Europe

🇪🇸 Spain

Spain's nomad visa opened up Valencia, Málaga, and beyond to remote workers who don't need Madrid or Barcelona rents, great weather, huge expat infrastructure, and genuine EU access.

Photo: Unsplash, free-to-use licence

Spain in short

We cover 4 cities in Spain. A mid-range solo month runs from about $1,700 in Valencia to about $3,000 in Barcelona (our planning estimates, method). The visa tracker has 1 record for Spain, read on official pages and last checked 29 Sept 2026.

What the official sources say

Telework visa / authorisation for international teleworking (digital nomad), Law 28/2022 Open

Status note: Consular pages (Washington, New York) describe applications as accepted, checked 2026-09-28
Income rule: 200% of monthly minimum wage (SMI 1,221 EUR in 2026) for the applicant alone, per Washington consulate page; plus 75% of SMI (916 EUR) for first family member and 25% (306 EUR) for each additional
Stay: Visa (art. 74 quater) has a maximum validity of 1 year; residence authorisation (art. 74 quinquies) has a maximum validity of 3 years and can be renewed for 2-year periods (Ley 14/2013 as consolidated on BOE, translated)
Government fee: No Spain-wide amount: the consular visa fee varies by consulate and nationality (Washington, 1 Jan 2026: US citizens USD 190; UK USD 963; Canada USD 1,566; Australia USD 3,020; Ethiopia USD 546; Mauritania USD 282; all other nationalities USD 106). Guadalajara consulate: MXN 1,765 in cash at the appointment. A search excerpt of an official consulate page cites EUR 73.26 for the form 790-038 fee; not read on the page itself
Processing: Legal decision period stated by the New York consulate is 10 days from the day after submission, may be extended
Insurance: Health insurance from an insurer authorised in Spain covering all risks, unless covered by Spanish public Social Security or an international convention
Tax: Tax agency page describes the special regime for workers relocating to Spain: eligible new tax residents may opt to be taxed under non-resident income tax rules while remaining IRPF taxpayers, for the year of arrival and the five following years; election by form 149. A search excerpt of an official tax agency page says remote workers were added to the regime from 1 Jan 2023 (seen via search excerpt of official page; the fetched page did not name remote workers)
Checked: 29 Sept 2026

Spain cities compared Planning estimates, see method

Sorted from cheapest. Monthly cost is a mid-range solo scenario in US dollars; housing is the accommodation line of the same scenario. Wifi and safety are planning figures, not measurements.

City	Month, est.	Housing, est.	Wifi, est.	Safety, est.	Best months
Valencia	$1,700	$850 (50%)	200 Mbps	8/10	Apr, May, Jun, Sep, Oct
Málaga	$1,900	$900 (47%)	220 Mbps	8/10	Mar, Apr, May, Sep, Oct, Nov
Madrid	$2,300	$1,100 (48%)	250 Mbps	8/10	Apr, May, Jun, Sep, Oct
Barcelona	$3,000	$1,700 (57%)	220 Mbps	8/10	Apr, May, Jun, Sep, Oct

Guides for Spain

How this page is built: visa rows are read from the audited tracker, which links each figure to an official page and dates the check; city figures are editorial planning estimates (method). Rules change, so confirm with the authority before you apply. Researched from official immigration pages and the site's cost dataset.

Earlier summary of the visa route

Scheme

Digital Nomad Visa (Visado de Nómada Digital)

Maximum stay

1 year initially, renewable up to 5 years

Income or savings

~€2,849/month (200% of Spain's minimum wage)

Difficulty

Involved

These summary figures were carried over from the earlier site and are not individually dated. Where they differ from the official-source records above, the records win.