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Moving to Spain · Visas and residency · Reviewed September 4, 2026

Visas and residency in Spain for US citizens

6 routes are tracked here, 5 of which lead to permanent residence. Each one below carries its own duration, cost, eligibility test and the government page the details were read from.

Routes tracked6Digital nomad, Retirement, Work, Other, Study, Family
Lead to permanent residence5 / 61 are temporary or renewable only
Open without a job offer5 / 6Visado y autorizacion de residencia por teletrabajo de caracter internacional (digital nomad visa), Visado de residencia no lucrativa (non-lucrative residence visa), Autorizacion de residencia para emprendedores (entrepreneur / startup visa, Law 14/2013), Autorizacion de estancia por estudios (long-stay student authorisation), Tarjeta de residencia de familiar de ciudadano de la Union (EU family member card)
Health cover outside the system$90/moTypical private premium, one adult

This page is reference information, not immigration advice. Fees, income thresholds and processing times change without notice and are frequently amended mid-year. Verify every requirement against the official government page linked on each route before you file anything or book anything, and take advice from a licensed immigration lawyer where your case is not straightforward.

Which route fits your situation

The table maps common situations to the routes Spain actually has in this dataset. Where a row says no route is tracked, that is a statement about the 6 routes on this page, not a ruling that nothing exists. Check the official pages before you rule anything out.

Reader situation mapped to the Spain routes tracked here.
Your situationRoute that fitsPermanent residence
You have an offer from an employer based in SpainCan lead to PR
You keep your US employer and work remotelyCan lead to PR
You are retired and living on pension or investment incomeCan lead to PR
You are investing capital or buying into a businessNo investor route is among the ones tracked here. Some countries handle business owners through a self-employment or entrepreneur permit instead.Not applicable
You are enrolling at a university, college or language schoolNot directly
You are the spouse or close family of a citizen or residentCan lead to PR

Routes on this page that none of those situations covers: Autorizacion de residencia para emprendedores (entrepreneur / startup visa, Law 14/2013).

Every route at a glance

One row per route, in the order they are set out below. The costs are the official government fees recorded in the data. They exclude translations, apostilles, medicals and legal help, which together often come to more than the fee itself.

Residence and entry routes into Spain recorded for US citizens.
RouteCategoryValid forOfficial costPermanent residence
Visado y autorizacion de residencia por teletrabajo de caracter internacional (digital nomad visa)Digital nomadOne-year visa if applied for at a Spanish consulate in the US, or a three-year authorisation if applied for inside Spain within the first 90 days of a tourist stay; renewable in two-year blocks, and five years of legal residence opens EU long-term residence.US citizens pay a $140 national visa fee at a Spanish consulate plus a $13 residence permit fee, then roughly 16 to 22 euros for the TIE identity card in Spain. Budget $1,500 to $3,500 all in once you add the FBI background check with apostille, sworn translations and a year of private health cover (estimate).Counts toward it
Visado de residencia no lucrativa (non-lucrative residence visa)RetirementOne year initially, then renewable for two years and two more years; after five continuous years you can apply for EU long-term residence.$140 visa fee for US citizens plus a $13 residence permit fee at the Consulate General in Washington DC, plus BLS handling charges. Total out of pocket including apostilles, translations and the first year of insurance typically runs $2,000 to $4,000 for one applicant (estimate).Counts toward it
Autorizacion de residencia para profesionales altamente cualificados (Law 14/2013 highly qualified professional)WorkThree years, or the length of the contract plus three months where the contract runs shorter than three years; renewable in two-year periods, and five years of legal residence opens EU long-term residence. The Unidad de Grandes Empresas resolves applications within twenty working days, with approval by administrative silence if it misses that deadline.Government fee for the residence authorisation is payable on Modelo 790 code 038, plus the TIE card fee; employers usually cover both. Expect a few hundred dollars in fees and translations (estimate).Counts toward it
Autorizacion de residencia para emprendedores (entrepreneur / startup visa, Law 14/2013)OtherThree years, renewable for two more, with the same 20-working-day fast track.Modelo 790 code 038 fee plus the TIE card fee; the ENISA report itself is free. Legal and business plan preparation is the real cost, commonly $2,000 to $6,000 (estimate).Counts toward it
Autorizacion de estancia por estudios (long-stay student authorisation)StudyMatched to the length of the course for higher education, capped at one year for secondary education, renewable annually while you remain enrolled.$140 consular visa fee for US citizens plus the TIE card fee; tuition is separate and public university fees for non-EU students commonly run 1,500 to 6,000 euros a year (estimate).Not directly
Tarjeta de residencia de familiar de ciudadano de la Union (EU family member card)FamilyFive years, or the expected residence period of the EU citizen if shorter, then permanent residence.The fee is set at the same level Spanish citizens pay for a national ID card, paid on Modelo 790 code 052, so it is a matter of tens of euros rather than hundreds.Counts toward it

