source page as read 4 September 2026
Professional drivers
A narrow exception exists for professional drivers
DGT publishes a limited route for professional drivers outside the general exchange rules. It is narrow; read the DGT page against your own category before relying on it.
DGT — Canjes de permisos extranjeros · source page as read 4 September 2026
One licence that cannot be exchanged
A licence obtained in your country of origin while you were already legally resident in Spain cannot be exchanged
DGT excludes from exchange any licence the holder obtained abroad during a period in which they already held legal residence in Spain.
DGT — Canjes de permisos extranjeros · source page as read 4 September 2026
The clock matters once you know which path you are on: it governs how long you may keep driving on the foreign licence.
How long the foreign licence stays valid
A foreign licence is valid for driving in Spain for 6 months from the date you acquire normal residence
The clock runs from the day you acquire normal residence in Spain, not from the day you land and not from the date on the card.
DGT — Canjes de permisos extranjeros · source page as read 4 September 2026
Once you are resident
Two deadlines that
are easy to read wrongly.
The Beckham election and the Modelo 720 declaration both turn on a detail people routinely get wrong: what starts the six months, and how the €50,000 is counted.
The election deadline
Modelo 149 within 6 months of the activity start date
The start date is not always a Spanish Social Security registration. The AEAT counts the six months from the date of commencement of the activity shown in the registration with Spanish Social Security; or, where the home-country social security legislation is maintained, from the date shown in the documentation allowing that; or, where registration is not obligatory, from the activity start date shown in the supporting documentation.
Agencia Tributaria — Modelo 149: plazo para el ejercicio de la opción por el régimen especial (Orden HFP/1338/2023; Reglamento del IRPF art. 116.1) · source page as read 4 September 2026
Ending the displacement
The end of the displacement is notified on Modelo 149 within 1 month
The same form carries the exclusion and the end-of-displacement communication, which is filed within one month of the displacement ending.
Agencia Tributaria — Modelo 149: plazo para el ejercicio de la opción por el régimen especial (Orden HFP/1338/2023; Reglamento del IRPF art. 116.1) · source page as read 4 September 2026
The threshold
€50,000 in any one of three separate categories
The three categories are independent of one another: (i) accounts held in financial institutions abroad; (ii) securities, rights, insurance and income deposited, managed or obtained abroad; (iii) real estate and rights over real estate located abroad. The obligation arises if the aggregate value in any single category exceeds the threshold — the categories are not added together.
Agencia Tributaria — Modelo 720 preguntas frecuentes (updated February 2025) · source page as read 4 September 2026
Later years
After a first filing, a later declaration is generally required where a reported category rises by more than €20,000 — and in certain other reportable cases
The increase is the usual trigger, but it is not the only one. AEAT also names cancellation of a reported account, cessation of ownership, revocation of a reportable authorisation, and transmission or disposal of reported assets.
Agencia Tributaria — Modelo 720 preguntas frecuentes (updated February 2025) · source page as read 6 September 2026
Cryptoassets
Foreign virtual currencies within the Modelo 721 rules are reported on Modelo 721; Modelo 720 separately remains relevant to foreign accounts, securities, rights, insurance and real estate
AEAT states the trap explicitly: fiat currency held in an account with a foreign crypto exchange is not virtual currency, so it is not reported on Modelo 721. That foreign account can still be reportable on Modelo 720 under Art. 42 bis of RD 1065/2007 if the thresholds are met.
Agencia Tributaria — Modelo 720 preguntas frecuentes (updated February 2025) · source page as read 6 September 2026
Art. 93 LIRPF
What the special regime
actually requires and taxes.
No residence visa or permit confers this regime by itself. The conditions below apply on their own terms, and the way the regime treats income is often misread.
Prior non-residence
Not resident in Spain during the 5 tax periods preceding the displacement
This test applies on its own terms. Holding a particular residence visa or permit does not satisfy it and does not confer the regime.
Why you moved
The displacement must occur, in the first year of the regime or the year before, as a consequence of one of the circumstances art. 93 lists
An employment contract is one of those circumstances. The special employment relationship of professional athletes under Real Decreto 1006/1985 is excluded.
How the employment condition is met
The employment condition is met in three ways: an ordinary or statutory employment relationship with an employer in Spain begins; the employer orders the displacement and issues a displacement letter; or the activity is performed remotely without the employer ordering it
Who else the regime covers
Since 1 January 2023 the regime also covers remote workers, entrepreneurs, qualified professionals, and those carrying out training, research, development and innovation activities
It can extend to the spouse, minor or disabled children, and the children's other parent where there is no marriage.
Treaty position
Taxpayers under this option are not considered residents for double taxation treaty purposes, and are taxed only on income from Spanish sources
What counts as Spanish-source
All employment income obtained during the regime is deemed obtained in Spanish territory, with an international double-taxation deduction available
So the regime is not a flat rate on your Spanish income only: employment income earned anywhere is treated as Spanish-source while it applies.
