How to get residency in Spain in 2026

The golden visa is gone, but Spain still lets people in. Work, passive income, remote work, a start-up, study and family: six routes, timelines and a dollar total for each.

In detail

On 3 April 2025 Spain shut its golden visa: buying a flat for $570,000 no longer brings a residence permit. The door to the country is still open, though. You just ring a different bell now: work, passive income, remote work, a start-up, study or family. Every one of these routes asks the same thing - that you actually live in Spain.

Since 20 May 2025 a new foreigners regulation, Royal Decree 1155/2024, has been in force. It cut the residence needed for settlement-based permits from three years to two, let students work up to 30 hours a week and stretched renewals to 4 years. Below are all six routes with thresholds in dollars, timelines and the traps. Amounts are converted at the rate of 6 October 2026: 1 euro = 1.121 dollars.

What ways to get Spanish residency are left in 2026

The cheapest way in is study: you need about $680 in the bank for each month of the course. The fastest are work and remote work: the immigration office must answer within 20 working days, and silence counts as approval. The calmest is the non-working residence permit, for those with passive income and no wish to work in Spain.

Buying property no longer gives residence now that the programme is closed. A flat in Spain is still useful: it meets the housing requirement for family reunification and saves on rent, but it is not a ground for a permit.

How to get Spanish residency through work

A contract with a Spanish company is the shortest path to a residence permit with the right to work, if the salary is high. A highly qualified professional needs a salary of at least $47,000 a year. The EU Blue Card uses the same threshold, cut to $38,000 for shortage occupations and recent graduates.

The thresholds are recalculated every year from the average Spanish salary published by the national statistics office. The latest update came out on 10 June 2026, so last year's figures in older articles no longer apply.

Step by step

1. The company applies to the large companies unit of the immigration service.
2. The office answers within 20 working days, and if it stays silent the permit counts as granted.
3. The professional gets a national visa at the consulate or switches status if already in Spain legally.
4. Within a month of arrival: fingerprints at the police and the foreigner identity card.

The permit runs for the length of the contract, up to 3 years, and is then renewed for 2 years. The spouse and children apply together with the professional and do not wait a year, as they would under ordinary family reunification.

An ordinary work contract without a high salary is harder. The employer must prove it found no suitable worker in Spain unless the job is on the shortage list. Spanish HR departments, frankly, like this procedure even less than candidates do, so such vacancies rarely go to foreigners.

The money: government fees per adult come to about $110, that is a consular visa fee of about $90 and an identity card of about $20. Nobody checks your savings: the contract proves the income.

Spain's non-working residence permit: how much money you need

This is the classic choice for retirees and people living on rent: you live in Spain on your own money and do not work. The threshold is tied to the public income indicator, about $680 a month in 2026. The applicant needs four times that: about $2,700 a month or $33,000 a year. Each family member adds about $8,100 a year.

Regular income counts: a pension, dividends, rent. Savings in the bank for the whole year also work. Earnings from work, even remote work for a foreign company, do not.

Steps and timeline

1. Gather bank statements, health insurance from an insurer licensed in Spain, a 5-year criminal record certificate and a medical certificate.
2. Apply at the Spanish consulate where you legally live.
3. The consulate decides within 2 months, and the visa is valid for a year.
4. After arrival, the identity card within a month.

The first permit lasts a year, and the renewal 4 years. The catch is in the renewal: you must spend more than 183 days a year in Spain. And day 183 also brings tax residence and tax on worldwide income. The Spanish tax office does not retire, even when the holder of a non-working permit does.

The money: fees per adult come to about $125: the visa about $90, the permit fee about $15 and the identity card about $20. On top of that come insurance at the insurer's rate and the money in the bank.

Digital nomad visa: a 3-year Spanish residence permit

For remote employees and freelancers this is the best way in for 2026: a permit applied for inside Spain runs for 3 years from the start, and the answer is due within 20 working days. The threshold is 200% of the minimum wage, about $3,200 a month for one person. The first family member adds 75% of the minimum wage, and each further one 25%.