Route by route

The facts in each panel come from the Spain data and the official page beside it. The paragraph underneath describes how routes of that class usually work, wherever they are issued, so you know what the application will ask for before you open the form.

Visado y autorizacion de residencia por teletrabajo de caracter internacional (digital nomad visa)

Digital nomadCounts toward permanent residence

Valid for
One-year visa if applied for at a Spanish consulate in the US, or a three-year authorisation if applied for inside Spain within the first 90 days of a tourist stay; renewable in two-year blocks, and five years of legal residence opens EU long-term residence.
Official cost
US citizens pay a $140 national visa fee at a Spanish consulate plus a $13 residence permit fee, then roughly 16 to 22 euros for the TIE identity card in Spain. Budget $1,500 to $3,500 all in once you add the FBI background check with apostille, sworn translations and a year of private health cover (estimate).
Permanent residence
Yes, time on this permit counts

Who qualifies. Remote work for companies based outside Spain. Article 74 bis of Law 14/2013 draws a line most summaries blur: if you are an employee you may work only for non-Spanish companies, full stop, and the 20% allowance for Spanish-based work applies only if you are self-employed, capped at 20% of your total professional activity. You also need at least three months of relationship with the employer or client, a company that has been genuinely trading for at least a year, a degree from a recognised university, vocational school or business school or three years of relevant professional experience, a clean criminal record, private health insurance, and income of at least 200% of the Spanish minimum wage. With the 2026 SMI at 1,221 euros a month over 14 payments (17,094 euros a year), that is 34,188 euros a year, about 2,849 euros a month, plus 75% of the SMI for the first dependant and 25% for each additional one.

Typical of digital nomad routesNomad and remote-work permits are built around income earned outside the country. Expect to evidence a minimum monthly income or savings balance with bank statements and contracts, hold private health cover for the whole period, and produce a criminal record check. They usually do not allow you to take local clients or a local job, and whether the years count toward permanent residence varies more than any other route type.

Visado de residencia no lucrativa (non-lucrative residence visa)

RetirementCounts toward permanent residence

Valid for
One year initially, then renewable for two years and two more years; after five continuous years you can apply for EU long-term residence.
Official cost
$140 visa fee for US citizens plus a $13 residence permit fee at the Consulate General in Washington DC, plus BLS handling charges. Total out of pocket including apostilles, translations and the first year of insurance typically runs $2,000 to $4,000 for one applicant (estimate).
Permanent residence
Yes, time on this permit counts

Who qualifies. Passive income or savings of 400% of the IPREM, which is 2,400 euros a month or 28,800 euros a year in 2026, plus 100% of IPREM (600 euros a month) for each dependant. You must not work at all, including remotely for a US employer, which is the single most common reason Americans pick the wrong permit. Also required: full private health insurance from an insurer authorised in Spain with no co-payments and no coverage cap, a medical certificate, and an FBI criminal record check with a Hague apostille.

Typical of retirement routesPassive-income routes ask you to show recurring money you do not have to work for: pension, annuity, rental or investment income, in your name, evidenced by statements and award letters rather than projections. Local employment is typically ruled out, and health cover is almost always a condition of the first permit.

