Immigration
Spain.
Four Routes. The Cheapest One Forbids Working.
Four Spanish routes sit in our menu, and they are unusually close on price and unusually far apart on what they let you do. One is for remote workers earning abroad, one for retirees earning nothing, one for professionals hired by a Spanish company, one for people starting their own. All four reach permanent residency in five years. Only three of them let you earn.
Read The First Two Rows.
Can you work, and can your spouse come with you. Those two questions eliminate two of the four routes for most people, and neither answer is visible from a route's name or its price. Everything below them is detail.
You must show · Income of EUR 2,762 a month
Term · 1 year, then a 3-year permit, renewable for 2 more Read the full route → Route 2 of 4 No work Non-Lucrative Visado de residencia no lucrativa Retirees and the financially independent, living on passive income from outside Spain. Work · No — no work or professional activity at all
You must show · Income of EUR 2,400 a month, and EUR 30,000 in savings
Term · 1 year, renewable in 2-year periods Read the full route → Route 3 of 4 Highly Qualified Permiso para Altamente Cualificados Advanced professionals with a confirmed offer from a Spanish employer. Work · Yes — for the Spanish employer who hired you
You must show · A salary offer of EUR 54,000, or EUR 40,000 in academia
Term · Up to 3 years, or the contract's length if shorter Read the full route → Route 4 of 4 Spouse waits Work (Self-Employment) Visado de trabajo por cuenta propia Freelancers, entrepreneurs and franchisees running their own business in Spain. Work · Yes — self-employed, on an approved business plan
You must show · EUR 30,000 in capital and living costs
Term · 1 year, renewable for up to 4 more Read the full route →
| Digital Nomad | Non-Lucrative | Highly Qualified | Work (Self-Employment) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Can you work? | Yes — remotely, for foreign entities | No — no work or professional activity at all | Yes — for the Spanish employer who hired you | Yes — self-employed, on an approved business plan |
| Spouse on the main application | Yes | Yes | Yes | No — after one year |
| Who it is for | Remote workers and self-employed professionals earning from outside Spain. | Retirees and the financially independent, living on passive income from outside Spain. | Advanced professionals with a confirmed offer from a Spanish employer. | Freelancers, entrepreneurs and franchisees running their own business in Spain. |
| What you must show | Income of EUR 2,762 a month | Income of EUR 2,400 a month, and EUR 30,000 in savings | A salary offer of EUR 54,000, or EUR 40,000 in academia | EUR 30,000 in capital and living costs |
| Professional fee, main applicant | EUR 13,500 | EUR 10,500 | Not published | EUR 13,500 + reservation |
| Family on the main application | Spouse or partner, and children under 18 | Spouse or partner, children under 18, and elderly parents | Spouse or partner, children under 18, and dependent parents | Children under 18 only — the spouse waits a year |
| Permit term | 1 year, then a 3-year permit, renewable for 2 more | 1 year, renewable in 2-year periods | Up to 3 years, or the contract's length if shorter | 1 year, renewable for up to 4 more |
| Processing | 4–6 months | 4–6 months | Fast-tracked — no figure published | 6–9 months, in two stages |
| Filed through | BLS International | A Spanish diplomatic mission | A consulate — or from inside Spain | ATA, then BLS International |
| Permanent residency | After 5 years | After 5 years | After 5 years | After 5 years |
The Cheapest Route Is The One That Forbids Earning
The Non-Lucrative Visa costs EUR 10,500 to instruct against EUR 13,500 for the Digital Nomad and Work routes, and asks EUR 2,400 a month in income against EUR 2,762. Both of those follow from one condition: no work and no professional activity, at all. Spain grants that residence precisely because you will not be earning there.
It is not a restriction on where you work, like the Digital Nomad Visa's 20% Spanish-client cap. It is a prohibition on working. The holder may not act as a managing director or be actively involved in business operations, though board membership and passive shareholding are permitted. The full conditions are here.
If you intend to earn in or from Spain, it is the wrong route however attractive its price looks in the table above.