After you land, and five years on
The card you must get,
and the status you may apply for.
The TIE has a deadline written into the Reglamento de Extranjería. Long-term residence has none — it is something you become eligible to apply for, on conditions that include how much time you spent out of the country.
The period
Apply for the TIE in person within one month
Article 209(1): anyone issued a visa or an authorisation to stay in Spain for more than six months has both the right and the duty to obtain the Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero, and must apply for it personally within one month counted from entry into Spain, or from the authorisation being granted or taking effect. The period is one month, not thirty days.
Two authorisations, not one
Residencia de larga duración nacional (arts. 182–185) and residencia de larga duración-UE are two different authorisations
They are granted under different provisions and have different effects, particularly for movement and residence in other member states. Neither is simply 'permanent residency'; check which one your circumstances point to before planning around either.
The five years
Eligibility arises after 5 years of legal, continuous residence
Article 183(1): the right to national long-term residence arises for those who have resided legally and continuously in Spain for the five years immediately preceding the application. It is an eligibility point, not an automatic upgrade — the authorisation is applied for.
Time spent outside Spain
Absences of up to 6 consecutive months, totalling no more than 10 months across the five years — 18 months where the absences were on work grounds
Article 183(2): continuity is not broken by absences of up to six consecutive months, provided the total does not exceed ten months within the five-year period, unless the departures were irregular. Where the absence was on work grounds the total may reach eighteen months. This is the rule that catches people who travel a great deal.
Who may apply
The applicant must not be a citizen of the EU, the EEA or Switzerland
Those citizens hold their own regime and do not apply on this route.
Ministerio de Inclusión, Seguridad Social y Migraciones — Hoja 49: Autorización de residencia de larga duración nacional · source page as read 4 September 2026
Criminal record
No criminal record in Spain or in countries of previous residence over the last five years, for offences recognised under Spanish law
The record is read against offences as they exist in the Spanish legal order, and covers the countries the applicant has resided in during that period as well as Spain.
Ministerio de Inclusión, Seguridad Social y Migraciones — Hoja 49: Autorización de residencia de larga duración nacional · source page as read 4 September 2026
Entry listings
The applicant must not be listed as rejectable in the territory of countries with which Spain has an agreement to that effect
A listing under such an agreement is a bar in its own right, separate from the criminal-record condition.
Ministerio de Inclusión, Seguridad Social y Migraciones — Hoja 49: Autorización de residencia de larga duración nacional · source page as read 4 September 2026
Where you'll land
The four cities
most movers choose.
Madrid
Career & community
Strongest job market, biggest DNV community, central transport hub. Higher rents than Valencia or Málaga.
Madrid data →Barcelona
Lifestyle & coast
Best weather-to-city balance, beach + mountains, vibrant international scene. Tightest rental market.
Barcelona data →Valencia
Best value
Mediterranean coast at half the cost of Barcelona. Growing remote-work scene, paella, sunshine.
Valencia data →Málaga
Sun & retirees
Year-round warmth, booming with retirees and digital nomads. Costa del Sol airport, English-friendly.
Common questions
Things people ask
before they commit.
How long does the whole process take?
Relokato planning estimate, not an official processing time: allow 3–6 months from background check to landing in Spain, and a further 4–8 weeks for the post-arrival registrations. No Spanish authority publishes these durations, and consulate appointment availability is the usual bottleneck. Padrón, TIE, a bank account and healthcare registration are separate steps with no fixed order between them — only the TIE has a published deadline of its own.
Do I need to speak Spanish?
Helpful but not required for the visa. After arrival, basic Spanish makes empadronamiento, healthcare and lease signing far easier — most appointments are not in English.
Can I bring my family?
Yes, on both routes. On the NLV you show additional means of subsistence — €600/month per accompanying family member — and provide each person's documents. On the DNV, Ley 14/2013 art. 62(4) covers the spouse or person in an analogous relationship of affection, minor children, adult children who are economically dependent on the holder and have not formed their own family unit, and dependent ascendants; the added income is €915.75/month for a family unit of two counting the holder and the accompanying or reunified person, then €305.25/month for each member beyond those two.
What about my US/UK/Brazil taxes?
Spain has tax treaties with 100+ countries. Your home-country tax obligations don't disappear — you'll likely need a tax advisor who understands both systems. Relokato reminds you to file home-country notifications (IRS Form 8822, HMRC P85, etc.).
Is Relokato a lawyer or gestor?
No. Relokato is a planning tool — a personalised playbook with deadlines, official sources, and step-by-step guides. For the visa application itself and tax filings, we recommend working with a Spanish gestor.
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