Work in the sun: Spain offers low taxes and long-stay visas to globetrotting IT professionals

Two decades after Spain created the “Beckham law”, providing high-earning foreigners a low-tax incentive to live and work in the country, it is now offering a new visa aimed at attracting the growing number of globetrotting digital professionals.

The “digital nomad” visa will provide low-tax status to non-EU nationals for a year, with the option of then extending their stay.

“Spain has been one of the most popular countries during the pandemic for digital workers,” said Carme Artigas, secretary of state for digitalisation and artificial intelligence.

“That is thanks to our quality of life, our climate, the quality of our public services. And I think we can convert that into a competitive advantage.”

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The new visa is expected to come into effect in April and it will be available to both freelance professionals and staff of companies based outside Spain.

“At this point in time we need four times the highly skilled workers in Spain than are on offer,” said Artigas. “So we have a lack of highly skilled people to cover the demand of our existing industry.”

The pandemic proved that remote work is possible and since that time we’ve seen a big rise in the number of digital nomads that are out there

—  Lynn Spreadbury, destination scout for Remote Year, a company that advises IT professionals

The 2004 “Beckham law”, named after the English footballer who had moved to Madrid, provided a specially created low-tax bracket for high-earning foreigners in traditional industries, including football.

The digital nomad visa, as its name suggests, is aimed more at cutting-edge sectors. Artigas named artificial intelligence, data science, cybersecurity, multimedia and renewable energies as areas where Spain has a particularly high demand for workers.

Eliminating red tape

The visa is part of new legislation, called the Startup Law, which is seeking to accelerate Spain’s digital transformation by eliminating the red tape that has traditionally hindered the creation of new companies and by drawing – and keeping – international talent.

It is also seeking to capitalise on a growing phenomenon.

“The pandemic proved that remote work is possible and since that time we’ve seen a big rise in the number of digital nomads that are out there,” says Lynn Spreadbury, a destination scout for Remote Year, a company that advises these professionals.

“Digital nomads are part of the slow-travel movement of people that actually want to spend an extended period of time in different destinations,” she says. Spreadbury is based in Madrid but frequently travels across Europe or to Asia for her work. Like her fellow nomads, she can work from cafes, rented accommodation or even a beach lounger, as long as she has a wifi connection.

Spain’s new visa is being introduced just as other countries have also started creating incentives. Italy, Greece and Portugal have all recently introduced similar schemes. And parts of Latin America are also positioning themselves as remote work hubs. Argentina has started offering $500 in spending money to remote workers who base themselves in the country.

Schengen limits mean that non-EU citizens have to leave the zone every quarter and spend three months outside it before being able to return. The nomad visa, by contrast, allows for a continued stay.

Although the Spanish government says that it is not targeting any specific nationality with the visa, an obvious group will be British professionals affected by Brexit.

British freelance

Jen Grieves is a British freelance multimedia professional who wants to base herself in Madrid and is hoping to obtain the new document when it becomes available.

“Without the digital nomad visa, my options would be to get a different type of visa – I’d have to give up my career as it stands now and get a job in Spain with a Spanish company – or get a student visa and retrain,” she says.

With the government aiming to lead the economy towards greater reliance on digital and green industries, it believes the Startup Law and the nomad visa will be key to maintaining healthy growth

“Otherwise I’ll have to leave every three months in every six and as someone who wants to build my life here, that’s really not ideal,” she adds. “This new visa for me is pretty important for being able to carve out a life in Spain.”

The Spanish economy is performing better than many of its European neighbours, with growth of 5.5 per cent in 2022, driven in great part by resurgent tourist arrivals as well as EU recovery funds. With the government aiming to lead the economy towards greater reliance on digital and green industries, it believes the Startup Law and the nomad visa will be key to maintaining healthy growth.

When the legislation was approved by Congress in November, the economy minister, Nadia Calvino, described it as “a fundamental law when it comes to placing Spain among the most advanced countries in terms of attracting talent and investment”.

Lynn Spreadbury says that the digital nomads will play a crucial role in Spanish economic development.

“Typically with the nomads coming in, there are a lot of entrepreneurial people who’ve been successful financially,” she says. “They bring with them innovation and creativity and an adventurous spirit. It’s people that are going to be able to contribute to the economy in a really positive way.”