2026 Visa Guide

Verified: 2026-09-18 · GetFastVisa Editorial Team

Spain non-lucrative visa: the retirement route, and its one hard rule

By GetFastVisa Editorial Team · Spain immigration support

Spain's non-lucrative visa (visado de residencia no lucrativa, form EX-01) lets you live in Spain on savings or a pension. It is Spain's de facto retirement visa. It also bans all work, including remote work for a foreign employer.

EUR 2,400

Per month, main applicant

EUR 600

Per dependant

3 months

Legal decision period

Spain's retirement visa, under its real name

Zero work permitted, including online work

Consulate-specific checklists for LA and San Francisco

Plaza de Espana in Seville with ornate brick architecture and a Spanish flag

How much money you have to show in 2026

The threshold is a multiple of IPREM, Spain's public income indicator, not of the minimum wage. IPREM for 2026 is EUR 600 a month and EUR 7200 a year. Unchanged since 2023 because no new Presupuestos Generales del Estado has passed; the figure rolled over.

Spain non-lucrative visa income thresholds for 2026
Who	% of IPREM	Per month	Per year	Approx. USD/year
Main applicant	400%	EUR 2,400	EUR 28,800	$33,120
Each dependant	100%	EUR 600	EUR 7,200	$8,280
Couple, first year	500%	EUR 3,000	EUR 36,000	$41,400

Dollar figures are a planning estimate at about $1.15 per euro on 2026-09-18, not a live rate. The euro figures are what the consulate assesses. Showing the threshold is necessary, not sufficient: consulates also look at whether the income is stable and whether the money is genuinely free to support you, which is the point behind Los Angeles asking about US mortgages.

What the visa lets you do, and what it does not

You can

Live in Spain full time on savings, investments or a pension
Bring a spouse or unmarried partner, children and dependent parents
Use the Spanish public health system once you are registered and contributing, or your private policy before that
Renew for two years at a time, reaching permanent residence at five years
Travel in the Schengen area as a Spanish resident

You cannot

Any employment in Spain
Remote work for a foreign employer or your own foreign company, explicitly including online work
Freelance or self-employed activity
The Beckham Law flat tax regime, which is available to digital nomad visa holders and not to you

If you plan to keep working, this is the wrong visa

Spain's digital nomad visa under Ley 28/2022 exists for exactly that case. It is priced off the minimum wage rather than IPREM: SMI in 2026 is EUR 1221 a month over 14 payments (RD 126/2026, BOE 19 February 2026, retroactive to 1 January), and the main applicant shows 200% of it, about EUR 2,849 a month. It also opens the Beckham Law flat tax regime, which non-lucrative holders cannot use. Applying non-lucrative and quietly working is a bad plan: the undertaking not to work is notarised, and it is the basis on which the visa was granted.

The document stack, and where it goes wrong

Every consulate wants the national visa form, form EX-01, Modelo 790 codigo 052, a valid passport with at least a year left and two blank pages, proof you live in that consular district, financial evidence, a medical certificate, health insurance, and an apostilled FBI identity history summary with a sworn Spanish translation. Three of those cause most of the refusals.

Health insurance is where most US applicants fail

The policy must come from an insurer authorised to operate in Spain, must be in Spanish, and must cover 100% of medical, hospital and out-of-hospital costs with no copayment, no waiting period, no pre-existing condition exclusion and no coverage ceiling. Travel insurance is explicitly rejected. Most comprehensive-looking US expat policies fail on the copayment or the ceiling, and you find out at the counter.

The FBI check has a short shelf life and a specific apostille

The identity history summary must be under six months old at submission, carry a federal apostille from the US Department of State rather than a state-level one, and be translated by an MAEC-appointed sworn translator. If you lived in another country in the last five years, you need that country's police certificate too, apostilled and translated. Start this first: it has the longest lead time in the stack.

Bank evidence is more specific than people expect

Statements must show your full name and address, full account identification, monthly opening and closing balances, the balance as of 31 December of the previous year, and an average balance certificate, stamped by the bank. App screenshots and unstamped PDFs are refused. Working-age applicants add the last three years of IRS returns; retirees add pension documentation.

The medical certificate must be recent and properly signed

Issued within the last three months, bilingual or translated, certifying no disease with serious public health repercussions under the 2005 International Health Regulations, and carrying the doctor's stamp, signature, licence number and contact details. A standard US physical form does not say this.

Your consulate changes the checklist

This is the part generic Spain guides get wrong. Spain has no single national checklist, and the US consulates publish materially different requirements. You file through the BLS International centre for the district where you legally reside, and you work from that consulate's list.

Filing through Los Angeles

The Consulate General of Spain in Los Angeles publishes this on its own non-working residence visa page: residency applicants cannot have or leave loans or mortgages in the United States when applying for residency in Spain. No other US Spanish consulate states this. It is the single most consequential difference in the American consular network and it is not a formality: it goes to whether your financial means are genuinely free to support you in Spain.

Covers Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Southern California.

