Spain visas and residency
Who can visit Spain without a visa, and the 4 long-stay routes that let you actually live there.
Visiting Spain, by passport
How the 198 passports we track get in. A visitor entry is never permission to work, study or settle — that is what the routes further down are for.
- Visa-free · 90 days63 passports
- Visa-free30 passports
- Visa required105 passports
United StatesVisa-free · 90 days
United KingdomVisa-free · 90 days
IndiaVisa required
CanadaVisa-free · 90 days
AustraliaVisa-free · 90 days
GermanyFree movement
FranceFree movement
NetherlandsFree movement
IrelandFree movement
ItalyFree movement
PortugalFree movement
PolandFree movement
SwedenFree movement
SwitzerlandFree movement
South AfricaVisa requiredWho can simply move to Spain
Citizens covered by EU/EEA and Swiss free movement need none of the routes below
Citizens of EU and EEA countries and Switzerland can live, work and study in each other's countries without a visa or a work permit.
For the first three months a valid passport or national ID card is all you need. Beyond that you may have to register as a resident, and if you are not working or studying you need enough money to live on and health cover. Switzerland issues an EU/EFTA residence permit on the same terms.
How you actually move to Spain
Digital nomadHigh confidenceVerified July 2026Digital Nomad Visa (teletrabajo de carácter internacional)
Remote employees and freelancers working for companies outside Spain, under the 2023 Startup Law. Freelancers may bill Spanish clients for up to 20% of income.
Digital Nomad Visa (teletrabajo de carácter internacional)
Remote employees and freelancers working for companies outside Spain, under the 2023 Startup Law. Freelancers may bill Spanish clients for up to 20% of income.
- Income of at least 200% of the SMI — €2,849/month (about €34,188/year) in 2026. The SMI is set over 14 payments, so the figure is the annual SMI spread over 12 months and doubled, not twice the headline monthly wage
- At least 3 months with your current employer, and the company trading for at least 1 year
- A degree from a recognised institution, or 3+ years of relevant professional experience
- Private health insurance with full Spanish coverage, or registration with Spanish social security
- Clean criminal record certificate covering the last 5 years, apostilled
- How long it lasts
- 1 year if applied for at a consulate abroad, or a 3-year residence authorisation if applied for from inside Spain — the in-country route is usually the better deal.
- Path to permanent residence
- Renewable to a total of 5 years, after which long-term residence becomes available. Citizenship generally needs 10 years, or 2 for nationals of Ibero-American countries, Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea and Portugal, and for Sephardic Jews.
- Cost
- Consular fee plus the TIE card; several hundred euros, more with a lawyer.
- Processing time
- UGE-CE decisions on in-country applications are usually quick — around 20 working days — versus months at some consulates.
- The bar is not an annual reset on a fixed date — it moves whenever the government sets a new SMI, which it did in February 2026, taking it from €2,762 to €2,849 mid-application-season. Check the figure in force on your filing date, not the one published in January.
- Family add-ons: +€916 for the first dependant (75% of the SMI) and +€305 for each additional one (25%). A couple therefore needs €3,765.
- No more than 20% of income may come from Spanish sources.
- Enforcement tightened in 2026: authorities now actively verify the minimum 6-month physical presence at renewal.
RetirementHigh confidenceVerified July 2026Non-lucrative visa (visado de residencia no lucrativa)
Retirees and people living on savings or passive income. It explicitly does not permit work — including remote work.
Non-lucrative visa (visado de residencia no lucrativa)
Retirees and people living on savings or passive income. It explicitly does not permit work — including remote work.
- Passive income or savings at 400% of the IPREM, plus 100% per dependant
- Private Spanish health insurance with no co-payments
- Clean criminal record certificate, apostilled
- Medical certificate
- How long it lasts
- 1 year, then renewable in 2-year blocks.
- Path to permanent residence
- Counts toward the 5-year long-term residence clock.
- Cost
- Consular fee plus TIE; insurance is the significant recurring cost.
- Processing time
- 1–3 months at the consulate.
- Working remotely on this visa is not permitted — that is precisely the gap the Digital Nomad Visa was created to fill.
- You must spend more than 183 days a year in Spain to renew, which makes you a Spanish tax resident.
Work / sponsoredMedium confidenceVerified July 2026Highly Qualified Professional permit
Professionals hired by Spanish companies, particularly under the Startup Law's fast-track for qualifying employers.
Highly Qualified Professional permit
Professionals hired by Spanish companies, particularly under the Startup Law's fast-track for qualifying employers.
- Employment contract with a Spanish entity
- Degree or equivalent senior experience
- Salary at the threshold set for the role's category
- How long it lasts
- Up to 3 years under the Startup Law route, renewable.
- Path to permanent residence
- Counts toward long-term residence after 5 years.
