Digital Nomad residency permit for Russian citizens

Yes. Ley 14/2013 is addressed to non-EU nationals and does not single out any nationality. Its conditions are about the work and the person: genuinely remote work, professional experience, income, social security cover and a criminal record certificate — not which passport you hold. Applications from Russian citizens are received and processed in the ordinary way.

Where you apply matters too. If you are lawfully in Spain, the file is submitted electronically to UGE and what you receive is a residence authorisation, not a consular visa. By law UGE has 20 working days to decide, counted from electronic submission — about 4 weeks.

What differs for Russian applicants is not the right to apply but 2 technical points: how social security is covered, and how bank statements are certified. Both are below.

No. If you are self-employed you register with RETA, Spain’s social security scheme for the self-employed, and no certificate replaces that. UGE’s own FAQ is explicit: RETA registration is mandatory for the self-employed, and home-country cover cannot be kept under a bilateral agreement (UGE FAQ for teletrabajadores de carácter internacional, question 6). Posting under the Spain–Russia social security agreement presupposes a sending employer (BOE-A-1996-4208), and a freelancer has none. So the A1, the US Certificate of Coverage and Russia’s SFR departure certificate are for employees only as far as this permit is concerned.

What goes in the file instead is a written commitment to register with RETA once the authorisation is granted. The registration date is checked at renewal, so do not delay it — see the renewal guide. The documents that establish the activity itself are in our self-employment proof guide.

The departure certificate issued by Russia’s Social Fund (SFR), the Russian counterpart of an A1. It has to state that Russian legislation continues to apply to you while you work remotely from Spain, with the start and end dates of that period. A document that only confirms you are registered in the Russian system does not cover the point, and private health insurance is a separate requirement.

The certificate is issued to you in person or to a representative holding a notarial power of attorney; there is no online procedure. An offer to “get it done in Moscow” without that power of attorney is a forgery: UGE checks the certificate with the issuing office and refuses the application.

Request it first rather than last. If UGE asks for it in a requerimiento, you have 10 working days to answer and up to 5 more on request (Ley 39/2015, art. 68) — rarely enough to obtain the certificate from scratch. How those requests read and how to answer them: the UGE requerimiento.

Three Russian documents are regularly submitted in its place and none of them work: an individual account statement, an ADI-REG notice and a SNILS card. Each confirms only that you are registered in the Russian system, which is not the question UGE is asking.

Yes, and usually it is the central document. The requirement is a statement of account movements covering 3 months, certified by the bank itself — a branch stamp and signature, or a qualified electronic signature. A PDF exported from the banking app proves nothing about its own origin, and that is where these files most often draw a requerimiento (our cases, 2026). For Russian banks the form that works is a printed statement on letterhead with a wet branch stamp and signature. A balance certificate is not a substitute: the balance is what the startup route asks for, while the Digital Nomad route looks at the movements themselves.

An apostille is neither required nor possible here: a bank statement is a private document, and apostilles go on public ones — criminal record certificates, diplomas. The breakdown by bank type is in our bank statements guide.

What UGE assesses is not how the money travels but whether the income is steady and traceable. If the money moves in several hops, assemble the chain in advance: contract, invoices or payslips, and statements whose amounts and dates reconcile with each other. The caseworker matches incoming payments against your documents, and a mismatch reads as irregular income.

Bank compliance policies differ, so decide where the money will land in Spain before you file rather than after.

Yes. Family members apply alongside you or join later, but each person needs a complete document set of their own. The income floor rises with them: +75% of the SMI for the first family member and +25% for each additional one.

In 2026 money that is +€1,068.38 and +€356.13 a month: €3,917.38 for 2 people and €4,273.50 for a household of 3. Work out your own household in the income calculator; how the SMI itself is set is in our note on the 2026 SMI.

It is a public document, so unlike a bank statement it needs an apostille and then a sworn translation into Spanish. In Russia the apostille is placed by the same Interior Ministry centre that issues the certificate, so ask for both at once. On the day you file, the certificate must be no more than 6 months old, counted from its issue date.

No fixed passport-validity threshold has come up in our cases (2026), but filing on a nearly expired passport often draws a requerimiento and costs you the time that goes with it — and the authorisation is worth having for its full term. If you can renew before you file, that is the calmer path.

A worker authorised to live in Spain while working remotely for companies based outside Spain. The work must be done entirely through computer, telematic and telecommunication systems.

An adult national of a country outside the EU. Citizens of the European Union, and people covered by EU law, cannot use this route.

Yes. You must prove the professional relationship with a commercial contract that has run for at least three months, and the foreign company must authorise you to work from Spain.

Yes. If you work from Spain, you must register with Spanish Social Security. There are two cases:

• Employee: your company must register with Social Security and affiliate you in the General Regime.
• Self-employed: you must register in the self-employed workers' regime (RETA).

