Transcription
Spain's digital nomad visa is changing, and immigration is looking hard at your income, your financial documentation, and your tax filings, which is a new one. Whether you're applying for the first time for this visa or renewing, this affects you.
And this really up-to-date news we got in this video comes straight from the director of the UG, [music] the body that approves every single digital nomad visa application in Spain. And that's where Anna comes in. Hey, Anna. How are you?
>> Hi, James. Hi, everyone. I am Anna. I am an immigration advisor in bureaucracy.
>> And I should add, Anna and the team, you have a 99.5% success rate with visas that you help people apply for. So it shows how your commitment to quality and how up-to-date, uh, you are with all these changing requirements. So you're going to walk us through these latest changes. These come directly from the top of the UG.
>> Exactly. James, we had a meeting last week with the UG director, and well, he clarified many points and also gave us many new directions, both on new applications and also renewals.
>> Okay, great. It's giving us direct insight into exactly how they're assessing digital nomad visa applications and renewals right now. But before we get into the updates, let's just take a moment and remind anybody who's watching what the digital nomad visa is, or DMV as it's often called, and who it's for.
>> The DMV is, as the name says, a digital nomad visa. So this is for those who are remote workers, mainly, but of course, not all kinds of remote workers. So right now, uh, we have, uh, those who work as employees in some specific countries, they are still applicable, and also those who are self-employed. Mainly, those people, they have to, of course, be remote workers working from their home and meet the financial requirements.
>> Which is really the key piece. So the digital nomad visa really divides into those two categories, right? People coming as remote employees and those who are coming as freelancers, uh, with clients. So let's get into the changes, and let's start with the latest changes that apply both to those applying for the digital nomad visa the first time and those who are applying for renewals. The first one is bank statements. What's the new standard? We were already receiving many requirements, and now we could confirm that it is a new requirement that the bank statements, they are not enough just to present them like they come. The now they want bank statements with a bank stamp or, if not possible, notarization. We generally receive bank statements as they come, or in PDF, or people normally just download them, but this is not being enough anymore. This is a challenge, I know, for a lot of people because if you have a Spanish bank account, you can go in and you can ask for a bank printout, a statement to be stamped at the teller. But obviously, if you're working, if if your bank account is one of these online bank accounts, N26, Revolut, Wise, you've got a challenge because there's no branch to go into. So how do people handle it if they're using one of these online banks?
>> If it's not possible when people download their their bank statements to have a stamp, the recommendation is yes or yes, looking for a notary and notarizing them, even if it's digital, or if it's just a physical bank that people are not able to go for example, if they already came to Spain, they cannot be going to the US bank or their country the banks to get a stamp, so notarization.
>> Okay, and there's a few options here. So if you're in Spain and you have a a Revolut printout, one of these online banks, you could take it to a Spanish notary and get that notarized, and that will fulfill the official requirement. You could use maybe an online notary service. Like, how would that work?
>> Absolutely possible. Yes. Uh, we have been applying already with many online notaries. Uh, many clients, they told me that they look for online notaries. They do, for example, a facial verification. We received the PDF approved. Also, we already had clients that here in in Spain, they managed to find some notaries that they can understand English and they accepted to make notarizations. So both cases are possible.
>> That's a really good point because obviously the notary is notarizing the valid, you know, the fact that the document is something, you know, that it's you, that it's your name, that it's official, and so they need to be able to understand it. So is an English-speaking notary is key in this if you're looking for a Spain-based notary?
>> Yes. Yes. Because if the notary, well, the notary is here, they can accept or not making this notarization since it's in a foreign language. So if they understand what they are doing, there's a high chance that they do your notarization. If they don't understand, he has the possibility to deny making your notarization.
>> Okay, that's a really key point. Okay, so bank statements clear. Great if you can get a stamp, but if you can't, you've got to go this notarization route. There's another one. Uh, the next one, and again, this is this applies to new applications and renewals, social security coverage certificates. So these are the the certificates that if you're coming as an employee, uh, a remote employee, that you need to show, uh, as part of your application or as part of your renewal, and there's not an update here, I believe, Anna, but there's clarification, right? So what is the clarification here?
