Digital nomads have been around far before the pandemic. After the pandemic, the remote work trend was an effective strategy to restart tourism. And now, a new Spanish digital nomad visa comes into play.
The first country picking up in the digital nomad trend was Croatia. Slowly, other countries followed the example, from Romania to Thailand. Now, it’s the turn of the digital nomad visa scheme.
The Spanish government launched several initiatives to attract new tourists and long-stay foreigners. First, similar to Italy, the government offered free houses in small towns. After that, last August, they started working on a Spanish digital nomad visa.
Now, they finalized the Startup Act for digital nomads and remote workers:
- Foreigners can live and work in Spain for 6 to 12 months without an official work visa
- They must earn at least 80% of their income from non-Spanish companies
- Up to two extensions will be allowed (up to three years without residency)
The Spanish digital nomad visa specifically targets people outside the EU. After Brexit, UK citizens are also non-EU nationals. So, UK and US travelers will be able to stay in the country longer than 90 days without applying for visas. And the same procedure works for non-EU travelers.
The Spanish digital nomad visa has been in the process of approval since last August. However, other countries have already set the system in place. And soon, the Spanish visa will also be an option.
