Moving to Spain from the USA: requirements, routes and where to file
Spain has two realistic residence routes for Americans in 2026. The non-lucrative visa needs EUR 2,400 a month and bans all work. The digital nomad visa needs about EUR 2,849 a month and lets you keep your job. The golden visa was abolished on 3 April 2025.
Start here
Spain non-lucrative visa
Spain's retirement route. EUR 2,400 a month plus EUR 600 per dependant, and a hard ban on all work including remote work.
BLS Spain: all 8 US centres
Verified addresses, submission hours and consular jurisdiction for every US centre, plus the money-order rule that catches people out.
BLS Spain Los Angeles
Southern California, Arizona, Colorado and Utah. The only US Spanish consulate that publishes a no-US-mortgages rule.
BLS Spain San Francisco
Nine states plus northern California. Your passport stays with them for the whole three-month decision period.
Cost of living in Spain vs the USA
What Spain actually costs an American, in US dollars, city by city, and why it is not the same number as your visa threshold.
Call the visas by their real names
A surprising number of English-language Spain pages label Spanish visas with Portugal's D-codes. Those codes do not exist in Spanish law, and using them will get you blank looks at a consulate. Here is the correct vocabulary.
| In English | Official Spanish term | Legal basis | Common error |
|---|---|---|---|
| Non-Lucrative Visa (NLV) | Visado de residencia no lucrativa, form EX-01 | RD 557/2011 arts. 45-51, as amended by RD 1155/2024, in force 20 May 2025 | Not a D7. Spain has no D7. |
| Digital Nomad Visa / international telework | Visado o autorizacion de teletrabajo de caracter internacional | Ley 28/2022 (Ley de Startups), arts. 71-83 | Not a D8. Spain has no D8. |
| Golden Visa | Visado de residencia para inversores | Repealed by LO 1/2025, effective 3 April 2025 | Abolished. No one can apply for it. |
Six words you will meet in week one
- NIE
- Numero de Identidad de Extranjero. It is the number itself, issued once and yours for life.
- TIE
- Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero. It is the physical card carrying your NIE, and you apply for it within one month of arriving in Spain.
- BLS International
- Spain's outsourcing partner for US visa applications, the structural equivalent of VFS Global for Portugal. Spain applications never go through VFS.
- Traduccion jurada
- Sworn translation by a translator appointed by Spain's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. An ordinary certified translation is not a substitute.
- Apostilla de La Haya
- Hague apostille. For an FBI identity history summary this is the federal apostille from the US Department of State, not a state-level one.
- Empadronamiento
- Registration on the padron municipal at your town hall after you arrive. It is the step that unlocks the cita previa for your TIE.
What we charge for Spain, and why it is more than Portugal
Our Spain service is EUR 3,000 per adult. Dependants are quoted per case, because both Spanish residence visas price dependants into the income test and no two families look the same. Our Portugal service is EUR 1,800 per adult, and you can see both numbers on this site, so here is the honest reason for the gap rather than leaving you to ask on a call.
Sworn translation of every foreign document
Spanish files need a traduccion jurada by a translator appointed by Spain's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Portugal accepts English documents for most of the D7 and D8 file, so this line item does not exist there.
A heavier apostille, medical and police stack
The non-lucrative visa needs an apostilled FBI identity history summary, police certificates from every country you lived in over the last five years, and a bilingual medical certificate issued within 90 days, each with its own lead time.
Consulate-by-consulate variance
Spain's US consulates publish materially different checklists. Los Angeles asks for something San Francisco does not, and the reverse. Portugal's US flow is standardised through VFS Global, so one checklist covers the country.
Two legally distinct digital nomad routes
The consulate route issues a one-year visa; the in-Spain UGE-CE route issues a three-year permit. Choosing between them is a case-strategy decision before any document is collected.
Spanish counsel is a new line item
Spanish legal work is performed by Spain-registered immigration counsel we work with. That cost does not exist in the Portugal service.
What we are, and what we are not
GetFastVisa is a visa support service: we prepare documents, commission sworn translations, and coordinate appointments. We are not a law firm, we do not practise Spanish immigration law and we do not give legal advice. Spanish legal work is performed by Spain-registered immigration counsel we work with.
Our track record is Portugal: 500+ Portugal visa applications since 2023. Spain is a new service and we have no Spanish client history to show you yet, so there are no Spain testimonials on this site. When there are real ones, they will appear here with real names.
The figures on these pages are dated and sourced. The 2026 income figures are compiled from commercial secondary sources cross-checked against each other, not read from the BOE, and we say so rather than calling them verified. The BLS addresses, hours and consular requirements were read from blsspainvisa.com and exteriores.gob.es on 2026-09-18 and are linked from each page.
Spain visa questions
What are the visa requirements for Spain for US citizens?
Does Spain have a golden visa?
Is the Spanish visa a D7 or a D8?
Do I apply through VFS Global for Spain?
What is the difference between an NIE and a TIE?
Is GetFastVisa a law firm?
Not sure which Spanish route you actually qualify for?
Thirty minutes, no charge, and we will tell you if the answer is neither. If Portugal fits you better we will say that too, because a refused Spanish file helps nobody.
Book a free consultationEUR 3,000 per adult. Dependants quoted per case.