>> What we could get from the UG director is that the certificate of coverage, officially, they do not need to be apostilled. Before, we had no clarity on this point. So sometimes we had people that presented them apostilled and translated, and also people that presented them with any of those, and we are we had multiple options here. Now we have confirmed that no need for apostille for the certificate of coverage.
>> Okay, that's good. Yeah. And I feel like, cuz it's true that there's a lot of issues with this non-well, with this digital nomad visa, non-lucrative visa as well, where it's not clear what the official requirement is. So, um, 100% clear that you do not need to apostille it. So I know also with those coming from the US who are coming as remote employees with the certificate of coverage, there's a unique requirement there, right? That it must be framed as employer-initiated, that the relocation is employer-initiated. Tell us a little bit more about that.
>> Let's say I I am a US employee and I want to apply for a certificate of coverage. The only way that I can get the certificate of coverage approved and correctly being used for the digital visa is if I present a letter from my employer saying that the reason of the move is not because I want to move, but for strategic reasons, because my employer, my company also wants me to move to Spain.
>> Okay, that's really really critical, otherwise you risk getting a a denial, um, if that doesn't happen. And obviously UK, Canada, these other ones are accepted. Now, there was just one last point I wanted to touch on, something that applies to all, uh, you know, new applications and renewals, and this is for anybody coming from any of the Gulf states, uh, in the Middle East. So what's the issue here?
>> One of the requirements for the DMV is to show proof that the person, this case in the Middle East and the Gulf, they have to come as self-employed. We have to prove that they are self-employed in their home countries where they come from, that they have been paying taxes, or they have any kind of proof that they are self-employed. But in these countries, we do not have any kind of official proof. So we also brought this into the UG director, and he also had no answer, no final answer on this. Uh, he also classified this as very risky. He mentioned about having, for example, trade licenses in these countries, but the trade license for him is may not be enough to prove that someone is self-employed. So this point is still a high risk for Middle East standing off because we still have no official proof of self-employment.
>> It's really a pity, but it shows how there's still gaps. The director of the UG didn't even have an answer to this. And I think if anybody's watching, say, from the US or Canada, or the UK, obviously knowing now that you can't just become self-employed in Spain, you will have to do that as well, officially, within, you know, within Spanish law, but you have to have already been self-employed prior to the move. How long does somebody have to be self-employed for before they move? Because sometimes people are changing from employee to self-employed to apply for this visa. So there's a period of time that they should show that they were self-employed back home before applying as self-employed.
>> Officially, no. But the recommendation is to match the visa requirements. So for the DMV, the requirement is that the person has to be working for the last three months before the application. This is the minimum. So of course, since someone has to be working as a contractor, a self-employed for the last three months.
>> Typical digital nomad stuff, there's no clear guidance. So, you know, you and the team at Bureaucracy have to kind of intuit the the guidance. Um, but obviously you're getting, uh, acceptances with that three-month rule. So that's good. And look, you know, everybody, I know there's a lot that we're going to be talking about and are talking about to keep straight. So Anna and the team have helped me put it all together, everything we're talking about in this video in a free guide, the Digital Nomad Visa Changes Checklist. So every update that we're talking about in this video is listed out in that checklist in plain language, so you know exactly what applies to you before you apply for this visa or renew. So scan the QR code up here on the screen, or you can grab it via the link in the description below. As I say, it's 100% free. If you want to work directly with the team at Bureaucracy, they are offering Spain revealed viewers a free 20-minute consultation, so you can get some clarity, plus 10% off if you decide to work with them. So that link is in the description, uh, as well. Anna, let's go to updated requirements or or or confirmation requirements that only apply to new applications. Then we're going to get into the renewals. And there's just one key one here, right, for new, uh, applications. And that's, uh, criminal records. So, you know, one of the key requirements for, you know, for pretty much all visas is to show that you, uh, to provide a criminal record or lack thereof, you know, a rap sheet. Um, so what's the update here?
>> Well, the first one is more like a confirmation. Uh, depending on countries, we have many countries that they have different kinds of criminal records. Some countries they have, for example, criminal records issued for one month, three, one year. So we asked him, what about the six-month rule? In theory, all documents, they should be within six months. What about the criminal records in this case? He told us that when we have a criminal record that expressly says their validity date, this is it. If the criminal record says nothing, then we apply the six-month rule.