Employees can instead keep their home country's coverage — but only if Spain has a social security agreement with that country, and its administration issues a coverage certificate for teleworkers under that agreement. Only some countries with agreements issue these certificates. Which documents your country issues to prove self-employment, and why the certificate route is for employees only, is set out in proof of self-employment by country.

No. In that case you are not a teleworker but a worker transferred between companies (ICT, Intra Company Transfer). That is a separate permit with its own requirements.

• You must be in Spain legally.
• You must have no criminal record in Spain, or in any country you lived in during the 5 years before applying. Provide certificates from your countries of residence for the last 2 years, plus a sworn declaration covering the last 5.
• You must have health cover: public (through Social Security registration) or an equivalent private policy from an insurer authorised to operate in Spain. Travel insurance does not count, nor do policies limited to reimbursement of medical expenses, or with waiting periods or co-payments.
• You must have enough money for yourself and your family members during your period of residence in Spain.

Your work must always be done entirely through computer, telematic and telecommunication systems. Beyond that, two scenarios are possible:

• Employee: you can work only for the company outside Spain that you telework for.
• Freelancer (professional relationship): you can also work for companies in Spain, if you keep the professional relationship your authorisation is based on. The Spanish work must stay a professional relationship (never employment) and must not exceed 20% of your total professional activity.

Up to six months per calendar year. Stay within that limit and you keep meeting the requirements of the authorisation.

Yes. These family members can apply — together with you, or later:

• your spouse or unmarried partner
• your children — minors, or dependent adult children who have not formed their own family unit
• your dependent parents

Yes. Under the fourth additional provision of Law 14/2013, their residence permits allow both living and working in Spain — employed or self-employed.

You must prove enough money for yourself and your family members:

• Main applicant: 200% of the monthly minimum interprofessional wage (SMI)
• First family member: add at least 75% of the SMI
• Each further family member: add another 25% of the SMI

You can prove these amounts with contracts, payslips, company certificates and similar documents.

This is a normal part of the process: UGE issues a requerimiento (subsanación) when something is missing or needs clarifying. Under Ley 39/2015 (art. 68) you must respond within 10 working days of the notification date. On a justified request the deadline can be extended by up to 5 more days. If you do not respond in time, the application counts as withdrawn (desistido) and you have to file again. We handle the response end to end: we work out exactly what UGE is asking for and put together the correct documents on time. How to count the days and what UGE asks for most often: responding to a UGE requerimiento.

Yes. You can appeal a refusal (resolución denegatoria) with a recurso de alzada within 1 month of the day the decision is served on you (how to count the date). In practice it is often more effective to fix the reason for the refusal and reapply. We review the wording of the refusal, assess your chances, and handle either the appeal or a fresh application.

There are two routes:

• From Spain (through UGE): you enter Spain legally and apply online. The residence permit is granted for up to 3 years (or the length of your contract if shorter), with a legal decision deadline of 20 working days.
• Through a consulate: you apply at the Spanish consulate in your place of residence, get a national D visa valid for 1 year, and then arrange your residence permit once you're in Spain.

For most people, the UGE route from Spain is faster and more convenient. We'll help you choose the route that fits your situation. Which permits UGE decides and how long a decision takes in practice: the UGE page.

Once you're approved, complete these steps in Spain:

• TIE (residence card): book a fingerprint appointment (huellas) at the police station — a separate appointment for each family member — then collect the plastic card about 15–20 days later.
• Padrón (empadronamiento): register your address at the local town hall (ayuntamiento). You need the padrón for healthcare, schools, and opening a bank account. For the TIE it depends on the province: in Barcelona, Madrid, and Málaga you don't need it if the address in your application was in the same province where you give your fingerprints and you haven't moved since; otherwise you do.
• Certificado digital / Cl@ve: a digital signature for handling things online — taxes, RETA, appointments with government offices. This is especially important if you're registering as autónomo.

We'll walk you through the right order and recommend trusted providers, so you get through each step without mistakes.

Yes, if you're an employee (not self-employed). UGE needs proof that your home country's social security still covers you while you work remotely from Spain — an ordinary private insurance policy does not replace it. The document depends on where your employer is based:

• A1 certificate — EU, EEA, Switzerland or the UK
• Certificate of Coverage — USA, under the US–Spain Totalization Agreement
• Your home country's social security certificate — countries with a bilateral agreement with Spain

In every case the wording must state that you work remotely from Spain. We help you get the right certificate with the correct wording.

As soon as possible — and no later than 45–60 days after your residence permit is approved. This matters: if you're on the self-employment (autónomo) track and do not register with RETA in time, UGE may raise questions at renewal. Register right after approval. If there have been delays, get in touch with us before filing your renewal.