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VISAS

How long does it take to be approved for Spain’s digital nomad visa?

Spain's digital nomad visa is already proving to be a very popular way for non-EU nationals to move to the country. So how long does it actually take to apply for?

Published: 29 September 2023 10:11 CEST
How long does it take to be approved for Spain’s digital nomad visa?
How long does it take to be approved for Spain's DNV? Photo: David L. Espina Rincon / Unsplash

Spain’s digital nomad visa, which launched in early 2023, is currently one of the easiest ways to move to Spain if you work remotely or are self-employed.

The digital nomad visa or DNV allows remote workers or self-employed people from non-EU countries to work and live in Spain, as long as no more than 20 percent of their work comes from Spain.

It can be extended for up to five years and can be applied for from the Spanish consulate in your home country or while on holiday in Spain. 

Officially it’s called the visa for teletrabajadores de carácter internacional, but most people applying are simply referring to it as the DNV.

The application can be a painstaking process, however, with lots of research to do, even more documents to gather, and proof to send.

READ ALSO: All the documents you need for Spain’s digital nomad visa

So how long does the process actually take?

Firstly, if you’re applying from your home country, you may need to make an appointment at your local consulate. This can take a while, depending on where you’re from and where you’re applying. It’s best to contact them to find out how long the wait will be. 

If you’ve gathered all your documents and sent them off, then the official time in which you can expect to receive a response from the body responsible – the Unidad de Grandes Empresas (UGE) is 20 business days.

Some people are lucky and get their applications approved quickly or they’re highly organised and have made sure there are no more documents or pieces of evidence to send. This means that it is possible to receive an approval within the 20 days.

One member of the Spanish Digital Nomad Visa Facebook group confirmed: “Application submitted June 21st. Approved just before midnight yesterday, July 18th for the full three years”, which is exactly 20 working days.

Another member also had a similar experience saying “Just received approval, family of 4 from Canada. Applied 26th July, approved on 23rd Aug – exactly 20 business days”.

READ ALSO: ‘It seems impossible’: The problems Spain’s digital nomad visa applicants face

Not everyone received an answer after exactly 20 days though. For some people, it was near enough though.

Another member said “The wait time for approval was 23 days, I was not asked for any further documents”, while another who was an employee with a permanent contract confirmed he waited 18 days.

The process can take longer 

As with most bureaucratic processes in Spain, it doesn’t always take the amount of time that it should do in theory.

If you have missed out on some documents or the authorities need to see more proof in order to approve your visa, the process will typically take longer than 20 days.

One member reported that they had been waiting at least two and a half months for their approval. “I had a long process of applying (it’s been 77 days since my first one went in and then a second and then a request for additional documents) but finally received my approval”.

Another explained “I applied on the 6th of July. On the 31st of July, they requested documents: on the 14th of August, and did not hear back so I requested for positive silence on the 24th of August and last night 4th of September I received the notification”.

READ ALSO: ‘No lawyer can guarantee you get Spain’s digital nomad visa’

How long does the appeal process take?

It’s common for some people to be rejected for the visa. This could be because they haven’t provided enough evidence or simply down to miscommunication.

There have been a lot of instances when the UGE has said that applicants haven’t provided enough evidence on how long their company has been operating for example, when the applicants believed that they had.

If you are rejected, the good news is that you appeal. Currently, appeals are taking varying amounts of time depending on your situation.

One member of the DNV Facebook page confirmed “My lawyer said they have 15 working days to respond”.

While that may be what lawyers are saying, this isn’t always the case.

Another member said “I’ve heard of people waiting 5 months”, while another explained, “I appealed my visa denial last March 31st and I just got my approval yesterday, June 20th”.

To speed the process up, we recommend doing as much research as you can and gathering all documents you need, before starting the application. 

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VISAS

Does Spain accept savings for the digital nomad visa if earnings aren’t enough?

One of the main questions applicants for Spain's digital nomad visa have is whether they can provide proof of savings if they don't meet the visa's high income requirements. This is what Spanish authorities told The Local Spain.