Filing through San Francisco

San Francisco lists the EX-01 residence application and the Modelo 790 codigo 052 fee form as separate required items alongside the national visa form. The Los Angeles checklist is less explicit about the 790, which is where applicants lose an appointment over a missing sheet of paper.

Covers Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, Northern California.

The other six US centres are listed with verified addresses and hours in the BLS Spain centre directory.

Timeline, from first apostille to your TIE card

Months 1 to 3
Order the FBI identity history summary and its federal apostille, commission sworn translations, and shop for a Spain-compliant insurance policy. This stage, not the application, is what sets your start date.
Month 3
Book the BLS appointment for your district. Slots at the busier centres go quickly, and a no-show locks you out for two days.
Submission day
Attend in person at the BLS centre, ten minutes early, with a complete file. Fees are paid at this point and are not refundable.
Up to 3 months
The legal decision period runs from the day after submission and can be extended if the consulate asks for an interview or more documents. At San Francisco your passport stays with them throughout, and you must remain in the US.
On approval
Collect the visa. It gives you 90 days to enter Spain.
First month in Spain
Register on the padron municipal, book the cita previa, give fingerprints, and collect your TIE card. Miss the one-month window and you create a problem for your first renewal.

Spain non-lucrative visa questions

Is the non-lucrative visa the same as a Spain retirement visa?

Yes. Spain has no visa formally called a retirement visa. The non-lucrative visa is the route retirees use, because it is designed for people who can support themselves from savings or a pension without working. If you have found a page advertising a separate Spanish retirement visa, it is describing this one.

How much money do I need for the Spain non-lucrative visa in 2026?

400% of IPREM for the main applicant and 100% of IPREM for each dependant. IPREM in 2026 is EUR 600 a month, so the main applicant shows EUR 2400 a month or EUR 28800 a year, and each family member adds EUR 600 a month or EUR 7200 a year. A couple therefore needs about EUR 36000 for the first year. IPREM has not moved since 2023 because no new Presupuestos Generales del Estado has passed.

Can I work remotely for a US employer on a non-lucrative visa?

No, and this is the single most common misunderstanding. The visa is non-lucrative in the literal sense: no economic activity, including remote work for a foreign employer. Consulates ask working-age applicants for a notarised undertaking not to work, and the San Francisco checklist spells out 'not even online'. If you intend to keep working, the digital nomad visa under Ley 28/2022 is the correct route, not this one.

Is the Spain non-lucrative visa a D7?

No. D7 is a Portuguese visa code. Spain does not use Portugal's D-codes and they appear nowhere in Spanish law. Several competitor sites label Spanish visas D7, D8, D2, D1 and D3, which is a factual error on a page people rely on to file. The Spanish terms are visado de residencia no lucrativa and form EX-01, under RD 557/2011 articles 45 to 51 as amended by RD 1155/2024.

How long does the non-lucrative visa last and what comes next?

One year initially, then two-year renewals. After five years of legal residence you can apply for permanent residence, and after ten years for Spanish citizenship. Nationals of Ibero-American countries, Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea and Portugal, and Sephardic Jews of Spanish origin, can apply for citizenship after two years. You apply for your TIE card within one month of arriving in Spain.

What does it cost to apply?

The consular and service fees are small: $140 national visa fee for US citizens, $13 residence permit fee on Modelo 790 codigo 052 and $20 to BLS, as published on 18 September 2026. The real cost is the document stack: apostilles, an FBI identity history summary, sworn translations by an MAEC-appointed translator, a bilingual medical certificate and a Spanish-compliant insurance policy. None of the fees is refunded if the visa is refused.

Why do consulates ask for different things?

Because Spain does not run a single national checklist. Each consulate publishes its own. Los Angeles states that applicants cannot have or leave loans or mortgages in the United States, which no other US consulate publishes, and asks for a signed statement of why you want to live in Spain plus a housing document. San Francisco does not ask for either, but requires you to surrender your passport for the whole decision period and to remain in the US while it is pending. You must work from your own consulate's checklist, not a generic one.

Can I be refused, and what then?

Yes. You can appeal to the consular office within one month, or seek judicial review at the High Court of Justice of Madrid within two months. Fees are not refunded. In practice most refusals come from document defects rather than genuine ineligibility, and health insurance is the most common single failure: a US policy with a copayment, a waiting period, a pre-existing condition exclusion or a coverage ceiling does not qualify.

Retiring to Spain and want the file built properly the first time?

GetFastVisa prepares non-lucrative files, commissions the sworn translations and coordinates your BLS appointment. Spanish legal work is performed by Spain-registered immigration counsel we work with. We are not a law firm and we do not give legal advice. Our track record is Portugal: 500+ Portugal visa applications since 2023, and Spain is a new service we are being upfront about.

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EUR 3,000 per adult. Dependants quoted per case, since both Spanish residence visas price dependants into the income test.

Still comparing countries? What Spain actually costs in US dollars or Portugal's D7 passive income visa, which has a much lower income threshold.