Autorizacion de residencia para profesionales altamente cualificados (Law 14/2013 highly qualified professional)

WorkCounts toward permanent residence

Valid for
Three years, or the length of the contract plus three months where the contract runs shorter than three years; renewable in two-year periods, and five years of legal residence opens EU long-term residence. The Unidad de Grandes Empresas resolves applications within twenty working days, with approval by administrative silence if it misses that deadline.
Official cost
Government fee for the residence authorisation is payable on Modelo 790 code 038, plus the TIE card fee; employers usually cover both. Expect a few hundred dollars in fees and translations (estimate).
Permanent residence
Yes, time on this permit counts

Who qualifies. A job offer or employment contract in Spain for a highly qualified role, plus the qualification article 71 of Law 14/2013 asks for. Since the startups law (Ley 28/2022, in force 23 December 2022) rewrote that article there are two modalities. The EU Blue Card needs higher education of at least three years at MECES level 2, or five years of comparable professional experience, cut to three years within the last seven for ICT professionals and managers, together with a contract or firm job offer of at least six months and a gross annual salary at or above a reference threshold set by regulation at between 1.0 and 1.6 times average gross annual pay. The national highly qualified professional authorisation needs a qualification equivalent to at least MECES level 1, or three years of comparable professional experience. One thing to unlearn: the original 2013 version of article 71 also gated the route on the employer being large, over 250 staff or over 50 million euros of turnover or over 43 million euros of equity or over 1 million euros a year of inbound investment, or an SME in a designated strategic sector. That employer test was deleted in December 2022 and appears nowhere in the consolidated text today, so an ordinary small Spanish firm can sponsor this permit.

Typical of work routesEmployer-sponsored routes normally start with a signed offer, not with you. The employer usually has to prove the role was advertised or that it sits on a shortage list, and the permit is tied to that job, so changing employer generally means notifying the immigration authority or filing again. Time held on a work permit is the kind that most often counts toward permanent residence.

Autorizacion de residencia para emprendedores (entrepreneur / startup visa, Law 14/2013)

OtherCounts toward permanent residence

Valid for
Three years, renewable for two more, with the same 20-working-day fast track.
Official cost
Modelo 790 code 038 fee plus the TIE card fee; the ENISA report itself is free. Legal and business plan preparation is the real cost, commonly $2,000 to $6,000 (estimate).
Permanent residence
Yes, time on this permit counts

Who qualifies. A business project of an innovative nature with special economic interest for Spain. ENISA, the state innovation agency, issues a binding favourable report based on your professional profile, the business plan, financing and investment, and the value the project adds to the Spanish economy. There is no fixed minimum investment or job creation threshold, which makes this the main replacement route for the golden visa that Spain abolished on 3 April 2025.

Typical of other routesRoutes outside the standard categories carry their own conditions and are the most likely to change between one application cycle and the next. Read the official page in full before you build a plan around this one.

Autorizacion de estancia por estudios (long-stay student authorisation)

StudyNo direct path to permanent residence

Valid for
Matched to the length of the course for higher education, capped at one year for secondary education, renewable annually while you remain enrolled.
Official cost
$140 consular visa fee for US citizens plus the TIE card fee; tuition is separate and public university fees for non-EU students commonly run 1,500 to 6,000 euros a year (estimate).
Permanent residence
Not directly

Who qualifies. Admission to an authorised Spanish institution for a full-time programme leading to a degree or certificate, proof of 100% of IPREM per month (600 euros in 2026) plus more for dependants, health insurance and a clean record. Students may work up to 30 hours a week if the work is compatible with studies. Under the 2025 immigration regulation you can convert to a work or residence authorisation, but the study stay by itself does not put you on the permanent residence track, so treat it as a stepping stone.

Typical of study routesStudy permits are tied to an accredited institution and an unconditional acceptance letter. Alongside tuition you normally have to show living funds for the year, accommodation and health cover. Work rights are capped at a set number of hours, and the permit ends when the course does, though many countries offer a post-study period to look for work.

Tarjeta de residencia de familiar de ciudadano de la Union (EU family member card)

FamilyCounts toward permanent residence

Valid for
Five years, or the expected residence period of the EU citizen if shorter, then permanent residence.
Official cost
The fee is set at the same level Spanish citizens pay for a national ID card, paid on Modelo 790 code 052, so it is a matter of tens of euros rather than hundreds.
Permanent residence
Yes, time on this permit counts

Who qualifies. For the spouse, registered partner, documented stable unmarried partner, dependent children or dependent parents of a Spanish or other EU/EEA/Swiss citizen who is living in Spain. This is by far the cheapest and fastest route if you qualify, with no income test comparable to the non-lucrative or nomad visas, and it carries full work rights from day one. Separate rules under the general immigration law apply to reunifying family with a non-EU resident.

