The Spain non-lucrative visa in 6 numbers (2026)
- €2,400a month for you, at least
- €600a month more for each family member
- 0work in Spain: no job, no freelancing
- 1 yearfor the first permit
- 2 yearsfor each renewal
- 5 yearsto long-term residence
Spain Non-Lucrative Visa in 2026: Requirements, Income and Steps
The visa to live in Spain on your pension, savings or investments, in 7 steps: who qualifies, how much you need, what it costs, and how we can help at each step.
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The Spain non-lucrative visa (NLV) lets citizens of countries outside the EU, the EEA and Switzerland live in Spain without working there: on a pension, savings, investments or rents. It is the visa most retirees use, which is why it is often called the Spain retirement visa.
In 2026 you need €2,400 a month (€28,800 a year) for yourself, and €600 a month more for each family member. This guide takes you through the requirements, the documents and the 7 steps, from the consulate to your Spanish residence card.
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Can you get the Spain non-lucrative visa? The 30-second check
- You are not an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen. Those citizens live in Spain without a visa.
- You have €2,400 a month or €28,800 a year, from a pension, savings, investments or rents.
- You won’t work in Spain, neither as an employee nor as a freelancer.
- You have private health insurance from an insurer authorised in Spain, without co-payments.
- Your criminal record is clean, and you are in good health.
Yes to all five? The non-lucrative visa is your visa.
You work remotely for an employer or clients abroad? Look at the Spain digital nomad visa instead. A doubt on one point? Ask us in a free call.
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What is the Spain non-lucrative visa?
It is Spain’s non-lucrative residence (residencia temporal no lucrativa): the right to live in Spain without working there, because your own means are enough for you and your family. Retirees, people living on savings or rents, and families taking a break from work use it.
You apply at the Spanish consulate for the place where you live legally. Once the visa is issued, you move to Spain and get your residence card, the TIE, at the police. The first permit lasts 1 year; each renewal then lasts 2 years, as long as you still meet the conditions.
Can you work on a non-lucrative visa?
No. The non-lucrative visa doesn’t allow any work in Spain: no job, no freelancing, no business you run, and the consulates say it doesn’t allow remote work either. If you work remotely for an employer or clients abroad, the digital nomad visa is the visa made for that.
Plans change: once in Spain, you can apply to switch to a work permit without going back to your country. After a year of residence, the job no longer has to pass the check that no one in Spain could fill it.
Spain non-lucrative visa requirements in 2026
The visa is for citizens of countries outside the EU, the EEA and Switzerland who:
- Have enough money to live in Spain without working, for themselves and their family (below);
- Have private health insurance with an insurer authorised in Spain;
- Have a clean criminal record in the countries where they lived over the last five years;
- Have no disease that could have serious public health effects (a medical certificate says so);
- Are not in Spain irregularly, and are not banned from entering the Schengen area.
How much money do you need in 2026?
The amount follows the IPREM, Spain’s reference index for public aid (€600 a month in 2026): 400% of it for you, and 100% more for each family member who comes with you.
| Household | A month | A year |
|---|---|---|
| You alone | €2,400 | €28,800 |
| You and your partner | €3,000 | €36,000 |
| You, your partner and a child | €3,600 | €43,200 |
| You, your partner and two children | €4,200 | €50,400 |
A pension, rents, dividends or interest count as income. You can also show savings that cover the whole permit: €28,800 for one person for the first year. Show the money as it really is: bank statements over several months, pension certificates, rental contracts, with a sworn Spanish translation.
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What health insurance do you need?
Health insurance from an insurer authorised in Spain, for the whole first year. The consulates add their conditions: the same cover as the Spanish public system, no co-payments and no waiting periods; travel insurance is refused. Our guide to healthcare in Spain compares the options.
Pensioners of an EU country, or of a country with a social security agreement with Spain, can sometimes be covered by the public system instead: ask your pension fund for the certificate of entitlement.
Can your family come with you?
Yes. Your family can apply at the same time as you:
- Your spouse or registered partner;
- Your children under 18, and older children who have a disability or can’t support themselves.
The regulation doesn’t name parents, but some consulates (New York, Los Angeles, Houston) also accept dependent parents: ask yours. Each family member adds €600 a month (€7,200 a year) to the money you need to show.
How to apply for the Spain non-lucrative visa in 7 steps
From your sofa to your Spanish residence card. Each step says what to do and what it costs. In a free AnchorLess account, you tick them off one by one and get expert help where you need it.
