Which Spanish residency permit suits your situation?
Four questions about how you earn, who pays you and who comes with you. You get a route to look at, the article it comes from, and a straight answer when the form alone cannot settle it — including the three routes we do not run.
The published income floors, before you answer anything
Two of the four routes have a monthly figure written into the rules. For the other two the law sets no euro amount and looks at the project and your resources instead.
- Digital Nomad
- €2,849 / month €1,221 × 14 ÷ 12 × 2
- Non-Lucrative
- €2,400 / month 400 % of monthly IPREM
- Cuenta propia
- No monthly figure qualifications and investment
- Entrepreneur
- No euro amount in law ENISA report, resources assessed
Answer four questions
Four answers, one suggested route. The matching runs in your browser.
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General information, not legal advice. This suggests where to look; it does not decide your case, and it covers the main non-EU routes only — EU family rights, family reunification and general work permits sit outside it.
Your suggested route
The five outcomes, in full
Every answer this router can give, whether or not it points at us. Read them without touching the form if you prefer.
Digital Nomad residency permit
We help with applications for this residency permit.
An in-Spain residence authorisation decided by the UGE, for people who do their existing remote work from Spanish soil. Valid for up to three years under article 74 quinquies.2, renewable in two-year periods, with family able to apply at the same time.
Lets you keep working remotely for companies registered outside Spain. Employees may work for those companies only; self-employed holders may also bill a company in Spain, up to 20 % of their professional activity.
What it means for the Beckham regime: Article 93.1.b).1º LIRPF names the Ley 14/2013 international-telework visa expressly and treats fully remote work as satisfying the displacement test, so a remote employee can qualify — conditional on every other article 93 requirement, which is a separate assessment from the permit. Self-employed holders are not covered by that paragraph: ordinary autónomo activity is excluded and a different qualifying basis is needed.
Written in Ley 35/2006 (LIRPF), art. 93
Written in Ley 14/2013, art. 74 bis
Startup residency permit
We help with applications for this residency permit.
A three-year residence authorisation for starting, developing or running a business activity, filed electronically with the UGE, and renewable. Time on it counts towards long-term residence, which has requirements of its own.
Lets you build the business itself. The gate is not an income figure — it is the mandatory ENISA report on whether the activity is innovative or of special economic interest to Spain. A conventional business that will not clear that test is usually a cuenta propia file under article 84 instead.
What it means for the Beckham regime: Entrepreneurial activity is one of the routes into the Beckham regime under article 93.1.b).3º LIRPF, but it is assessed on its own terms and never follows automatically from the permit.
Written in Ley 35/2006 (LIRPF), art. 93
Written in Ley 14/2013, arts. 69–70
Non-Lucrative residency permit
We do not handle applications for this residency permit.
Residence for people who will not work at all, funded from assets or periodic income. Article 62 accepts either: savings covering the period applied for count on their own, so a pension is not a precondition. It is a real and widely used route, simply not one we run.
Permits no work whatsoever. Article 61.1 of the Reglamento defines the status as residing «sin realizar actividades laborales o profesionales» — that covers employment and self-employment alike, including remote work for a company abroad.
What it means for the Beckham regime: The special regime under article 93 LIRPF is triggered by taking up work or an entrepreneurial activity in Spain, which this permit does not allow — so it does not open the regime by itself. That is a statement about the activity, not a bar on the household: a relative who moves on a qualifying route can bring family members in under article 93.3, on that article's own conditions.
Written in Reglamento de Extranjería, arts. 61–62
Self-employed residency permit (cuenta propia)
We do not handle applications for this residency permit.
The general self-employment residence authorisation, usually decided by the provincial Oficina de Extranjería rather than the UGE. It is the route for building a working life around Spanish clients, and it is not one we run.
Lets you work for yourself in Spain, Spanish clients included. Article 84 sets out several requirements together — the licences the activity needs, the professional qualifications it requires, and proof that the planned investment is sufficient for the project. No monthly income figure appears in any of them.
What it means for the Beckham regime: Ordinary self-employed activity sits outside the Beckham regime. Article 113.2 of the IRPF regulation limits what counts to entrepreneurial and qualifying highly-qualified professional activity.
Written in RD 439/2007 (RIRPF), art. 113
Written in Reglamento de Extranjería, art. 84
Individual review needed
Your income, employment arrangements or supporting documents need a closer look. This questionnaire cannot assess your full application.
This page covers the main non-EU routes, not all of them. The highly-qualified professional authorisation under Ley 14/2013 art. 71, EU-citizen family rights, family reunification and the general work-permit regime all sit outside it, and none of them is something we run.
What it means for the Beckham regime: The special regime under article 93 LIRPF is assessed in its own right, against its own conditions, and it is not a feature of any particular permit. Once the route and the start date are settled, our Beckham eligibility check is the place to test it — the question below links to it.
Questions about choosing a route
The comparisons people actually make before they decide.
No. Article 61.1 of the Reglamento defines the status as residing without carrying out «actividades laborales o profesionales», and remote work for a company abroad is a labour activity like any other. If you intend to keep working, the Digital Nomad route is the one built for it.
