Staff Reporter
Spain has opened its doors to digital nomads with a new visa that lets non-EU citizens live in the country for up to five years. Who can apply for this visa and what industries might benefit from it?
Who Might Want This Kind of Visa?
Could the Spanish visa make it easier for digital nomads who work in industries like gaming? This study by ExpressVPN confirms that Millennials are the biggest gamers and are also more likely to play at night. Some of the possible reasons for this include having more disposable income and having watched how games have improved radically during their lifetime. For many people, working in gaming sounds like the ideal way of combining their hobby with a paid job.
This visa is aimed at people who don’t currently live in Spain or work for Spanish companies, although up to a fifth of their income can come from Spanish firms. Freelancers who have several clients and remote workers who have an employment contract with a single non-Spanish company can apply for this visa, while three years’ work experience is needed in all cases.
The Two Tickets Anywhere site confirms that there are around 35 million digital nomads in the world, with Mexico currently the most popular destination and the average annual salary reaching over $120,000. Any job that can be done remotely fits the criteria, which means that programming, graphic design, and marketing are among the most popular types of jobs.
The Requirements and Other Key Details
With the average age of digital nomads in 2021 calculated by CXC Global as 32 and 44% of them aged between 26 and 41, this type of visa can help across the different generations of gamers. This story from LinkedIn tells us about Alina, a Generation Z video game analyst who worked in Paris but wanted to travel to South America for a year. While the video game industry isn’t as suitable for digital nomads as might be expected, her company found a way to allow her to do this.
The digital nomad visa was announced by the Spanish parliament in November last year as a part of the Startup Act that has been designed to stimulate the country’s technology scene and bring in new entrepreneurs. Spain is following in the footsteps of countries such as Portugal and Croatia, which have successfully introduced digital nomad visas in recent years.
The visa is initially awarded for a year but is then renewable up to a maximum of five years in total. In terms of how much the applicant needs to earn, this has been set at double the national minimum wage in Spain, which means that it’s €2,334 monthly just now but will probably increase in the near future. The remote worker must have no criminal record in the last five years.
Anyone interested in a flexible lifestyle in Spain can apply for a visa at one of the country’s embassies or consulates around the planet. It’s also possible to enter Spain as a tourist and then apply for a visa in the first three months after arrival.
This new type of visa is sure to appeal to many digital nomads, giving them a chance to enjoy living in Spain and perhaps also helping to boost this country’s tech scene by bringing in fresh talent.