- 1
Check that you qualify
€2,400 a month (or €28,800 in savings) for you, more for your family, no work in Spain, private health insurance and a clean criminal record.
Take the 30-second check - 2
Get your NIE
Spain gives you a foreigner’s number during the procedure, but a bank, a landlord or a notary ask for it before you move: to open your account, rent your home or buy a house in Spain. You can get it from abroad.
Get my NIE - 3
Open a Spanish bank account
The law doesn’t require one, but a Spanish account holding your savings is simple proof of means, and you will need it for rent and bills once you live there.
Open my account - 4
Get your health insurance
A policy from an insurer authorised in Spain, for at least a year. Consulates want the same cover as the public system, with no co-payments and no waiting periods.
Read about healthcare in Spain - 5
Build your file
Your proof of means, your criminal record certificates, a medical certificate, your insurance policy: the full checklist is below. Apostille first, then a sworn translation into Spanish.
Ask us in a free call - 6
Apply at the consulate
Book your appointment at the Spanish consulate for where you live (many use BLS centres), apply in person and pay the fees. The government office in Spain decides on the permit, then the consulate issues the visa.
Find your consulate - 7
Move to Spain and get your TIE
Collect the visa within a month, enter Spain while it is valid (90 days at many consulates), register your address at the town hall (empadronamiento), and ask the police for your TIE within a month of your arrival: the cita previa guide shows how to book it.
Read the TIE guide
How much does the Spain non-lucrative visa cost?
| Fee | When | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| National visa fee, each applicant | At the consulate | €90 (US citizens $140, UK citizens £516 in London, Canadians CAD 1,085 in Toronto) |
| Residence permit fee (form 790, code 052) | At the consulate | €10.94 |
| TIE card fee (form 790, code 012) | At the police, in Spain | €16.08 |
Add the apostilles and sworn translations of your documents, the medical certificate and a year of health insurance: they cost more than the fees.
How long does it take?
The law gives the administration 3 months at most to decide, and no answer means a refusal. You then collect the visa within a month and enter Spain while it is valid. Gathering, apostilling and translating your documents takes several weeks before that.
- Day 0You apply at the consulate
- 3 monthsat most for the decision
- 1 monthto ask for your TIE after you arrive
- 1 yearyour first permit
- 2 yearseach renewal
- 5 yearslong-term residence
- 10 yearscitizenship (2 for Ibero-Americans)
Why are applications refused?
- Means under the threshold, or that don’t look stable (a large deposit just before applying);
- Income from work, even remote work: that is a digital nomad visa case;
- Health insurance with co-payments or waiting periods, or travel insurance;
- Missing apostilles, translations that are not sworn, or a criminal record certificate too old;
- An application made at a consulate where you don’t legally live.
A doubt about your application? Book a free call to clear it up.
Spain non-lucrative visa documents checklist
Every consulate starts from the same list, then adds its own items: download your consulate’s checklist before you book. Bring:
- The national visa application form and the residence application form (EX-01);
- A recent passport photo;
- Your passport, valid for at least a year;
- Proof that you live legally where you apply, if you are not a national of that country;
- Your proof of means: pension certificates, bank statements, investment or rental income;
- Your health insurance certificate;
- Your criminal record certificates from the countries where you lived over the last five years;
- A medical certificate stating that you have no disease with serious public health effects;
- The fee receipts.
Each foreign public document needs an apostille and a sworn translation into Spanish. No NIE is needed to apply: Spain assigns one during the procedure.
How long is it valid, and how do you renew it?
- First permit: 1 year.
- Renewals: 2 years at a time, as long as you still have the means and the insurance, and have lived in Spain more than 183 days in the year.
- Long-term residence after 5 years of legal residence in Spain.
Apply for the renewal in the two months before your permit expires, or up to three months after, with a possible fine. The administration has three months to answer, and no answer means yes.
Long-term residence and citizenship
After five years of continuous legal residence, you can apply for long-term residence (residencia de larga duración), which lets you live and work in Spain. Spanish citizenship takes 10 years of legal residence, 2 years for nationals of Ibero-American countries, Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea and Portugal. Our guide to becoming a legal resident in Spain covers each status.
The non-lucrative visa and taxes in Spain
Live in Spain more than 183 days in a calendar year, or keep the centre of your interests there, and you become a Spanish tax resident: your worldwide income, pensions included, is taxed in Spain at progressive rates, with credits for tax paid abroad under the tax treaties. Our guide to Spanish tax residency explains the rules.