It depends entirely on whether you are an employee or self-employed, and the two are treated differently. A self-employed holder may bill a company in Spain for up to 20 % of their professional activity. An employee may not: article 74 bis.1 says they may work only for companies based outside Spain.
Article 84 of the Reglamento sets no universal monthly euro threshold. It asks for the licences the activity needs, the professional qualifications it requires, and proof that the planned investment is sufficient for the project and its effect on job creation, self-employment included. The investment evidence is one requirement among several, and a monthly figure quoted for cuenta propia comes from practice rather than from the article.
Both are true. Real Decreto 126/2026 sets the 2026 SMI at €1,221 a month over 14 payments. Files are prepared against the annual amount spread across twelve months: €1,221 × 14 ÷ 12 = €1,424.50, and 200 % of that is €2,849. The arithmetic is shown rather than asserted so you can check it.
No. It suggests the route whose written requirements match what you described, from four banded answers. Approval turns on the documents, the evidence behind each requirement and the assessment of your particular file — none of which four clicks can see.
Not by itself. The special regime under article 93 LIRPF is a separate application with its own conditions, assessed on your facts rather than attached to a permit. A remote employee on the Digital Nomad route and an entrepreneur can both qualify if they meet every requirement, and article 93.3 covers family members of someone who does. The Beckham eligibility check walks through the conditions.
It usually means one movable thing is in the way — how the means are evidenced, a second employer, or which entity pays you. That is worth knowing precisely, and it is not a refusal: the form cannot see the documents that settle it. This page covers the main non-EU routes only, so others exist outside it: the highly-qualified professional authorisation under article 71, EU-citizen family rights, family reunification and the general work-permit regime, none of which we run.
Where each route is written
One provision per outcome, quoted rather than paraphrased.
Employees may work only for companies based outside Spain. Self-employed holders may also bill a company in Spain, up to 20 % of their professional activity.
Spanish original
«En el caso de ejercicio de una actividad laboral, el titular de la autorización por teletrabajo de carácter internacional solo podrá trabajar para empresas radicadas fuera del territorio nacional. En el supuesto de ejercicio de una actividad profesional, se permitirá al titular de la autorización por teletrabajo de carácter internacional trabajar para una empresa ubicada en España, siempre y cuando el porcentaje de dicho trabajo no sea superior al 20 % del total de su actividad profesional.»
Where a labour activity is carried out, the holder of the international telework authorisation may work only for companies based outside national territory. Where a professional activity is carried out, the holder is permitted to work for a company located in Spain, provided the share of that work does not exceed 20 % of their total professional activity.
The entrepreneur route turns on a mandatory ENISA report, not on an income figure.
Spanish original
«Se entenderá como actividad emprendedora aquella que sea innovadora y/o tenga especial interés económico para España y a tal efecto cuente con un informe favorable emitido por ENISA.»
Entrepreneurial activity means activity that is innovative and/or of special economic interest to Spain and, to that effect, holds a favourable report issued by ENISA.
The Non-Lucrative status is defined as residing without carrying out any labour or professional activity.
Spanish original
«Se halla en situación de residencia temporal no lucrativa la persona extranjera, así como sus familiares, que hayan sido autorizados a residir en España sin realizar actividades laborales o profesionales.»
A foreign national, together with their family members, is in a temporary non-lucrative residence situation where they have been authorised to reside in Spain without carrying out labour or professional activities.
400 % of monthly IPREM for the applicant, plus a flat 100 % of IPREM for each dependant.
Spanish original
«a) Para su sostenimiento, durante su residencia en España, una cantidad que represente mensualmente en euros el 400 % del IPREM… b) Para el sostenimiento de cada uno de los familiares a su cargo… una cantidad que represente mensualmente en euros el 100 % del IPREM… cantidad a acreditar de forma adicional a la referida en el apartado a) anterior.»
a) For their own support during residence in Spain, a monthly amount in euros representing 400 % of IPREM… b) For the support of each dependent family member… a monthly amount in euros representing 100 % of IPREM… to be evidenced in addition to the amount referred to in point a).
Paragraph c) asks for proof that the planned investment is sufficient. It is one requirement among several in article 84, and none of them is a monthly income figure.
Spanish original
«Acreditar la suficiencia de la inversión prevista para la implantación del proyecto y sobre la incidencia, en su caso, en la creación de empleo, incluyendo como tal el auto empleo.»
Evidence the sufficiency of the investment planned for setting up the project and its effect, where applicable, on job creation, self-employment included.
The 2026 minimum wage is €1,221 a month over 14 payments — the figure behind the €2,849 Digital Nomad threshold.
Spanish original
«El salario mínimo para cualesquiera actividades en la agricultura, en la industria y en los servicios, sin distinción de sexo ni edad de las personas trabajadoras, queda fijado en 40,70 euros/día o 1 221 euros/mes, según el salario esté fijado por días o por meses.»
The minimum wage for any activity in agriculture, industry and services, without distinction of sex or age of the worker, is set at €40.70 per day or €1,221 per month, according to whether the wage is fixed by day or by month.
Got an answer you did not expect?
Most surprising results come down to one detail — who the contract is with, or which figure is gross. Fifteen minutes is usually enough to settle it.