- Cost
- Employer typically bears the application; TIE fees are yours.
- Processing time
- UGE-CE handles qualifying applications in around 20 working days.
- The general regime and the Startup Law regime have different thresholds and processing bodies — confirm which one your employer is using.
StudentMedium confidenceVerified July 2026Student visa
Students on courses longer than 90 days, including language schools and masters programmes.
Student visa
Students on courses longer than 90 days, including language schools and masters programmes.
- Acceptance from a recognised institution
- Proof of funds at the IPREM-linked threshold
- Health insurance
- Medical certificate and criminal record check for stays over 6 months
- How long it lasts
- Matched to the course; now issued for the full course length rather than renewed annually.
- Path to permanent residence
- Since the 2022 reform, study time counts toward long-term residence and graduates can convert directly to a work permit.
- Cost
- Consular fee plus TIE.
- Processing time
- 1–2 months; consulate slots are the constraint in peak season.
- Students may work up to 30 hours a week, a notable liberalisation over the old rules.
Where you'd land in Spain
Spain's sunny capital — late nights, world-class art, and a fast-rising tech and nomad scene.
- Legal residency: NIE, TIE, padrón & the Digital Nomad Visa
- Driving licences: EU registration, canje & the Spanish test
- Opening a bank account
Mediterranean design capital — beaches, Gaudí, and a magnetic startup-and-nomad scene.
- Legal residency: NIE/TIE, empadronament & visa routes
- Driving: licence canje & the Barcelona Low Emission Zone
- Opening a bank account
A nine-kilometre park where the river used to be, and the one big Spanish city that still charges wealth tax.
- NIE, TIE and the empadronamiento that unlocks everything
- Exchanging a licence, and a city built for bicycles
- Opening a Spanish account, and the resident-versus-non-resident distinction
Europe's hottest major city, the cheapest of Spain's big four, and the first place on earth to name its heatwaves.
- NIE, TIE and the empadronamiento that unlocks everything
- Exchanging a licence, and Europe's flattest cycling city
- Opening a Spanish account, and the resident-versus-non-resident distinction
Spain's fastest-growing tech city and its tightest rental market — the two facts are the same fact.
- NIE, TIE and the empadronamiento that unlocks everything
- Exchanging a licence, and whether the coast makes a car necessary
- Opening a Spanish account, and the resident-versus-non-resident distinction
Its own tax authority, its own language, the best public health service in Spain, and rain that never really stops.
- NIE, TIE, and the empadronamiento that also sets your tax authority
- Exchanging a licence, and a metro that makes a car optional
- Opening an account, and the Basque cooperative banks worth knowing about
Costa Blanca's capital — a tram that runs to Benidorm, and a province where a fifth of residents are foreign.
- NIE, TIE and the padrón nobody on the coast bothers with
- Exchanging a licence, and the tram that reaches further than you think
- Opening a Spanish account where every branch assumes you are a holiday-home buyer
Spain's cheapest major city, run on the university calendar, with a ski resort forty-five minutes away.
- NIE, TIE and the padrón that unlocks everything
- Exchanging a licence, and a city where the hill decides everything
- Opening a Spanish account without a Spanish payslip
One of Spain's priciest capitals to rent in, and the region with the country's highest wealth-tax threshold.
- NIE, TIE, and the padrón that pays for itself in flights
- Exchanging a licence, and the paperwork of bringing a car to an island
- Opening a Spanish account in a city built around non-resident owners
Spain's fourth-biggest city and the cheapest of the big five — an hour by train from both Madrid and Barcelona, and three hours from any sea.
- NIE, TIE and the empadronamiento that unlocks everything
- Exchanging a licence, and the one Spanish big city where a car still makes sense
- Opening a Spanish account, and the resident-versus-non-resident distinction
Outside the EU VAT area, an hour behind mainland Spain all year, and home to one of Europe's oldest remote-work communities.
- NIE, TIE, and the padrón that also buys you the 75% flight discount
- Exchanging a licence, cheap fuel, and an island the buses only half cover
- Opening a Spanish account, and the customs charges that appear on your card
Spain's most expensive city, wedged between a bay and steep hills — and one where the tax return goes to Gipuzkoa, not to Madrid.
- NIE, TIE, and the empadronamiento that also sets your tax authority
- Exchanging a licence, and a city that is faster on foot than in a car
- Opening an account, and the Basque cooperative banks worth knowing about
One of Spain's cheapest capitals, in a municipality of fifty-odd villages — an hour from a lagoon that is the first ecosystem in Europe with legal rights.
- NIE, TIE and the empadronamiento that unlocks everything
- Exchanging a licence in a region built around the car
- Opening a Spanish account, and the resident-versus-non-resident distinction
Spain at a glance
- Capital
- Madrid
- Population
- 49.4M
- Languages
- Spanish
- Currency
- EUR