Spain Self-Employed Visa (Cuenta Propia): Apply From Abroad or Switch From a Digital Nomad Permit

The digital nomad permit is for remote work for companies outside Spain. The self-employment permit is for an activity in Spain:

• you want Spanish clients to be more than 20% of your work, or you'll mostly work for the local market;
• you're opening something physical: a studio, a shop, a practice, a local agency;
• your foreign contract has ended or your income dropped below the digital nomad threshold, but you have work as a freelancer in Spain.

If your clients are companies abroad, you don't need it. The digital nomad permit already covers freelancers; see the digital nomad visa for the self-employed.

Under the immigration regulation (Royal Decree 1155/2024), a person who doesn't live in Spain applies at the Spanish consulate for the place where they legally live. The visa and the residence and work permit are processed together: the consulate checks the visa side, the immigration office of the region you'll work in checks the business. You file in person; in London that's at the BLS visa centre.

What the consulate in London asks for on top of the usual visa documents (passport, criminal record certificate, medical certificate, proof that you live in the consular district):

• Form EX-07 for the permit.
• A business plan with the investment, the expected return and any jobs created, your own included.
• Proof of funds for the investment, your own or a commitment of support from a bank or another institution. The regulation sets no fixed minimum: the sum follows from your plan.
• A list of the licences your activity needs and the status of each application. The regulation asks you to meet the rules a Spaniard meets to open the same business. If your activity needs no licence, the list says so.
• Your qualifications: a degree or proof of experience, with recognition and professional registration for regulated professions.
• Two fees: form 790-052 (box 2.1) and form 790-062 (box 1.5). In Catalonia the work permit fee is paid to the regional government.

Applicants usually add a viability report on the plan from a self-employed workers' association (ATA, UPTA, CIAE and others). It isn't on the consulate's list, but it's the usual way to show the plan holds up.

How it runs:

• The decision. The consulate in London gives four months. The regulation counts three months for the permit from when the immigration office receives the file, and silence counts as refusal. Applicants report anything from about seven weeks to five months and more without an answer; the region decides the speed, not the consulate.
• The first permit lasts one year and is limited to one region and one sector of activity.
• After approval you collect the visa in person within a month, enter Spain, register as self-employed within three months of entry and apply for your TIE within a month of registering.
• Renewal is filed two months before the permit ends; if your business is running and you owe no taxes or contributions, it's renewed for four years.
• Family can't apply with you. They can join through family reunification once you've lived in Spain for a year and applied for your renewal.

The main reason for refusal: the business doesn't look Spanish. A running business with only foreign clients proves you work, not why you need to live in Spain. In a 2026 refusal reported by an applicant, that was the stated ground. Build the file around Spain: letters of intent or draft contracts from Spanish companies in your region, the regional market in your business plan, and where you'll work.

The regulation lets a person who has lived in Spain for at least a year on a permit that allowed them to work switch to a self-employment permit without a new visa. The UGE's FAQ confirms the switch from the digital nomad permit goes through this procedure. In our practice clients switch after a year, and the new permit is issued for four years.

The catch: the switch is accepted only when your circumstances have changed so you can no longer keep the digital nomad permit. That's the Ministry's management criterion 1/2025. Without a clear reason, applications come back as inadmissible. The reasons applicants use successfully in 2026:

• your remote contract has ended, or your income has fallen below the digital nomad threshold;
• you want to work for the Spanish market beyond the 20% the digital nomad permit allows.

Unlike the digital nomad permit, the switch is decided by the immigration office of your province (Oficina de Extranjería), not the UGE. You file online through the Mercurio portal with a Spanish digital certificate. From what applicants and practitioners reported in 2026, a typical file has:

• A business plan for your activity in Spain and a viability report on it from a self-employed workers' association (ATA, UPTA, CIAE and others). The report takes from a few days to two months, so plan for it. Write the plan about real work for Spanish clients, not a "startup".
• A letter explaining what changed, with evidence: the end of your contract, a drop in income, and the activity you'll run in Spain.
• Certificates showing you owe nothing to the tax agency (AEAT) and to Social Security (TGSS), plus your Social Security work history (vida laboral).
• Funds: at least 100% of the IPREM (Spain's public income index) for you, 50% for the first family member and 25% for each additional one, plus money to cover the investment in your plan.
• Your degree or proof of experience, a CV in Spanish, your current TIE and permit decision, a recent padrón.
• Two fees: form 790-052 (€10.94) and form 790-062 (€81.54), as reported for 2026.

Family members usually follow through family reunification once your switch is approved, or apply for their own self-employment permit.

• Your digital nomad contract is still running. Attaching it, or recent invoices to your foreign client, tells the office you still qualify as a nomad, and the switch is refused.
• "My income went down" without proof that the work ended. Some provinces ask for a termination document.
• A gap in Social Security. If you didn't register as self-employed right after your digital nomad approval, it surfaces here too. Switching doesn't hide it.
• Filing after the digital nomad permit was withdrawn. There's nothing left to modify.
• Waiting. Decisions range from days in some provinces to a year in Barcelona, and silence counts as refusal. Many applicants file within their digital nomad renewal window, or renew in parallel, so a refusal doesn't leave them without status.

Register as self-employed and with Social Security straight away if you haven't yet: the permit takes effect once you're registered. Then book your fingerprints for the new TIE. At renewal the office checks that you actually ran the business in your plan, paid your taxes and your contributions, so live by your plan.