One Route Leaves Your Spouse Behind For A Year
On the Work Visa, only children under 18 join the main application. A spouse or partner and other eligible family members may apply for residency after one year of the main applicant's residence in Spain. Add that route's 6–9 month processing time in front of it and a couple starting today is looking at well over eighteen months.
The other three routes admit a spouse or partner from the outset, and two of them admit parents as well. Nothing in the Work Visa's name or its fee table hints at the difference — the fee table in fact prices a spouse at EUR 2,500, which reads as inclusion. The sequence is set out here.
Visa-Free Travel Across Schengen
A Spanish residence permit allows visa-free travel to the other Schengen countries for up to 90 days in any 180-day period.
A High Quality of Life
A high standard of living, a favourable climate, excellent private healthcare, strong education options and a diverse cultural life.
A Pathway to Residency, Then Citizenship
Permanent residency after 5 years of continuous legal residence, and eligibility for Spanish citizenship 5 years after that, subject to statutory requirements.
Everything Priced In Euros
Spain is the only immigration country we publish whose fees and thresholds share one currency — so its term sheets close with a single total instead of two subtotals that cannot honestly be added.
Family, On Three Of The Four
A spouse or partner and children under 18 join the main application on the Digital Nomad, Non-Lucrative and Highly Qualified routes — and parents on the last two of those.
Every Route Asks You To Prove You Don't Need Spain.
All four routes turn on a financial test, and on all four it is larger than the fees. None of it is money anyone takes — it is money you evidence, in an account or in an offer letter. Each route's term sheet keeps it outside the total for that reason.
Two Things Worth Knowing Before You Compare On Price
Three of the four are filed abroad, and the timeline is not yours. The Digital Nomad and Work visas go through BLS International, which acts as the administrative intermediary between applicants and the Spanish authorities; the Non-Lucrative goes to a diplomatic mission. Published processing times of 4–6 months, or 6–9 for the Work Visa, depend on BLS and embassy appointment availability rather than on how fast your file is ready. Only the Highly Qualified route can be filed from inside Spain, and doing so can skip the visa stage entirely.
The thresholds are indexed, so they move. The Digital Nomad income test is set at twice the minimum wage (SMI); the Non-Lucrative tests are set against IPREM. Both indices are revised, which means an application prepared against this year's figure may be assessed against next year's. It is the reason every Spanish sheet on this site says so in its footnote.
Every Route, One Panel
Most clients qualify for more than one Spanish route, and the right answer usually turns on something other than price — whether you can work, who travels with you, whether you are already in the country. The Bayat Group panel tests your file against all four at once and keeps one document vault behind them.
Three Questions. Then One Answer.
Our concierge answers your Spanish questions in minutes, starting with the three that decide which route is yours: whether you need to work, who is coming with you, and where your income comes from. When you are ready it opens your application where the conversation ends.
Sending opens your secure Bayat Group account, where an advisor picks the thread up.
Assessed against your own circumstances, in about five minutes.
- It asks about your circumstances, not your paperwork
- It names the trade-offs before you commit to a route
- It ends with the programs you actually qualify for
A scripted example. Your own assessment is private, and takes about five minutes.
Assessment
An adviser that reads your circumstances, then the rulebook.
40+ official programs, each with its own arithmetic. The assessment maps those rules to your situation in a short conversation and tells you where you actually stand.
- It asks about you, not about paperworkWhere your family is going, what your work needs, what you would not give up. Navigating the rules is our business, not your burden.
- Clear, unbiased reasoningWhen options pull in different directions, it calls out the compromise, detailing what each path costs you before you decide.
- A shortlist tailored to youNo generic marketing. Just the programs your profile actually unlocks, with realistic timelines and capital commitments.
Step one of three
Where should we send your code?
One address, one five-digit code. No password to invent, and nothing sent to you that you did not ask for.
Step two of three
Check your email
We sent a 5-digit code to . It expires shortly, so it is worth doing now.
Setting up your assessment…
One moment.