The work rules are strict. An employee may work only for companies outside Spain, and a freelancer may take Spanish clients for no more than 20% of the work. The company must have been operating for at least a year, and the working relationship must be at least three months old. You also need a degree or 3 years of experience in the profession.

Two doors: the consulate or Spain

• A visa at the consulate - decided within 10 working days, valid for up to a year, then the permit is obtained in Spain.
• A permit from inside Spain - filed after legal entry, decided within 20 working days, valid for up to 3 years, renewed for 2.

Social security is a separate question. You need a certificate that the worker stays insured at home, otherwise the foreign company has to pay contributions in Spain, about 30% on top of the salary. Russia and Spain have had a social security agreement since 1996, but the certificate is worth ordering early.

The 24% rate under the special regime for newcomers goes only to employees on an employment contract. Freelancers pay tax on the general scale. Glossy nomad brochures tend to print this detail in very small type.

The money: applying from inside Spain costs about $105: the permit fee of about $85 and the identity card of about $20. More on thresholds, documents and taxes in Spain's digital nomad visa, and a comparison with other countries in digital nomad visas in 2026.

Spain's start-up visa: residence for founders

Start-up law 28/2022 gives the founder of an innovative project a 3-year permit, renewable for 2. The key is not money but a positive report from the national innovation company: it checks that the project is genuinely new and scalable rather than yet another coffee shop with a nice pitch deck.

1. Prepare a business plan, a financial model and a description of the innovation.
2. Get the national innovation company's report.
3. Apply for the permit at the large companies unit: a decision within 20 working days.
4. Get a visa or switch status in Spain, then the identity card.

The founder needs about $8,100 in the bank for a year, and about $4,100 for each family member. The family applies together with the founder.

Since March 2022 Spain has suspended entrepreneur and investor permits under law 14/2013 for Russian citizens. So this route is closed to Russians without a second citizenship. Holders of a second passport should apply on it.

The money: fees per adult come to about $110, and the founder needs about $8,100 in the bank for the year. Everything on the project review is in Spain's start-up visa.

Spanish residency through study and language courses

Study is the cheapest way in: you need one income indicator in the bank, about $680 for each month of study, or about $8,100 for an academic year. Under the new regulation the student status became far more useful: you may work up to 30 hours a week and, after graduating, switch to a permit with the right to work without leaving Spain.

Full-time study at a university, a vocational college or a master's programme qualifies. Language courses give student status only when a university teaches them and the language is not the student's native one. Spanish classes at a private school no longer work as a ticket into the country: the era of a one-year permit for a couple of grammar lessons a week ended with the old regulation.

1. Enrol and get an admission letter for a full-time programme.
2. Gather bank statements covering the whole course, insurance and certificates.
3. Apply for a visa at the consulate or from inside Spain if already there legally.
4. Get the identity card within a month of arrival.

The money: fees per adult come to about $110, plus about $8,100 in the bank for the academic year and the tuition fee.

Family, roots and settlement: residence without an income test

The shortest road is marriage or a registered partnership with a Spanish citizen. Relatives of Spanish citizens receive a 5-year permit with the right to work, and after a year of living in Spain as a married couple you can apply for citizenship.

If a foreign relative with a permit lives in Spain, family reunification works. The conditions:

• the relative has lived in Spain legally for a year and holds a permit for at least another year;
• their income for a household of two is at least $1,100 a month (900 euros), plus $340 (300 euros) for each further member;
• there is suitable housing and health insurance;
• children can come up to age 18, older ones only if they cannot support themselves for health reasons.

Holders of the nomad permit, the start-up visa and highly qualified professionals do not wait a year: their family applies with them.

Roots: grandchildren of Spaniards and settlement

The special citizenship route for children and grandchildren of emigrants under the democratic memory law closed on 22 October 2025. New applications are not accepted, and only those filed on time are being processed.