Typical of family routesFamily routes turn on the sponsor’s status rather than yours, so the sponsor usually has to meet an income or housing standard. The bottleneck is civil documents: marriage, birth and sometimes divorce certificates, apostilled and translated by an approved translator. Relationships that are genuine but poorly documented fail more often than relationships that are questioned.

Which routes actually go somewhere

Whether a permit renews forever or accumulates toward settlement decides what a decade in Spain is worth at the end of it. These are the routes on each side of that line.

Builds toward permanent residence

Temporary or renewable only

A residence permit and tax residence are decided by separate tests, and it is common to trip the second without intending to. Spain sets its own rule for when you become taxable there, and the US carries on taxing its citizens wherever they live. How US citizens are taxed in Spain →

Most residence applications require proof of health cover from the day the permit starts, before you are inside the local system. What healthcare access looks like in Spain →

How the Spain route mix compares

Spain has 6 tracked routes, 5 of which build toward permanent residence. Across the 15 countries on this site the median is 7 tracked routes and 4 that lead to settlement. The table counts routes by category, so if one specific door is the one you need, you can see which destinations have it.

Number of tracked routes by category. Column headings link to each country's own residency guide.
CategorySpainCanadaIrelandAustraliaNew Zealand
VisitorNone1111
Work13243
Digital nomad1NoneNoneNone1
Retirement1None1NoneNone
InvestmentNoneNone1None1
Study1111None
Family11None11
AncestryNoneNone1NoneNone
Other1None111

A category with no tracked route is a gap in this dataset for that country, not proof that no such permit exists. Each count is only as complete as the government pages listed on that country's own guide.

How the process usually sequences

The order below is typical rather than specific: it holds for most residence routes in most countries, and the official page for your route governs wherever the two differ. What varies between countries is the length of each stage, not usually its existence.

  1. Pick the route and read its official page end to end

    Nearly every rejected application was filed under the wrong category or against last year’s requirements. The route decides the document list, the fee and where you file, so it is the only decision that is expensive to get wrong.

  2. Order civil documents early

    Birth and marriage certificates, a criminal record check and, where relevant, degree certificates usually need an apostille and a certified translation. This step is administrative and typically the longest one, because it depends on record offices rather than on you.

  3. Assemble the money and cover evidence

    Most residence routes want bank statements covering several consecutive months, a signed employment or income document, and proof of health cover valid from the day you arrive. Statements that skip a month or arrive as screenshots are a common reason files are sent back.

  4. File the application, usually from outside the country

    Residence applications are commonly lodged at the consulate covering your US address, or through a government portal that still ends in a consular appointment. Slots can be the binding constraint on your timeline, so book before the file is perfect rather than after.

  5. Attend the appointment and give biometrics

    Fingerprints and a photograph are taken at the appointment or shortly after, and the original documents are checked against the copies you submitted. Fees are normally paid at this point and are rarely refundable if the application fails.

  6. Wait for the decision, then collect the entry visa

    The decision arrives as a visa sticker or approval letter that lets you travel. It usually carries its own window in which you must enter, which is why booking flights before approval is a gamble rather than a plan.

  7. Arrive and register locally

    Most countries expect a local registration within days or weeks of arrival: an address registration, a tax or social security number, and often a local bank account. Several of these steps depend on each other, so the order they are done in matters more than the effort each one takes.

  8. Collect the residence card and diarise the renewal

    The physical permit is issued after registration, sometimes at a separate appointment. Renewal windows open before expiry and close on the day, and continuous lawful residence is what later counts toward permanent residence or naturalisation, so a lapsed permit can reset a clock you have been building for years.

Nothing in that sequence is a substitute for the instructions on the official page for your route. Treat it as a checklist for planning your months, not as the requirements themselves.

Residency questions about Spain

Can I work remotely for my US employer on a Spanish visa?