>> And to be clear, this is applying to our entire history. What we're talking about here is the validity of the document. So if in my country, the the criminal record report, or absence of criminal records, as it as it usually is, uh, is a has a three-month validity, then it is a three-month validity for this, right?
>> Yes. This is what he confirmed.
>> Okay. And if it says nothing, then it's six months. Some people have things in their past, right? How does this work? What if I have something on my criminal record? How is this judged by the UG about whether I can get the digital nomad visa?
>> He was telling us that, of course, when they receive a criminal record, they actually check. They they see the translation because they want to see what happened with this case. They want to understand if this was closed, if it was not, if there was an arrest or not. If time passes officially, he commented to us that this should not be counted. If this is 30 years ago, 20 years ago, this in theory should not be counted. But they still value this on the on the case, seeing each case and each offense. So even if something is older, they are still considering because they do check the translation, they do check the original document to understand.
>> And I think the core here is, you know, they're looking at, does this person pose an actual threat to Spanish public order or security? So it's a matter of degree, right? How long ago? How serious? It's all these things. There's no clear rule here, but I guess do you see people with something on their criminal record, uh, these clients being approved? You obviously see them being approved, right? In in many cases.
>> Of course. Of course, many, many of those, uh, even some with some recent recent charges also. But of course, this, as you said, will depend also on who gets their file in the UG, depending on also what they understand of this criminal record.
>> Do you ever do anything to provide context for criminal record situations, like in any kind of cover letter, provide additional context, or is it best not to do that?
>> Our recommendation here at Bureaucracy is always provide any some context with the swiftest cases because then they can understand what happened and see that this person has not committed anything in the last years, the recent years. So we always recommend getting, uh, context, always.
>> Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's always a good idea with any immigration application to kind of try and tell the story, pull things together with some sort of cover letter so that it's not just a bunch of documents. There's actually, and you can kind of shape the story a little bit and focus attention in certain areas and maybe away from others. Okay. So, criminal record, that's for people applying for, uh, for the visa for the first time. But now I want to talk about the renewals specifically, those who are renewing because this is where a lot of the biggest changes are. Obviously, people are starting to renew this this visa right now, Anna. It's about three or so years old, the visa. So we're just starting to see this now. Correct.
>> Exactly. People are just coming to complete their three years here in Spain. So we are starting with some renewals right now, and requirements have been changing a lot from renewals. When we had our time with the UG director, uh, he confirmed that until until June, we had a broad set of requirements, and right now they are getting it a bit more strict, and also reducing the requirements.
>> More clarity and and shorter, but potentially stricter. So it's kind of it's kind of a mix, a mixed, a mixed bag. Okay. So I I know one of them was around employee letters and contracts. So should we start there?
>> Exactly. Before and a few months ago, we could be, uh, applying for a renewal with some employment letters. Right now, this is not enough. They also want contracts. They want to see the contract. The recommendation right now is to get the original contract, the one that gave the visa, and an official updated letter from the employee saying that this person continues being an employee or a contractor.
>> Does this apply to freelancers as well, from their clients, and also employees and their employers, like both categories?
>> Yes. Yes. For everyone. For everyone that is renewal. This is applying.
>> That might need to be a new contract if if the original contract was only three years or so, or the the duration of the visa, or it can just be the original contract resubmitted, right? If the original contract was indefinite, is that the case?
>> Yes. Yes. If the original was indefinite, then the original one, for example, and the recent, a recent letter. This is a summary of the contract saying, for example, uh, you who hires you, uh, your position, what you do, how much they pay you, and how how long have you been working for this company, that they authorize you to live in Spain, and for how long this will be.
>> It's not just employer letters and contracts though. We've also got the updated social security coverage certificate if the person's not working as a freelancer, if they're coming as an as an employee. But tax, this is a big one. So gross income and tax, uh, are being scrutinized. So tell us about these updates.
