In the fast-paced world of trying to get digital nomads to spend their time and money, Spain is the latest nation to make it easier and more appealing to stay there for a bit.
As Spain is part of both the European Union and Schengen travel zone, holders of the new visa will also be able to live, work, and travel in all other Schengen zone member states. As such, the new digital nomad visa is aimed squarely at citizens of non-EU countries.
Who can apply?
- Nationals of any non-EU country
- Working for a company which isn’t based in Spain
- Qualified at university degree level or higher
- Clean criminal record
- Income of 2x Spanish minimum wage or higher (currently 2x 1,050 EUR)
- Three or more years of professional experience in their current or similar employment
- Employment guaranteed for at least one year
- Proof of accommodation for the entire planned time in Spain
- Have private medical insurance for the entire planned time in Spain
Some thoughts
Firstly, it’s great to see more countries not only being open to the idea of people living there for a while, but also actively trying to attract digital nomads. All else equal, this can only be a good thing!
The general requirements seem to be relatively straightforward – although one can’t help thinking that they’ve been conceived of primarily by a team of non-nomads.
Sure, it makes sense to have an income of a certain amount, even if the number selected is wholly arbitrary; sure it makes sense to limit applications to those who have achieved a certain level of education, and have a clean criminal record etc.
But asking people to plan (and book, and pay for) their accommodation for a full year, in advance? C’mon, that’s not normal in the digital nomad community. Most nomads haven’t even decided which country they’ll be this time next year, let alone decided on a specific building to live in.
And if you’re a non-EU citizen, who because of this visa, now has the chance to experience living in Spain for a year – do you really want to live in exactly the same place for the full year, when you could just as easily live in 12 different parts of Spain for a month at a time?
Of course, it could be argued that Spain is deliberately only interested in attracting digital nomads who want to settle and start a location-dependent business there – after all, this new visa is coming as part of a legislative package which is primarily about making it easier to attract start-up entrepreneurs.
Medical insurance is a requirement
As with pretty much every other digital nomad visa available from other countries, one of the main requirements for applicants of this new Spain digital nomad visa is that they have private medical insurance which covers them in Spain.
If you’re living as a global nomad, and will be applying for various digital nomad visas from various countries over the coming years, you could take out a new insurance every time you move countries. This would work out to be expensive, and would automatically reset your insurance start date every time you switch insurance providers – which is an important consideration, because most insurances don’t cover “pre-existing” medical conditions (i.e. anything which happened before your insurance start date).
Alternatively, you could have one global medical insurance, which covers you everywhere you go, which you then just keep, and don’t need to do anything every time you move countries, and repeatedly show the same insurance policy documents to obtain a new visa from various places, without resetting the start date of your cover. Much better.
We recommend MedicalForNomads, which has four cover levels to choose from, all of which meet and/or exceed the government requirements for any Spain visa – and any other country, except the USA. For more details, visit www.MedicalForNomads.com
