Self-Employment Proof for Digital Nomad Visa: Which Documents You Need

Spain's Digital Nomad Visa is designed for professionals who work remotely for foreign companies or as freelancers serving international clients. To qualify, you must prove that:

• You have an established professional activity outside Spain
• Your income comes from foreign sources (at least initially)
• You have a track record of self-employment or remote work

Two routes read the same evidence, and it is worth knowing which one you are on. From outside Spain you go to a Spanish consulate and apply for the international teleworking visa, which authorises you to live and work in Spain for one year. The residence permit itself is a different product: it is filed inside Spain and resolved by the UGE (Unidad de Grandes Empresas). The UGE's own FAQ says both things plainly: you cannot apply for the residence permit from your home country, and a visa holder can file for the initial permit only in the last 60 days the visa is valid.

Whichever route you are on, the file has to show a genuine remote professional, not someone whose plan is to look for local work after arrival. That means official documentation of your self-employed status in the country where you are registered.

If you're a US-based freelancer or self-employed professional, these are the documents that evidence your self-employed status:

Spain does not publish a country-by-country list of accepted documents, and there is no single form that every applicant files. What the reviewing unit looks for is the same regardless of where you are registered: that your activity is officially recorded somewhere, that it has been running for a while, and that it actually earns money. In practice, that comes down to three things.

• A register extract. Whatever your country's official record of self-employed or sole-trader status is — a commercial register extract, a business register printout, a tax-authority registration certificate. Get it as close to your filing date as you can.
• Tax filings. Provide available returns showing your self-employment activity where relevant. Additional years can support an established history; two to three years are not a universal legal minimum.
• Client contracts and invoices. Law 14/2013 requires a professional relationship with one or more non-Spanish companies going back at least three months, so your contracts should predate the application by at least that much.

For foreign public registration or tax documents, arrange the applicable apostille or consular legalisation unless an exemption applies, then the required Spanish translation. Do not treat every private contract or invoice as a public document: a private document cannot be apostilled at all, only notarised. The route depends on the issuing country and document type.

Applying from Russia? The register extract in your case is the EGRIP extract or the «Мой налог» certificate. We cover the Russian document chain step by step in our guide for applicants from Russia.

For a country-by-country view — what the US, the UK, Russia and Germany issue, what each document says and which ones take an apostille — see proof of self-employment by country.

This is where one distinction matters.

For a self-employed teleworker, RETA is the rule published by the UGE. Its FAQ for international teleworkers says RETA registration is compulsory and expressly rules out importing self-employed coverage under a bilateral agreement. Under Law 14/2013, a later finding that the required registration never happened can end the authorisation and the linked authorisations of dependent family members.

This holds for every freelancer, EU, EEA and Swiss ones included: a self-employed applicant registers with RETA. An A1, a Certificate of Coverage or any other home-country certificate does not replace it, even if it has been issued.

For employees, the UGE expressly accepts imported coverage when the relevant agreement applies and the home institution issues a certificate that covers the work from Spain:

• EU / EEA / Switzerland and the UK — an A1 certificate. The UK still issues these after Brexit under the EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement.
• United States — a Certificate of Coverage from the SSA under the US–Spain totalization agreement (in force since 1 April 1988).
• Russia — the SFR departure certificate under the Spain–Russia social security convention (BOE-A-1996-4208, signed 11 April 1994 and in force since 22 February 1996).

The certificate must state explicitly that it covers the remote work from Spain. A pending request is not the issued document.

For US freelancers, the bilateral agreement assigns self-employed coverage by residence. Once resident in Spain, the route runs the other way: Spain issues the certificate used with Schedule SE to claim exemption from US self-employment tax.

Why a self-employed applicant registers with RETA rather than bringing an A1 or a Certificate of Coverage, and when to register after approval, is set out in RETA, A1 or Certificate of Coverage: which applies to you.

Foreign public documents need the applicable authentication unless a treaty or another rule exempts them. The Hague Apostille Convention, articles 1 and 3, defines the public documents it covers and preserves those exemptions. One of them is the 1984 Spain–USSR exchange of notes, which Spain still applies with Russia and which covers civil-registry certificates. Use the issuing country and the document type to identify the correct process:

A traducción jurada (sworn translation by a translator authorised by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs) is needed for your contract with the client and for public documents, apostilled or not, such as a register extract. Invoices, bank certificates and letters only need a simple translation.

How a sworn translation works:

• Who can translate: Only MAEC-certified sworn translators
• Where to find: List available at exteriores.gob.es
• Format: Translation must include translator's stamp and signature
• Cost: Typically €30-60 per page depending on complexity

Important: Where a sworn translation is required, a simple translation or notarisation alone does not replace it. Include the apostille or legalisation in the translation when applicable.

Don't let these issues delay or deny your application:

• Missing authentication: Obtain an apostille or legalisation for public documents where required, and check the exemptions — Russian civil-registry certificates are one of them
• Simple translation instead of sworn: the contract and public documents, apostilled or not, need a traductor jurado authorised by the Spanish foreign ministry; invoices and bank certificates only need a simple translation
• Outdated documents: Extracts and certificates should be dated within 90 days
• Incomplete activity evidence: Provide the available tax records and contracts supporting at least three months of professional relationships
• Unclear business activity: Your documents should clearly show freelance/self-employed status
• Insufficient income proof: Documents should demonstrate income meeting the SMI threshold
• Poor document quality: Ensure copies are clear and legible; certified copies preferred

Best practice: Submit more documentation than you think necessary. It's better to have extra proof than to face a request for additional documents, which delays your application.