>> This is a very important requirement for the renewal. Uh, the director was talking a lot about taxes. Everyone has basically a three-year authorization with exceptions, but in general, three years. They want to see that at least in the last two years, you paid taxes here in Spain. And of course, they want to see that you have the income, and they are also checking because they have also access to this system to show to look for any kind of debits that you have.
>> Debts. Okay. So they're looking to see if you have any debts with the tax department in Spain.
>> And even if you do not have debts, what happens is for the renewal, we have to submit the taxes, the last two years. And of course, when we start the renewal process, we present their contract, their job contract, their employment contract, and in this, what we have, how much you're earning. So if you say that you earned this amount, and this does not reflect in your tax returns, they are also going to see it.
>> Wow, they're really cracking down here. And I believe you're also submitting invoices alongside bank statements at renewal, right? Is that the case? Is are you showing invoices at renewal, or maybe payslips if it's an employee, an employee?
>> Yes, correct. It's bank statements and the invoices if it's a self-employed, or the payslip. And of course, everything that we have must make a full match. The contract, the contract letter, the invoices, the bank statements, everything is a match.
>> So, we're going to talk about tax residency in a moment, but in short, when you move to Spain, in the first year that you are physically present in Spain for 183 days, you will become a tax resident for that calendar year. So what that means is, what if you move in September, right? September of 2026. You're not going to be a tax resident, likely. It's a bit more complex than just the time, but we'll just take that that basic rule for the moment. You're not likely to be a tax resident for that first year. But that does not get you off the hook from filing a tax return. So in many cases, in these situations, these are people working in Spain from say, September to December, you are you still have to file tax for that period. It's not resident tax, it's non-resident tax. It's a type of non-resident tax. And now that the UG is asking for tax declarations, you have to be sure that even if you're not a resident in that first year you're here, you are still in compliance. So make sure you understand this going in. Speak to a tax, uh, attorney. I'll link to Federico down below as well, so you understand your compliance because maybe this wasn't an issue previously, but now that the UG is asking for these tax returns, you've got to be compliant. So I want to make sure that happens. But let's get back to immigration. This is a a big one, and this has been sort of floating around, uh, for a while. I'm sure that the director spoke about this, and this is that you don't need to become a tax resident in Spain in order to renew. So the the visa. So why don't you tell us a little bit about this?
>> The 183 rule is actually not a renewal requirement, and of course, this is for DMV, an important distinction from the NLV, those are different. So for the DMV right now, there is no need to have 183 days here.
>> So what does this mean, Anna, for people who want to go and become long-term residents or citizens?
>> Yes, well, this is the small catch that we have. We always have some catches. This is one of them. [laughter] Let's say we want to try for a permanent residency, a long-term one. For the DMV, the law does not state that we need 183 days, but we do need to prove that people were in Spain for the long-term residency. So, even though for the DMV, we may not need to be in Spain for all those of those days, for a long-term residency, we actually do. So the requirements are, you can't spend more than 10 months outside of Spain within that five-year period, within the previous five years, to apply for long-term residency. And it's also six consecutive months, right? In any single time. Is that right?
>> Exactly. This is it. Which conflicts, of course, with not passing here 183 days. This is the conflict.
>> You have to be thinking about what your long-term, your your long-term plans here. What about citizenship? This is another step that people are looking forward to that has its own, uh, time requirement, right, for time spent in Spain in order to be able to apply for it. So how does this work?
>> Well, this is completely different. Of course, in general terms, for most countries in the world, people need to be living here in Spain for 10 years to be able to start their process. But of course, we do have what we call fast track from some countries, Latin America countries, also, and Andorra, Portugal. Those people, they have the privilege to be living here legally for two years, and then they can already start their process. For those who are married to Spaniards or even they have been born here in Spain, this actually changes then just one year of legal residency. And those timings, be 10 years, two years, one year. The recommendation, it's not an official official obligation, a law obligation, but they want to know that people were actually living here in all those years. So the official recommendation that we provide is that per year, people do not leave Spain for more than 90 days.
>> Which is actually not not that long, you know, because I know a lot of people are looking to come and go, you know, in a way, you can't really treat Spain as a revolving door if you have long-term plans, right?
