Working remotely from Spain: the visa, and what comes after it
The visa lasts one year and the authorisation that comes after it, three. That is articles 74 quater and 74 quinquies of Ley 14/2013. What almost nobody tells you is what happens at Hacienda from day 184 onwards.
First things first: Cairos is in Spanish
You can read this page in several languages, but the application you are going to work in is in Spanish only: the menus, the invoices, the tax forms and the help screens. There is no English version and there is still no date for one. Support answers in Spanish too. If you have just arrived in Spain and do not read Spanish comfortably, tell us before you decide: we would rather you knew now than found out on your first day. Our plans and their limits are on pricing.
If you settle in the Basque Country or Navarre, this changes
Álava, Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa and Navarre have their own foral tax regime: you do not file with the state Tax Agency but with their Hacienda Foral, which has its own forms, its own deadlines and its own rates. This page describes the common regime, which is the one that applies in the rest of Spain. And there is one difference worth knowing before any other: in Álava, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa the invoicing obligation is not VeriFactu, it is TicketBAI, and it is already in force. In Navarre there is no equivalent system approved today. If you are going to settle there, start with that page and talk to an accountant based in that territory.
What the remote-work visa is exactly
The popular name is the “digital nomad visa”. The legal name is the international remote-work visa, and it is in chapter V bis of Ley 14/2013, added by final provision 5.9 of Ley 28/2022, on promoting the startup ecosystem.
The definition in article 74 bis is precise: this situation covers a third-country national authorised to stay in Spain to carry out an employed or professional activity remotely for companies located outside Spanish territory, using exclusively computer, telematic and telecommunications means and systems.
Two immediate consequences of that definition, and both get overlooked:
- It is for third-country nationals. A European Union citizen does not need it: they already have the right to establish themselves here.
- The work has to be for clients abroad. With one exception, and only one, which we come to below.
The requirements, as the Act writes them
| Requirement | What it requires | Article |
|---|---|---|
| Qualifications | Being a graduate or postgraduate of universities, vocational training institutions or business schools of recognised standing, or else showing at least three years of professional experience. | Art. 74 bis.2 |
| The company | Real and continuous activity for at least one year by the company or group you have the relationship with. | Art. 74 ter.a) |
| The work, remotely | Documentation showing that the relationship can be carried out remotely. | Art. 74 ter.b) |
| Length of the relationship | At least the last three months before filing the application, whether the relationship is one of employment or a commercial one. | Art. 74 ter.c) and d) |
| The company's authorisation | If the relationship is one of employment, documentation showing that the company allows you to work remotely. | Art. 74 ter.c) |
On top of that come the general requirements in article 62 of the same Act. The phrase «de reconocido prestigio» — of recognised standing — is the legal text's own, and judging it is a matter for the administration, not for us.
The 20%, and only for a professional relationship
This is the point most often told wrongly. Article 74 bis.1 says that, in carrying out an employed activity, the holder may only work for companies located outside Spanish territory. It is in the case of a professional activity that working for a company located in Spain is allowed, «siempre y cuando el porcentaje de dicho trabajo no sea superior al 20 % del total de su actividad profesional» — provided that share of the work does not exceed 20% of their total professional activity. If you are an employee, that 20% does not exist for you.
How long it lasts and how it links up
The visa: up to a year
It is applied for from outside Spain. Maximum validity of one year, unless the period of work is shorter, in which case it lasts as long as that period. It is sufficient title to reside and work remotely while it is in force. Article 74 quater.
The sixty-day window
Within the sixty calendar days before the visa expires, anyone wanting to stay in Spain applies for the residence authorisation for international remote workers, provided the conditions that gave rise to the right still hold. Article 74 quater.3.
The authorisation: up to three years
Valid throughout Spain, with a maximum validity of three years unless applied for over a shorter period. It can also be applied for by anyone already in Spain lawfully, without going through the visa. Article 74 quinquies.
The renewals: two years at a time
Holders of that authorisation can apply to renew it for two-year periods, provided the conditions that gave rise to the right still hold. Article 74 quinquies.3.
