Spain residence permit without the right to work for the financially independent (Non-Lucrative Visa)

NLV is the everyday name for the residence visa without the right to work. The visa application at the consulate also serves as the application for the residence permit: the immigration office in Spain first decides on the permit, then the consulate issues a visa that includes it. Within a month of entry you apply for the residence card (TIE). The permit is valid for 1 year and then renewed for 2 years.

400 % of IPREM for the applicant and 100 % for each family member. IPREM in 2026 is EUR 600 a month, so the applicant needs EUR 2,400 a month, or EUR 28,800 for the first year, and each family member EUR 600 a month (EUR 7,200 a year). At renewal the funds cover 2 years: under Article 62 that is EUR 57,600 for the applicant and EUR 14,400 per family member. This is the minimum: we file with a margin, because the consulate also assesses where the money comes from.

Yes. Article 62 of the Regulation accepts either funds for the whole term of the permit or a source of regular income. Bank statements and certificates, title deeds, certified cheques, and credit cards with a bank certificate of the available limit all qualify. For foreign accounts you need the balance on 31 December of the previous year and the average balance over the last year, so the history of the account matters, not just the balance on the day of filing.

No. The NLV is for people who live in Spain without any employment or professional activity, and that includes remote work online. If you keep working, the route is the Digital Nomad visa. After a year on the NLV you can switch to a permit with the right to work without a new visa, if you meet that permit's conditions (Article 191 of the Regulation).

As a rule, no. The NLV is obtained through the Spanish consulate for your place of legal residence, in person. You cannot apply from Spain on a Schengen tourist visa: for this route the Regulation provides only a consular visa. Filing from inside Spain is possible, for example, for the Digital Nomad visa.

Yes, the NLV is a permit for relocation. To renew it you must have lived in Spain for more than 183 days in the calendar year (Article 64 of the Regulation). For permanent residence after 5 years, absences may not exceed 6 months at a time or 10 months in total. If you need a status without moving, the NLV does not fit.

Yes. Applications from India go to the Embassy of Spain in New Delhi or the Consulate General in Mumbai, depending on your consular district; New Delhi accepts NLV applications in person at its Consular Section by appointment. The Embassy's page confirms the 2026 amounts: EUR 2,400 a month for the main applicant and EUR 600 a month for each family member. Indian documents (Police Clearance Certificate, marriage and birth certificates) are apostilled by the Ministry of External Affairs and translated by a sworn translator.

At the Embassy of Spain in Abu Dhabi, through the BLS visa application centre in Dubai, in person and by appointment. Police clearance is required from every country where you have lived in the last 5 years, legalised or apostilled and translated into Spanish.

Residents of India remit abroad under the RBI's Liberalised Remittance Scheme: each resident individual, including minors, can send up to USD 250,000 per financial year (April to March). The first year's funds for a family of four (EUR 50,400) fit within one person's limit, but the funds for the 2-year renewal, rent and a possible property purchase add up, so we plan transfers across family members in advance. For the visa itself a Spanish account is not required.

The consular fee for a national visa is EUR 90 (Order AUC/891/2024), paid in local currency. The permit fee on form 790-052 is EUR 10.94, renewal EUR 16.40; the residence card costs EUR 16.08 on first issue and EUR 19.30 on renewal; permanent residence EUR 21.87 (Order PJC/617/2025). Every family member pays the fees.

Under the Regulation the immigration office decides on the permit within 1 month of receiving the file from the consulate, and if there is no reply the application is deemed refused. The consulate then issues the visa within a month, and you must collect it in person within a month. The New Delhi and Abu Dhabi embassy pages state a legal period of 3 months from filing, and appointments lengthen the path further: this is not a statutory term, and we will not promise 'one month'. A renewal is decided within 3 months, and there silence means approval.

If you spend more than 183 days in Spain in a calendar year, you become a tax resident and declare worldwide income, and that is exactly how long you must live there to renew the NLV. The special regime for relocated persons (Article 93 of the Personal Income Tax Law) is tied to moving for work or business activity, so it does not apply on the NLV. How Spanish residency interacts with your tax position in India or the UAE is something we work out before the move, taking double taxation agreements into account.

Permanent residence (larga duración) after 5 years of continuous legal residence. Citizenship after 10 years of legal residence, with renunciation of your previous citizenship: the Civil Code exceptions cover only Latin American countries, Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea and Portugal. For Indian citizens there is a second side to this: India does not permit dual citizenship, so a Spanish passport means giving up the Indian one, with the OCI card as a separate status.

Adult children only if they have a disability requiring support or cannot provide for themselves because of their health (Article 61.3 of Regulation 1155/2024). Parents are not in the NLV family list under the Regulation, although some embassy pages, including New Delhi, still mention dependent ascending relatives; we confirm this with the consulate before filing. A parent can apply for their own NLV with their own funds (400 % of IPREM, EUR 2,400 a month) or come through reunification once you hold permanent residence, if over 65 and dependent on you.

To EUR 2,400 a month for the applicant add 100 % of IPREM, EUR 600 a month, for each family member. A couple: EUR 3,000 a month; a couple with two children: EUR 4,200 a month, or EUR 50,400 for the first year. The main applicant proves the funds, and the amount covers the whole term of the permit.

Yes. If the application is refused through the fault of our team or an error in building the case, we refund the company's service fee less a minimal retention for costs actually incurred. Refund terms, the payment schedule and the rules on retaining service costs are fixed in the contract before work begins. Before we start, we check your documents and risk history free of charge and tell you about any risks in advance.