Settlement is a status for people who have already lived in Spain for 2 years. The 2025 regulation sets out five kinds: social, social and work, social and training, family, and second chance. Second chance is for those who held a permit in the last 2 years but did not renew it in time. It is not a way in, but a way to keep a life in Spain.

Ukrainian citizens in Spain hold temporary protection until 4 March 2027, and their identity cards were extended automatically. The move to an ordinary permit is best prepared early rather than in the last month.

How much Spanish residency costs: the total for each route

Spanish government fees are modest: one adult usually pays $105-125. What costs real money is the sum you must show in the bank, the insurance and mistakes in the paperwork. Below is the total for one adult for the first year. Where savings in the bank are checked, they are part of the total. Where income is checked, the total is the fees alone.

This leaves out health insurance, apostilles, sworn translations and tickets. The insurance must be comprehensive, with no co-payments or limits: the immigration office rejects a travel policy whatever it costs.

Taxes after the move: what changes on day 183

Almost any permit in this article, except the student one, makes its holder a Spanish tax resident. You are resident if you spend more than 183 days in the country in a year, run your main business here or your family lives in Spain. A resident pays tax on worldwide income at 19% to 47%, with a higher top rate in some regions.

• The special regime for newcomers - 24% on salary up to $680,000 a year in the year of the move and the next 5 years. It is open to employees, start-up founders and highly qualified professionals who were not Spanish residents for 5 years before the move.
• Foreign assets - accounts, securities and property abroad worth more than $57,000 in each group must be declared.
• Wealth tax - depends on the region, so the choice between Madrid and Barcelona is sometimes settled by a calculator rather than the climate.

Spain exchanges bank account data with other countries automatically, so a resident must declare foreign accounts. Rates and treaties with Russia and other post-Soviet countries are on taxes in Spain, and how days are counted is in tax residency and the 183-day rule.

How to get permanent residence and Spanish citizenship

After 5 years of legal and continuous residence you can get long-term resident status, the Spanish version of permanent residence. Absences must not exceed 6 months in a row or 10 months over the 5 years.

Citizenship generally comes after 10 years in the country. For people from Latin America, Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea and Portugal the term is 2 years, and for spouses of Spanish citizens 1 year. You must pass a Spanish language exam and a test on the constitution and culture, and the government fee is about $120.

Spain requires you to give up your previous citizenship unless your country is on the exception list. Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan are not on it. More on citizenship for children born in the country in giving birth in Spain.

Spain or its neighbours: where remote workers get residence more easily

On the income threshold Spain is cheaper than Portugal and Greece but dearer than Italy. It wins on the length of the first status: 3 years straight away, against one or two years next door.

Golden visas for investment still work in several EU countries, but the rules are tightening there too. An overview is in European golden visas in 2026.

Where to live in Spain with a residence permit

• Madrid - the capital, with the most jobs and openings for highly qualified professionals.
• Barcelona - the sea, international companies and a strong remote work community.
• Valencia - the sea and rents well below Madrid and Barcelona.
• Malaga - sun almost all year and a growing tech sector.
• Alicante - a calm seaside city popular with families and retirees.
• Seville - the hot south, history and prices below the capital's.

A general overview of the country is on Spain.

Where applications most often go wrong

• Remote work on a non-working permit. Any work is banned, including for a foreign company.
• Travel insurance. You need comprehensive health insurance with no co-payments or limits.
• Old certificates. Criminal record certificates and statements must be fresh, usually no older than three months.
• An employer younger than a year. For the nomad visa the company must have operated for at least a year.
• Absences over six months. They break the clock for permanent residence and citizenship.
• The wrong door. Some statuses are better filed from inside Spain, others only through the consulate where you live.

How we help

Murblz specialists match the route to your income, work and household and handle the filing through to the identity card. If Spain does not fit, we say so straight away and suggest another country.

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