Only on the digital nomad permit, which was created for exactly that. The non-lucrative visa prohibits all work, including remote work for a US company, and Spanish consulates and immigration offices treat that as disqualifying. If you are an employee the nomad permit lets you work only for companies based outside Spain; the 20% allowance for Spanish-based work applies to self-employed holders. It also requires at least three months with your current employer or client and about 2,849 euros a month in income.

Can I still get a Spanish golden visa by buying property?

No. Organic Law 1/2025 repealed the investor residence provisions of Law 14/2013, and the programme closed to new applicants on 3 April 2025. Applications filed before that date are still honoured and renewable. There is no replacement investment route. Americans with capital now typically use the entrepreneur permit, which needs a favourable ENISA report on an innovative business plan rather than a minimum investment, or the digital nomad or non-lucrative visas.

How long until I can get permanent residence or a Spanish passport?

Five years of legal continuous residence gets you EU long-term residence in Spain, which carries indefinite work rights. Citizenship normally requires ten years of legal residence for Americans, with language and civics exams, though nationals of Ibero-American countries, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea, Andorra, Portugal and people of Sephardic descent qualify after two. Spain asks new citizens to declare renunciation of their previous nationality, but the United States does not treat that declaration as effective expatriation.

Official pages and sources

Every route on this page was read from a government source. These are the pages behind them, unduplicated, so you can check the current fee and document list yourself.

Wider sources for this country

What these numbers are. The headline figures were re-derived from primary sources during review. Some category indices could not be matched to a published statistic and are reasoned estimates, marked as such in the list below. Where a source entry says a value is derived, estimated or crowd-sourced, that is exactly what it is: no international body publishes a like-for-like index for every category, and private insurance premiums are not published at all in most countries. Rent figures are national market averages, so a capital city will run above them. How the dataset is built.

