Non-lucrative residence visa (NLV)
Photo: Hassaan72 / Wikimedia Commons (cc0)
The non-lucrative residence visa (NLV) lets a non-EU national live in Spain without working. It suits people with passive income or savings: rent from a property, dividends, interest, a pension, or simply money in the bank. Some use it for a sabbatical year that turns into two or three.
The NLV gives you no right to work of any kind. That means no job in Spain, and also no remote work for a foreign employer and no freelancing online for clients abroad. If you earn a living from a laptop, the visa you want is the digital nomad visa. The paperwork is detailed and consulates reject files over small gaps, so many applicants hire a law firm to help with the non-lucrative visa application.
How much money do you need for the Non-Lucrative Visa?
The rule is set in article 62 of Royal Decree 1155/2024, the immigration regulation in force since 20 May 2025. You need 400% of the IPREM for yourself and 100% of the IPREM for each family member who comes with you. The IPREM is €600 a month and has not changed in 2026.
- Main applicant: €2,400 a month, or €28,800 for the one-year permit.
- Each family member: €600 a month, or €7,200 a year.
- A couple: €3,000 a month, or €36,000 a year. A couple with one child: €3,600 a month, or €43,200 a year.
You can prove it with regular passive income, with savings, or with a mix of both. Savings count as long as they cover the full year of the permit.
Guide for the application of a Non-Lucrative Visa in Spain
★ Partner in Spain
My Spain Visa
Spain immigration & tax lawyers · 5,000+ clients since 2010, from 100+ countries
Already decided on Spain? Ask the people who made the move. Partner listing: MyNomadWorld has a commercial relationship with this firm, and readers contact them directly.
Explore these countries
SpainYou apply at the Spanish consulate that covers your place of residence, in person, and give fingerprints at the appointment. Applying for the visa also opens the residence authorisation, which the immigration office in Spain decides. The consulate then issues the visa. Once you arrive, you have one month to apply for your residence card (TIE) at the police station.
EU, EEA and Swiss citizens do not need this visa. They can live in Spain and simply register as EU residents once they stay longer than three months.
Documents necessary for a Spain Non-Lucrative Visa
- Visa application form, filled in and signed, plus recent passport-sized photos on a light background. Your consulate publishes its own form and photo rules.
- Medical certificate: a doctor's certificate stating you do not have any disease that could have serious public health consequences under the International Health Regulations of 2005. It needs a sworn translation into Spanish and, depending on the country, legalisation or an apostille.
- Passport: valid for at least one year, with blank pages, plus a copy of every page.
- Criminal record certificate from every country where you lived in the last five years, if you are an adult. Legalised or apostilled, and translated into Spanish.
- NIE number: you do not need one before applying. The NIE, your foreigner's identity number, is assigned when the residence authorisation is granted and appears on your visa.
- Proof of funds: bank certificates and statements, investment statements, or proof of regular passive income such as rental contracts or pension statements. Consulates usually want recent statements covering several months. Salary from an employer does not count, because you cannot work on this visa.
- Marriage or birth certificates for any family member applying with you, legalised and translated into Spanish.
- Private health insurance with an insurer authorised to operate in Spain. Most consulates also ask for full cover with no co-payments and no waiting periods.
- Fees: the consular visa fee, which depends on your nationality, and the fee for the residence authorisation, paid with form 790, code 052. Attach proof of payment.
Necessary documents for family members in the NLV
Under article 61.3 of Royal Decree 1155/2024, the family members who can join you on the NLV are your spouse or registered partner (or an unregistered partner who can prove a stable relationship, normally at least one year of living together), your minor children, and adult children who cannot support themselves because of a disability or their health. Parents are not on that list, so they need their own application.
Each family member files the same core documents as you, plus proof of the relationship: a marriage certificate, a partnership registration, or birth certificates. Parents sign the forms for minors. The consulate can ask for extra documents or call anyone in the family to an interview.
Who the Non-Lucrative Visa is for
Can you work remotely on a Non-Lucrative Visa?
No. The NLV is defined in article 61.1 of Royal Decree 1155/2024 as residence without work or professional activity. Consulates refuse files that show a salary, and remote work for a company abroad is still work. People used to try it anyway. Since 2023 there is a proper route for them: the digital nomad visa, which allows remote work for companies outside Spain.
Living in Spain on savings or passive income
This is who the NLV is built for. Your money has to come from sources that need no work from you: rental income, dividends, interest, a pension, or savings large enough for the year. Consulates look at whether the income is stable and whether it is really yours, so a portfolio statement or a pension letter usually carries more weight than a one-off transfer into your account.