- Foreign assets are declared on form 720 when a type of asset (accounts, investments, property) passes €50,000. Our calendar of Spanish tax deadlines gives its 1 January to 31 March window, and the Renta’s.
- Wealth tax depends on your region (€700,000 exempt by default; some regions rebate it fully), plus a national solidarity tax above €3 million.
- The Beckham Law flat rate is for people who move to Spain to work or run a business: non-lucrative residents, who can’t work, don’t qualify.
Plan your move with a tax adviser who knows both countries, before you become resident.
Non-lucrative visa or digital nomad visa?
| Non-lucrative | Digital nomad | |
|---|---|---|
| Work | None | Remote, for companies abroad |
| Money needed, alone | €2,400 a month | €2,442 a month from work |
| Where you apply | At the consulate only | Consulate, or in Spain |
| First permit | 1 year | Up to 3 years |
| Beckham tax regime | No | Possible, for employees |
Retired, or living on savings and rents: the non-lucrative visa. Still working, remotely: the digital nomad visa. Our guide to Spanish visas compares the other routes, and our guide to retiring in Spain covers costs and cities.
Spain or Portugal: which retirement visa?
Spain asks €2,400 a month for one person and doesn’t let you work. Portugal’s equivalent, the D7 visa, asks €920 a month in 2026 and savings of a year of that income: see our guide to the Portugal D7 visa.
How we checked this guide
The rules, amounts and fees in this guide were checked on 26 October 2026 against the law and the official portals:
- Real Decreto 1155/2024, the immigration regulation in force since 20 May 2025: articles 37 to 39 (the visa), 60 to 64 (non-lucrative residence: means, family, renewals), 183 (long-term residence), 191 (switching permits) and 209 (the TIE);
- Ley Orgánica 4/2000, the foreigners’ law (the three-month limit);
- the IPREM of €600 a month, unchanged since the 2023 budget (Ley 31/2022) and extended into 2026;
- the Ministry of Inclusion’s information sheets on non-lucrative residence and its renewal, and the visa pages of the Spanish consulates in New York, Los Angeles, Houston, Toronto and London (documents, insurance, fees);
- Orden AUC/891/2024 (the €90 visa fee), the forms 790 code 052 and 012 (permit and TIE fees);
- Ley 35/2006 (tax residence, the Beckham regime) and the Código Civil, article 22 (citizenship).
Written by Brenda L., relocation expert at AnchorLess. Where consulates differ, check the checklist of yours.
Frequently asked questions
What are the requirements for the Spain non-lucrative visa?
Be a citizen of a country outside the EU, the EEA and Switzerland, with €2,400 a month (€28,800 a year) for yourself and €600 more for each family member, private health insurance from an insurer authorised in Spain, a clean criminal record and a medical certificate. You can’t work in Spain.
How much money do I need for the Spain non-lucrative visa in 2026?
400% of the IPREM: €2,400 a month, or €28,800 a year, for one person, and 100% of the IPREM (€600 a month) for each family member. Savings that cover the yearly amount count too.
Can I work on a non-lucrative visa in Spain?
No, neither as an employee nor as a freelancer, and remote work for a company abroad is a digital nomad visa case.
Can I apply for the non-lucrative visa from Spain?
No: the first application is made in person at the Spanish consulate for the place where you live legally.
Is the non-lucrative visa the Spain retirement visa?
Yes. Spain has no visa for retirees as such: retirees from outside the EU use the non-lucrative visa.
How long is the non-lucrative visa valid?
The first permit lasts 1 year, then each renewal 2 years. After 5 years of legal residence, you can apply for long-term residence.
Can my family come with me on a non-lucrative visa?
Yes: your spouse or partner and your children (under 18, or older with a disability or unable to support themselves); some consulates also accept dependent parents. Each adds €600 a month to the money you need to show.
Do I need a NIE before applying for the non-lucrative visa?
No: Spain assigns one during the procedure. You need it earlier only to open a Spanish bank account, rent or buy a home before you move; AnchorLess can get it for you from abroad.
Can I switch from a non-lucrative visa to a work permit?
Yes, from inside Spain. After a year of residence, the job offer no longer has to pass the national employment situation check.
Do I pay tax in Spain on a non-lucrative visa?
Once you live in Spain more than 183 days a year, you are a Spanish tax resident and your worldwide income, pensions included, is taxed in Spain, with credits for tax paid abroad under the tax treaties.
Still have questions?
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