  1. Eurostat, Purchasing power parities and price level indices based on COICOP 2018 (prc_ppp_ind_1), reference year 2025, dataset updated 9 July 2026: price level index for household final consumption expenditure (E011) with EU27=100 is 91.6 for Spain and 133.3 for the United States, putting Spain at 68.7% of the US level at 2025 average exchange rates. The 2025 PLIs embed the ECB 2025 annual average of $1.12998 per euro; restated at the 4 September 2026 reference rate of $1.1622 the ratio is about 70.7, which is the basis for the headline col_index_vs_us of 70. On the same dataset for 2024 the values were Spain 91.3 and United States 143.3, a ratio of 63.7, so the narrowing of the gap is an exchange-rate effect — accessed September 4, 2026
  2. Eurostat, price level indices by analytical category (prc_ppp_ind_1), 2025, Spain against EU27=100: food and non-alcoholic beverages 95.3, food 94.9, restaurants and accommodation services 85.4, transport 88.1, passenger transport services 82.5, fuels and lubricants for personal transport 92.3, electricity, gas and other fuels 93.0, health 94.2, clothing and footwear 89.4. These are Spain-versus-Europe figures. Eurostat carries the United States only at the aggregate level (2025: household final consumption 133.3, actual individual consumption 143.4); every per-category cell for the US is empty, so no published statistic gives a Spain-versus-US index for a single category. groceries_index_vs_us 88, dining_index_vs_us 70 and transport_index_vs_us 100 are therefore editorial estimates, not derived numbers, and they are deliberately not a mechanical rescaling of the Eurostat category positions by the overall Spain/US ratio. That arithmetic would give roughly 74 for groceries, 66 for dining and 68 for transport, and it fails in a predictable direction because it assumes the US sits at 133.3 in every category: US food and US motoring are cheap relative to the US overall price level, while US restaurant service, which adds a tip on top of the menu price, is expensive relative to it. The published estimates move each category away from the mechanical figure accordingly. Treat them as informed judgement with an error band of several points, which is a large part of why data_confidence on this page is medium rather than high. The directly sourced numbers on this page are the overall index, net pay, utilities, the tax rates and the visa thresholds, with rent taken from published listing indices rather than an official statistic — accessed September 4, 2026
  3. Eurostat, Comparative price levels of consumer goods and services (Statistics Explained), reference year 2025, published 17 June 2026: methodology and country ranking for the price level indices used above. Note that this article covers 36 European countries and does not include the United States; the US comparison comes from the prc_ppp_ind_1 database entries cited above — accessed September 4, 2026
  4. Eurostat, Annual net earnings (earn_nt_net), Spain 2025: single person without children at 100% of average earnings, gross 35,076 euros and net 27,040.72 euros a year, which is 2,253 euros a month or about $2,620 at $1.1622 per euro — accessed September 4, 2026
  5. European Central Bank, euro reference exchange rate US dollar: 1.1622 on 4 September 2026, the rate used for every currency conversion on this page; 2024 annual average 1.08238 — accessed September 4, 2026
  6. idealista rental price report, August 2026: Spain 15.1 euros per square metre per month, Madrid 23.3, Barcelona 20.2, Palma 19.3, Malaga 16.5, Valencia 16.3, Bilbao 15.7. Derivation for a 55 square metre one-bedroom: rent_1bed_center_usd uses the mean of Madrid and Barcelona, 21.75 euros per square metre, giving 1,196 euros or $1,390; rent_1bed_outside_usd uses the national average of 15.1 euros per square metre, giving 831 euros or $965. These are advertised asking prices aggregated across each municipality rather than central districts only, so the central figure is a conservative floor for a genuinely central Madrid or Barcelona flat — accessed September 4, 2026
  7. Zumper National Rent Report, updated 25 August 2026: US national median one-bedroom rent $1,515, used as the US baseline for the rent index. rent_index_vs_us of 77 is the mean of the two Spanish one-bedroom figures on this page, $1,390 central and $965 outside the centre, divided by that $1,515 median, which gives 77.7. Zumper aggregates its own listing inventory rather than surveying households, so this is market listing data, not an official statistic; no permitted official source publishes a comparable US median asking rent for a one-bedroom unit — accessed September 4, 2026
  8. INE, Estadistica Continua de Poblacion, 1 April 2026 provisional: Spain's resident population 49,687,120 — accessed September 4, 2026
  9. BOE, Real Decreto 126/2026 fixing the 2026 Spanish minimum wage at 40.70 euros a day, 1,221 euros a month and 17,094 euros a year, the basis for the digital nomad visa income threshold — accessed September 4, 2026
  10. Agencia Tributaria, Persona fisica residente en Espana: the 183-day rule, centre of economic interests test and family presumption for Spanish tax residence — accessed September 4, 2026
  11. Agencia Tributaria, Gravamen estatal (IRPF 2025 manual): state general scale, 24.5% above 300,000 euros, which combined with the reference regional scale gives the 47% headline top rate — accessed September 4, 2026
