Digital nomad · After approval

What to do right after your digital nomad permit is approved

You have your resolución, but you are not done yet. If you are a freelancer, you need to register with Spanish Social Security straight away: whether you keep your permit, and your family's place in Spain along with it, depends on it. If you are an employee, what matters is that one of the two accepted insurance routes is in place.

Based on Ley 14/2013 (art. 74 ter, additional provision 7), the 2023 UGE instruction (point sexta) and the official UGE FAQ

The key rule: don't put off registration

Once you have the resolución (the approval decision) in hand, the second stage begins. The permit is granted on the condition that you meet your social security obligations in Spain. That commitment is filed with your application as a declaración responsable (a signed statement): for an employee it is signed by the company, and for a freelancer by the person themselves.

What happens if you don't
The official UGE FAQ is direct about this. If a freelancer does not register with Spanish Social Security immediately after receiving the permit, and this is found in a check, the permit is terminated under additional provision 7 of Ley 14/2013. The right to live and work in Spain can be lost by both the holder and the family members who depend on them.
§ Additional provision 7 of Ley 14/2013, paragraphs 1, 3 and 4: the conditions of the permit must be maintained, the authorities may check that they are met, and if they are not, the permit can be terminated by a reasoned decision after the holder has been given a hearing (trámite de audiencia). Official UGE FAQ, questions 6 and 7.

These rules do not set a deadline in days. The instruction requires the obligations to be met before you start work, and the FAQ says to do it "immediately". So the practical benchmark is this: count in days, not months.

What exactly to arrange: it depends on your type of relationship

The procedure is set by how you work with the foreign company. It determines who is responsible for registration and where contributions are paid.

Service contract · autónomo
Registration in the RETA is mandatory
You register yourself as an autónomo (self-employed person) with Social Security and with the tax office. Keeping your contributions in the client's country is not an option: for self-employed people, transferring coverage under an international agreement does not apply.
Employment contract
Two accepted routes
Either the foreign employer registers with Spanish Social Security as a non-resident company with no branch in Spain and enrols you in the General Regime. Or you stay insured in the employer's country, if Spain has a social security agreement with that country.
A certificate, not an application
The second route works only with an official certificate of applicable legislation (certificado de legislación aplicable). It must state expressly that it covers your remote work from Spain. UGE does not accept a mere application for that certificate. If the certificate exempts you from registering in Spain but does not give you healthcare rights in the Spanish system, you need separate health insurance.

For freelancers: registration in four steps

  1. Get your resolución readyWith the permit granted, this is the document you take forward. Check that your name and the validity dates are correct.
  2. Go to a PAEThe Punto de Atención al Emprendimiento (PAE, a business support point) helps you register as an autónomo. According to the official FAQ, it is enough to turn up with your resolución: they will handle registration with the tax office (Hacienda) and Social Security through the CIRCE system. If you have no digital certificate, the PAE can do the registration on your behalf.
  3. Work out in advance how you will pay contributionsYou will need a means of payment. If you don't yet have a Spanish bank account, we found no answer to this question in the official UGE materials. Check it with Social Security or in a session with a specialist, rather than relying on other people's experience.
  4. Keep your proofRegistration and payment of contributions are proved by documents. Keep them: if UGE carries out a check under additional provision 7, you can show that the conditions of your permit are being met.

Contributions and taxes: two separate obligations

Registration with Social Security settles contributions, while taxes are handled separately. For a freelancer, registration with the tax office goes together with the RETA through CIRCE. For an employed nomad, a certificate from abroad exempts you only from Spanish contributions, not from taxes.

If something changes after approval

The permit stays valid as long as the conditions on which it was granted are maintained. If something that affects them changes (for example, your employment contract ends, or you move from an employment contract to a service contract), you must tell UGE within 30 days. That is what additional provision 7 of Ley 14/2013, paragraph 2, says.

Changing the basis of your stay does not mean losing your right to stay. According to the UGE FAQ, you can apply to change to another permit under Ley 14/2013 at any time, as long as you meet the requirements of the new one. Separately, under the official list of documents, the three months of relationship with the foreign company do not have to be proved again if the applicant already holds an initial permit, including when the conditions of the permit are modified.

Best not to let it come to that
Termination is possible only by a reasoned decision, after you have been given the chance to respond. But getting a permit back is harder than registering on time or notifying UGE of a change.