Published: 19 April 2024 13:18 CEST
Does Spain accept savings for the digital nomad visa if earnings aren't enough?

The Digital Nomad Visa or DNV is often referred to as visado de teletrabajador de carácter internacional on most of the official websites in Spain and became available for the first time at the beginning of 2023. 

There are a long list of requirements you need to meet in order to be eligible for the DNV, including having no more than 20 percent of your income come from Spain and having some type of social security agreement or paying it yourself.

One of the most challenging requirements, however, is the amount of income you need to earn.

The UGE (Unidad de Grandes Empresas y Colectivos Estratégicos), the body that deals with these visas and the one you apply to states that you need to prove you have monthly earnings of at least 200 percent of the minimum interprofessional salary (SMI), or minimum wage.

Currently in 2024, this means that you need to prove you have earnings of €2,646 per month or €31,752 per year. 

READ ALSO: Is the income requirement for Spain’s digital nomad visa a gross or net figure?

If your partner or children are accompanying you to Spain, you will also need to prove you have extra money in order to support them.

If you’re applying for yourself and your partner, you will need to prove you earn an extra 75 percent of the minimum wage. This currently equates to an extra €1,984.50 per month on top of the €2,646 just for you, so a total of €4,630.50 per month. 

For each additional family member after this, such as children, you will have to prove you have an extra 25 percent of the SMI, which is an extra €661.50 per month.

Many applicants don’t quite meet the threshold and often wonder if the authorities will accept savings in order to make up the shortfall.

This is asked time and time again in many social media groups associated with the DNV.

Can you provide savings for Spain’s digital nomad visa application if earnings aren’t enough?

As with many bureaucratic processes in Spain, the answer is not completely straightforward.

Several members of the Spanish Digital Nomad Visa Facebook group have said that they have successfully been granted the DNV by providing evidence of savings in bank accounts, while many others say that they’ve been rejected because they haven’t earned enough and savings were not able to be taken into account.

One member of the group wrote: “It is an income based visa and therefore savings will only be taken into account if there is a small gap between the requirement and the income. But even then, it is still up to UGE to decide whether they want to accept it or not”.

Another member confirmed this by saying that her lawyer told her that if she has a small shortfall in income, the extra can be made up of savings over £20k.

Someone else added: “I applied without the minimum income requirement covered. I complemented it with savings and got approved”.

READ ALSO: Spain clarifies which digital nomads will get lower tax rates

But others have been told something completely different and been told by their lawyers that savings can’t be used to apply for the DNV at all.

With so many different answers it can be tricky to figure out the truth.

The best option is to contact the UGE itself and find out, which is what we did. 

“The requirement is to prove that the income which will be obtained as remuneration meets the minimum requirements,” the UGE told The Local Spain regarding the €2,646 a month threshold.

“However, if the difference is not much (there is no specific amount but rather it depends on the overall analysis of the application), savings that cover the difference for at least the first two years of the (DNV) authorisation can be assessed”.

Therefore, we can conclude that DNV applicants with monthly earnings that are slightly below the digital nomad visa requirement may be able to successfully provide savings to cover the shortfall, but in the end Spanish authorities decide on a case-by-case basis.

One DNV applicant told other digital nomads on a Facebook forum that the UGE replied to them with: “Any means of evidence admitted by law may be used and an individualised analysis will be carried out”.

Again, it’s likely this will depend on the amount of shortfall you have. We don’t know exactly what the threshold is, so it’s really speculation.

Perhaps if you only need a couple of hundred euros more to meet the income requirement, you may be able to make it up with savings, but if it’s a large amount, it’s likely you’ll get denied.

There’s no one-fits-all answer unfortunately. It’s of course more risky to apply if you don’t meet the income requirement, but if you really can’t make it work, your best bet is to try to submit evidence of your savings along with your application to see if you’ll be accepted.

They may ask for extra evidence later on down the line or you may be successful first time. Of course, there’s every possibility you’ll be rejected too.

READ ALSO: What digital nomads in Spain wish they’d known before applying

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