  12. Agencia Tributaria, Regimen especial de impatriados (art. 93 LIRPF): flat 24% on employment income up to 600,000 euros and 47% above, for the year of arrival plus five tax periods — accessed September 4, 2026
  13. BOE, Ley 37/1992 del Impuesto sobre el Valor Anadido, consolidated text in force in 2026, article 90.Uno: 'El Impuesto se exigira al tipo del 21 por ciento', with reduced rates of 10% and 4% under article 91. Link is to the consolidated version; the 15% and 6% rates quoted in the 1992 preamble are the original 1993 rates and are long superseded — accessed September 4, 2026
  14. IRS, tax inflation adjustments for tax year 2026: foreign earned income exclusion $132,900, up from $130,000 for 2025 — accessed September 4, 2026
  15. IRS, Spain tax treaty documents: the 1990 income tax convention, its technical explanation, and the 2013 protocol amending it — accessed September 4, 2026
  16. BOE, Convenio sobre Seguridad Social entre Espana y los Estados Unidos de America, signed in Madrid on 30 September 1986 and in force since 1 April 1988 (the US-Spain totalization agreement) — accessed September 4, 2026
  17. Ministerio de Sanidad, Convenio especial de prestacion de asistencia sanitaria: 60 euros a month under 65 and 157 euros a month at 65 or over, requiring one year of prior residence and municipal padron registration, excluding the pharmacy benefit — accessed September 4, 2026
  18. Ministerio de Inclusion, Seguridad Social y Migraciones (Unidad de Grandes Empresas), International teleworkers: the official digital nomad residence authorisation page — accessed September 4, 2026
  19. Consulate General of Spain in Washington DC, non-lucrative residence visa: 400% of IPREM financial requirement, $140 visa fee for US citizens plus a $13 residence permit fee from 1 January 2026, three-month legal decision period — accessed September 4, 2026
  20. Ministerio de Inclusion (UGE), Highly qualified professionals authorisation under Law 14/2013: job offer plus degree or three years of comparable experience — accessed September 4, 2026
  21. Ministerio de Inclusion (UGE), Entrepreneurs authorisation under Law 14/2013: ENISA assessment of an innovative project of special economic interest, with no minimum investment or job creation threshold — accessed September 4, 2026
  22. Ministerio de Inclusion, Autorizacion de estancia por estudios: duration matched to the course, 100% of IPREM per month in financial means, and up to 30 hours a week of permitted work — accessed September 4, 2026
  23. Ministerio de Inclusion, Tarjeta de residencia de familiar de ciudadano de la Union: five-year card for family members of EU, EEA and Swiss citizens, fee set at the level Spaniards pay for a national ID card — accessed September 4, 2026
  24. Eurostat, Electricity prices for household consumers (nrg_pc_204): Spain 0.2669 euros per kWh including all taxes and levies, band DC, second half of 2025, which is about $0.310 — accessed September 4, 2026
  25. US EIA, Electric Power Monthly Table 5.3: US average residential electricity price 18.16 cents per kWh year to date 2026 — accessed September 4, 2026
  26. US EIA FAQ: in 2022 the average US residential electric utility customer used 10,791 kWh a year, about 899 kWh a month. At 18.16 cents per kWh that is about $163 a month. Quoted as the US electricity-only comparison; the US side of utilities_index_vs_us is the four-item basket in the BLS entry below — accessed September 4, 2026
  27. Eurostat complete energy balances (nrg_bal_c): Spanish household final electricity consumption 75,158 GWh in 2024, divided by 19,504,800 Spanish private households (Eurostat lfst_hhnhtych, 2024), gives 3,853 kWh per household per year. At 0.2669 euros per kWh that is 1,028 euros a year, about 86 euros or $100 a month. This is used on the page only to explain why Spanish bills are lower than the Spanish unit price implies; it is not the basis for utilities_index_vs_us, which is derived from the INE household budget survey entry below — accessed September 4, 2026
  28. INE, Encuesta de Presupuestos Familiares 2025 (published 25 June 2026), table 'Gasto por codigos de gasto (5 digitos COICOP 2018)', gasto medio por hogar: electricidad 868.92 euros a year, gas natural por redes 235.36, hidrocarburos licuados 45.51, combustibles liquidos 86.23, carbon 1.65, madera y pellets 16.68, carbon vegetal 0.18, giving the published subgroup 04.5 (electricidad, gas y otros combustibles) total of 1,254.63 euros; suministro de agua por red 234.20, recogida de basuras 49.89 and recogida de aguas residuales 63.45, a water-sewerage-refuse total of 347.54 euros. Combined that is 1,602.17 euros a year, 133.51 euros or $155.17 a month at the ECB rate of $1.1622, and $155.17 divided by the $210 US baseline gives utilities_index_vs_us of 74. The consumption assumption is the actual national average Spanish household (about 2.5 people, all dwelling types and tenures, EPF survey-reported spending, not a modelled apartment). Deliberately excluded: subgroup 04.4.4.1 gastos comunitarios, 602.07 euros a year, the Spanish community charge, because it is the analogue of a US HOA fee rather than a utility. Where a building has calefaccion central the heating and the common water are billed inside that community charge instead, so for those households the like-for-like total is higher than 133.51 euros and this index understates their bill — accessed September 4, 2026