>> Exactly. Exactly. There was also some key clarifications around visa transitions. And this is always a tricky area for people because you come on one visa, you're thinking, okay, I'm on a student visa, can I become a digital nomad? I'm on the non-lucrative visa. Can I go to digital nomad, etc. Why don't we start with student to digital nomad visa? Because I know that the director provided clarity for you on this topic. So, uh, what's the update here or the confirmation?
>> Uh, of course, this is also a very common question that we receive. So for those who are studying here in Spain and they have, for example, they want to be a digital nomad, they can. This is possible here. The only thing is that we have to be very careful with timing. Let's say they want to be a contractor, so we have to make sure that they are complying, they have some compliance with the three-month rule. So they have, even as students, they have depending on their authorization, possibility to be working here in Spain. So they can register as autonomous, as social security, and in taxes here in Spain, even as students.
>> There's so much confusion around student visas. To be clear, to have work authorization as a student in Spain, you have to be effectively studying, like a university course. If you're just here as a language student or a language assistant, then that doesn't come with work authorization. If I'm studying here and I start working as a freelancer, I would sign up for an alon as an autonom, as a freelancer in Spain at that point, and then work three months, and then I can apply, right, for a digital nomad visa?
>> Exactly. We have always have to plan considering those three month, three months to the contract, three months of base lips, invoices, three months of contributions.
>> I see a lot of questions in my audience and things floating around because there has been lack of clarity here in the past. To confirm, you cannot change from non-lucrative visa to digital nomad visa within Spain, right? You used to be able to write at the beginning, but I suspect they were just trying to get non-lucrative visa people who are working sort of illegally onto digital nomad, but that's no longer possible, right?
>> No. No, this is not possible. The requirements, they clash completely. While the non-lucrative visa, you should not be working at all, for the digital nomad visa, you should be working for three months. So this clashes completely.
>> Yeah, I mean, you could go home, work for three months, etc., but you can't be here on the non-lucrative visa and to go from digital nomad visa to non-lucrative visa because I see this in in in my Move to Spain masterclass, particularly people ask about this because they're planning to come and work as, you know, digital nomads, maybe for three years, but then they want to retire here and transition to non-lucrative visa. And as we know, the non-lucrative visa, you can't apply for it in Spain. You have to apply via the consulate, your consulate back home. So there's no transition available within Spain, right? You just simply have to go home and apply for your non-lucrative visa.
>> Unfortunately, yes, this is the the rule for the for the NOV. This is from the consulate and and now in many places, BLS.
>> Okay. I know that you can provide support at Bureaucracy for this though, because you can help with the paperwork and and make sure it's streamlined the process. You don't have to go home for a year, for example, you know, you can help, uh, start the process while they're in Spain potentially, and then they just have to go home and apply. Really? Right.
>> Yes. Yes. Exactly. Gathering the documents, and then they can go with their appointment and apply.
>> Now, there is one though, you can change non-lucrative visa, you can change to highly qualified visa, which is when you get a job offer, uh, where the where it's a high-level position. So do you want to just tell us a little bit about this?
>> Yes. Well, this is actually possible to make this change. This is also something from the UG. This is high qualified visa from the UG. There's no wait on this. They can actually just have this this offer and start the change.
>> So, as you see, there's some huge updates there. And if you haven't grabbed the Digital Nomad Visa Checklist yet, it's up here on the QR code, and it's linked down the description below. Thank you, Anna, for helping us, uh, put that together and for all this information. If you'd like to work with the team of Bureaucracy, uh, and to go through your specific situation directly, they're offering Spain revealed viewers, as I said, a free 20-minute consultation, plus 10% off if you decide to work with them. So that's linked below. So appreciate your time, Anna. This has been helpful, and it's great to get clarity on these things because there's been a lot of sort of rumor about this stuff.
>> Yes, exactly. Well, thank you James for the invitation and for everyone that is also watching us. It's a pleasure. I hope I could help at least one of you with some of your questions. And if you want to understand fully your immigration options to Spain, plus all the other key pieces of a move to this country, you know, finance, location, healthcare requirements, and more, you want to check out this video over here where I cover all the different key pieces of a move to Spain, uh, in depth. So thank you very much, uh, Anna, and to everyone else. We'll see you over there in a moment.