These authorisations are processed by the Unidad de Grandes Empresas y Colectivos Estratégicos, the large companies and strategic groups unit, electronically, with a maximum of twenty days to decide from electronic filing; once that period passes without a decision, the authorisation is deemed granted by administrative silence. That is article 76.1 of the same Act.
And then Hacienda arrives
This is where our field begins, and where most of the information going around falls short. Holding the visa and being tax resident are two different things, even though in practice they usually end up together.
Tax residence is decided by article 9 of Ley 35/2006, del IRPF, not by the visa. If you spend more than 183 days of the calendar year on Spanish territory, you are tax resident, and from then on Spain taxes your worldwide income. It is set out in full in tax residence.
What comes next depends on how you work:
| Your situation | What applies to you | Where to go next |
|---|---|---|
| An employee of a company abroad | You are taxed on your employment income. You can consider the impatriate regime: the Act provides for it expressly for holders of this visa. | The impatriate regime |
| A professional who invoices | Census registration with Hacienda before you start, registration with RETA and your quarterly forms. Like any autónomo. | Registering as an autónomo |
| Invoices to businesses in the European Union | ROI registration, checking the intra-Community VAT number in VIES, an invoice without VAT carrying the reverse charge wording, and form 349. | Invoicing outside Spain |
| Invoices to businesses outside the European Union | A service normally outside the scope of Spanish VAT under article 69.One.1 of the VAT Act, with a backstop rule that has to be looked at case by case. | Invoicing outside Spain |
| You keep accounts in your own country | If you are tax resident and you go over €50,000 in any one of the blocks, form 720. | Form 720 |
The question nobody asks in time
And which country do you pay social security in? That is not a tax question and we do not settle it here, but it is the one that causes the most grief. It depends on where your employer is, on whether a bilateral agreement exists and, within the European Union, on the coordination regulations. Ask before you move, not after.
What Cairos gives you and what it is missing for you
With the uncomfortable part first, because it is the one that affects you most if you have just arrived.
Two things you probably need and that are not here today
The application is in Spanish only. Menus, invoice templates, tax forms and help. There is no English version and no date for one. And multi-currency is on the way and only on the bespoke plan: today you invoice in euros. If you are paid in dollars or pounds and you do not read Spanish comfortably, Cairos is not your tool yet. We would rather say so here than later.
What it does solve, and solves well:
- Invoices compliant with VeriFactu from the very first one, on the free plan too. And yes, VeriFactu reaches you: article 3.1.b) of Real Decreto 1007/2023 applies to IRPF taxpayers carrying out economic activities.
- Intra-Community invoicing: checking the client's intra-Community VAT number against VIES from their record, with the date and reference of the check saved, and the reverse charge wording on the invoice.
- Form 349, the 303 and the 130 worked out from your invoices and your expenses, from the Autónomo plan upwards.
If you are going to invoice from Spain, the first invoice already counts
Sequential numbering, VeriFactu and your European clients' intra-Community VAT numbers checked in VIES. In euros and in Spanish.
Questions about the remote-work visa
What is our field and what is not
Tax and invoicing are our field: taxes, forms, VAT and compliant invoices. Visas, residence permits and consular formalities are not. We explain them here because your tax position makes no sense without them, but we are not immigration lawyers and this does not replace one. For an actual case — a refusal, a renewal, an arraigo application — find a specialist firm.
How this page is kept up to date
Every figure on this page comes from the consolidated text on the BOE or from the Tax Agency's E-Office, with the legislation cited beside it. What changes every year — the cuota de autónomos, the fees, the bands — is deliberately not reproduced here: an out-of-date figure on a website is worse than no figure at all. Last reviewed: 27 August 2026. If you spot something out of date, write to us at hola@cairos.es.
This is information, not tax or legal advice. The visa file is handled by an immigration lawyer; we stay in tax and invoicing.
The visa is the beginning. The quarter comes round anyway
Cairos leaves your invoices compliant and your quarter worked out. The application is in Spanish and today it invoices in euros: if that works for you, start free.
Free plan, no card · Multi-currency not yet · Support in Spanish