  29. INE, Encuesta de Presupuestos Familiares 2025, table 'Gasto por subgrupos de gasto (3 digitos COICOP 2018/EPF)': cross-check on the five-digit detail above. Gasto medio por hogar for subgroup 04.4 (suministro de agua y otros servicios relacionados con la vivienda) is 952.47 euros a year and for 04.5 (electricidad, gas y otros combustibles) 1,254.63 euros, against a total group 04 of 11,664.65 euros of which 7,779.22 is imputed rent. The 04.4 figure is larger than the 347.54 euros used because it also contains the excluded community charge — accessed September 4, 2026
  30. US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditure Surveys 2024, Table 2500 (all consumer units, annual expenditure means): natural gas $492.57, electricity $1,832.89, fuel oil and other fuels $125.32 and water and other public services $826.03, a like-for-like four-item total of $3,276.81 a year or $273.07 a month (telephone services, $1,459.68, are excluded from the basket). The utilities index on this site uses a common US baseline of $210 a month for every country so the cross-country ranking is comparable; that baseline is conservative against this BLS measurement, so the Spanish index of 74 understates rather than overstates the saving relative to a real US household — accessed September 4, 2026
  31. Eurostat, private households by household composition (lfst_hhnhtych): Spain 19,504,800 private households in 2024, rising to 19,736,500 in 2025, used as the denominator for per-household electricity consumption — accessed September 4, 2026
  32. BOE, Ley 14/2013 consolidated text, article 63 (visado de residencia para inversores): the article is shown as left without content with effect from 3 April 2025 by disposicion final 21.1 of Ley Organica 1/2025, de 2 de enero (BOE-A-2025-76). This is the primary confirmation that the 500,000 euro property golden visa is closed to new applicants. Article 76 of the same law sets a twenty-day resolution deadline for Unidad de Grandes Empresas authorisations, with approval by administrative silence, and renewals in two-year periods. Articles 68 to 70 (emprendedores), 71 to 72 (profesionales altamente cualificados) and 74 bis to 74 quinquies (teletrabajo de caracter internacional) remain in force. Checked directly against the consolidated text on 4 September 2026: article 71, as rewritten by disposicion final 5.5 of Ley 28/2022 and amended by article 32.5 of Ley 11/2023, now sets only two modalities, the EU Blue Card and the national highly qualified professional authorisation, and turns entirely on the applicant's qualification. The employer-size thresholds of the original 2013 text are gone; the strings '250 trabajadores', '50 millones' and '43 millones' no longer appear anywhere in the law. Article 71.3 gives three years of validity, or contract length plus three months if shorter, renewable for two years. Article 74 bis confirms that an employee teleworker may work only for companies based outside Spain while a self-employed holder may take up to 20% of professional activity from a Spanish company, article 74 ter the one year of prior company activity and three months of prior relationship, article 74 quater the one-year visa and article 74 quinquies the three-year authorisation renewable in two-year periods — accessed September 4, 2026
  33. BOE, Real Decreto 1155/2024 approving the Reglamento of the immigration law (in force 20 May 2025): student stay holders may work no more than thirty hours a week, and exceeding that limit is grounds for termination of the authorisation — accessed September 4, 2026
  34. UNESPA, Social Report of Insurance 2025 (Memoria Social del Seguro 2025, English edition, PDF): 'Health insurance looks after 12.8 million people in Spain' and 'One in four Spaniards has health insurance', with a 2025 breakdown by age and autonomous community. The report publishes no average premium anywhere, so typical_private_insurance_usd_month of $90 (roughly 900 euros a year) is an editorial estimate for a healthy adult individual policy based on market premium levels, not an official statistic. It is the least well evidenced number on this page, it rises steeply with age, and it is a reason data_confidence is medium — accessed September 4, 2026

Nathan Brooks · Editor, Your New Country

Nathan builds and maintains the Your New Country dataset, reconciling figures from the OECD, Eurostat, the World Bank and national statistics offices, and reading each country’s immigration and tax guidance at the source before it is published.

  • Reads each country’s immigration, tax and health guidance in the original official source rather than in secondary coverage
  • Reconciles every published figure against OECD, Eurostat, World Bank and national statistics releases on a quarterly cycle
  • Publishes the derivation and the access date beside each number, and marks estimates as estimates

Data reviewed September 4, 2026 · source confidence: medium ·methodology

Keep going on Spain

Cost of livingCategory-by-category price levels, rent and a worked monthly budget.TaxesResidency triggers, the US filing obligation, treaties and FEIE.HealthcareHow the system works, what foreigners can access, what cover costs.

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