A few months to a year is not the problem here. The NLV is a residence permit, not a short stay: the first authorisation lasts one year and can be renewed.
The Fee for Spain Non-Lucrative Visa
There is no single price. The consular visa fee depends on your nationality, and some countries pay more because Spain applies reciprocity. On top of that comes the residence authorisation fee on form 790, code 052. Check the current fee table of your own consulate before you pay, because consulates update them and only accept the exact amount.
Do you have to pay taxes in Spain with a non-lucrative Visa?
Usually yes. If you spend more than 183 days in Spain in a calendar year you become a Spanish tax resident under article 9 of the Spanish income tax law, and Spain taxes your worldwide income: dividends, interest, rent, pensions. Renewing the NLV requires you to have lived in Spain for more than 183 days a year, so most holders end up tax resident.
A tax treaty between Spain and your home country can stop the same income being taxed twice, usually through a credit for tax already paid. Get tax advice before you move, not after the first tax return.
How long can you stay in Spain on a non-lucrative visa?
The first residence authorisation lasts one year (article 61.4 of Royal Decree 1155/2024). Each renewal lasts two years (article 64.7). After five years of continuous legal residence you can apply for long-term residence under article 32 of the Spanish immigration law, which no longer needs the NLV income test each time.
The NLV never lets you work. If your plans change and you want to work, you have to switch to a different permit.
The investor Golden Visa is no longer an option for new applicants: Spain closed it on 3 April 2025 (Organic Law 1/2025). Permits granted before that date can still be renewed.
Is it hard to get a non-lucrative visa for Spain?
Not if you meet the income figure and your paperwork is clean. Most refusals come from the file, not from the person: income that looks like a salary, insurance with co-payments, a medical certificate without an apostille, a translation that is not sworn.
The two things the consulate checks hardest are the money and the health insurance. Get those right and the rest is document collection.
How much bank balance is required for Spain visa?
For the NLV, the minimum is €28,800 for the main applicant for the first year, which is €2,400 a month, plus €7,200 (€600 a month) for each family member. A couple needs €36,000. These are the legal minimums in article 62 of Royal Decree 1155/2024, not a comfortable budget.
If you rely on savings rather than income, showing more than the minimum helps. Consulates can also accept property titles or a credit card with a bank certificate of the available credit, but cash in an account and regular passive income are the easiest to prove.
Can You Renew a Non-Lucrative Visa for Spain?
Yes. You renew in Spain, at the immigration office, not at a consulate abroad. Under article 64 of Royal Decree 1155/2024 you apply in the two months before your permit expires, or up to three months after it expires, though a late filing can bring a fine.
You must show the income again for the renewal period, keep your health insurance, have your school-age children in school, and prove you lived in Spain for more than 183 days during the year. That last rule catches people who spend long stretches back home. The renewal lasts two years, and the office has three months to decide. If it does not answer in time, the renewal counts as granted.
How Long It Takes to Process a Spain Non-Lucrative Visa.
The legal deadlines are short. The immigration office has one month from the consulate's notice to decide on the residence authorisation (article 63.4 of Royal Decree 1155/2024). If there is no answer in that month, the application counts as refused. After a favourable decision, the consulate has one more month to issue the visa (article 39.5).
In practice many consulates quote longer, and getting an appointment can take weeks on its own in busy periods. Plan backwards from your travel date and leave room for requests for extra documents.
Benefits of a Spain Non-lucrative Visa
The benefits are:
- Legal residence in Spain: one year at first, then two-year renewals, and a route to long-term residence after five years.
- Travel in the Schengen Area: with a Spanish residence permit you can visit other Schengen countries for up to 90 days in any 180-day period.
- Time to learn Spanish properly, living in it every day rather than on a two-week trip.
- Your family can come with you on the same permit type, if they are on the family list above and you have the extra €600 a month each.
- Spain itself: the food, the towns, the pace, and a cost of living below most of Western Europe.
Setbacks of a Spain Non-lucrative Visa
Potential drawbacks to keep in mind when applying for a Spain Non-lucrative Visa:
- No work at all: not in Spain, not remote, not online. Everything you live on has to come from income or savings that need no work from you.
- You have to live there: renewals require more than 183 days a year in Spain, and that normally makes you a Spanish tax resident.
- Detailed paperwork: apostilles, sworn translations and consulate-specific rules. One missing stamp can send the file back.
- The money test repeats: you prove €2,400 a month plus €600 per family member at the start and again at every renewal.
- Private health insurance is compulsory. The NLV does not give you access to the public health system when you arrive.
- Only close family qualifies: spouse or partner, minor children, and adult children who depend on you for health or disability reasons. Parents need their own application.