Digital Nomad “Visa” Tips
Remembering that if you apply from within Spain, this is NOT a visa but rather a residency permit of up to 3 years, here are some very important things to know and do before you submit your application.
I know it's easy to get wrapped up in details while you're worrying so much about getting everything "right" to be accepted. But if I have to let you in on anything, it needs to be that UGE (the Large Business Unit who where your application goes, is reviewed, and then approved or denied) does not want you to go overboard with the little things. They released a bulletin in 2023 begging people to stop sending them "full" bank statements and instead, to narrow them down to just the deposits that match your invoices... or to at least highlight those few deposits on the full statement with a highlighter. I state this to show you: UGE is not interested in anything outside of the listed exact requirements for the application. When they ask for your bank statements, they are only looking at the deposits that match your submitted invoices. Example: You submit one invoice for each of 3 months, from your client, each for $3300. When you download your bank statement, print it or load it into your PDF program and highlight the $3300 deposit for last month, highlight that deposit for the month before, and highlight it in the month prior. That is it. If your bank has the option on the website to only give you "deposits" for each month? Even better -- use those, because it elminates endless meaningless pages. And people say, "Don't they want to see every transaction I make with my bank account?" The answer is no. The UGE does not care whatsoever what you do with your money, they just want to verify that you are receiving the money you are billing out for. That is their only reason for looking at your bank statement, and they would like it to happen quickly.
UGE has an office full of people receiving the applications, and they have a list of the requirements. Each requirement you have sent them will get checked off the list. If you have them all, that is most of the battle. Try to obtain each thing they ask for, to make your approval smoother. I see a lot of questions like, "Well can I use (obscure alternate document) to prove this requirement, instead of the document they ask for? No, you cannot. Your goal should be to make your submission as seamless as possible. Use the documents that they require - don't try to re-invent the wheel on this. When my original attorney years ago asked me for an "authorization from the client to work abroad" I told her, "It says that inside of my contract". She had to explain to me that yes, it's in my contract, but the the CONTRACT and an AUTHORIZATION are two different requirements so I should submit two different documents. That way, the person checking off my documents will not accidentally miss the verbiage in my contract about the permission to work abroad - and they will not deny me for not having it. I had to create a few documents and get them signed, but that was easy, and made my submission very easy.
DOs and DO NOTS:
1. DO plan to submit the application at the very beginning of your 90 day tourist stay. Waiting too long is outright foolish, and can cost you a few months trip back to wherever you came from. If you have an agent applying for you, it can cost them a huge fiasco too. So please DO move to Spain when you are ready to apply, and apply soon after you arrive. Sometimes the website where you submit goes down - sometimes for days on end! Sometimes your digital certificate will have an error when you're trying to submit. There are a host of things that can happen to delay your submission, and it's easier for all involved if you just do this in the beginning of your stay. It also gives you the time to re-apply if you are denied for some reason that you can easily fix and re-submit (because appeals are not a thing if the mistake was not their fault, but re-applications are easy if your documents are still within their 6 month validity window!)
2. DO NOT apply when you know you have to travel for work or leisure in the next few months. One of the most repeated questions after someone has applied, been accepted, and is in the process of getting their residency card is, "I have to/want to travel, but my 90 days are up and my TIE card is not ready yet... how do I do this?" There is a way, but the way requires 1. that you have already completed your TIE fingerprinting appointment, and 2. that you can secure an appointment to apply for a "return authorization" (in Spanish, a "regreso") at the national police station. The easiest way to avoid this is to stay put through all steps of securing your residency before planning any trips. We know it cannot be avoided sometimes (some people cannot ever find a time where they have 4 months in one place, due to work or other circumstance) but if you have the option to stay put, take it! The TIE card process, from beginning to end, can take months in itself and that is only started after your initial application has been approved. You will need to secure an appointment for fingerprinting (depending on your area, this can be next week or next month, they can be hard to obtain). At that appointment you'll be given a receipt and told to return in 40-45 days via another appointment (or sometimes, without one, depending on the police station you went to). There is a way to figure out if your card is ready before the 40 days, but if you've left yourself ample time in the country you won't need to worry about it.
3. DO NOT start to gather certain documents too far in advance. Some documents have a window of validity for your application - birth certificates must be dated within 6 months of applying, marriage certificates also 6 months, and your Criminal Record Check as well. This is the date of ISSUE, not the Apostille. If you obtain these too early, they will be expiring when you arrive to apply and cause you (and maybe your agent if you use one) very unnecessary pain. Personally, I recommend trying to time them to be as FRESH as possible, so that in the event of a denial or something going sideways, you can start a brand new application without having to go back to your country and obtain new documents. Since the application result is obtained within 20-30 working days, if you have fresh documents on arrival you leave yourself time for a second application if needed.
4. DO join very specific forums dedicated only to this residency, and confirm that the experts and professionals there are in constant contact with the UGE-CE who sets the rules of the digital nomad residency (and visa - if applied for from outside of Spain). They have been consistently changing these rules every few months for over 2 years now, so attorneys and consultants who do not constantly stay in touch with the agency or who do not process DNV applications super regularly will have no idea of the latest changes. I can only recommend two such groups, as I have verified that the professionals in them and who run them are sitting in meetings with UGE about it whenevr they hold them. They are: DIGITAL NOMAD VISA SPAIN and SPAIN DIGITAL NOMAD VISA (DNV). Both groups are run by professionals who are in the thick of the DNV ecosystem here in Spain.
