Spain’s Digital Nomad Visa for Canadians

Who it is for

Canadian citizens who work remotely for an employer outside Spain, or who freelance for clients outside Spain.  The company can be Canadian, American or from anywhere else, as long as it is not Spanish.  It needs at least a year of real activity, and you need at least three months of working with it.  You also need a university degree, or three years of experience in the work you do.

An employee works only for the company on the application, from Spain.  A contractor may take up to 20% of the work from Spanish clients.  The full guide to the visa is written for Americans, and the rules in it apply to you as they stand.  Only the papers change, and they are on this page.

Many Canadian remote workers are paid through an employer of record such as Deel or Remote.  That works if it keeps you on its Canadian entity, or any entity outside Spain.  If it moves you to its Spanish entity, your employer becomes Spanish and this visa no longer applies.  Ask them in writing which entity will pay you before you plan anything else.  The guides on Deel and Remote go through each one.

How much you need to earn

The line is twice Spain’s minimum wage, counted over twelve payments: €2,849 a month in 2026.  A partner adds €1,068 and each further family member €356.  Payslips, invoices and the bank certificate are what show it.

The dollar column is a conversion at C$1.60 to the euro, the rate this site plans with.  The UGE reads the file in euros.  If the Canadian dollar falls between your bank certificate and the decision, a file built exactly to the line can fall short, so I prepare it with a margin.  The income guide explains how the line is counted and what counts toward it.

The papers that change for a Canadian

Most of the file is the same for everyone: passport, application form, fee, payslips or invoices, bank certificate, the employer letter or your contracts, CV, and proof of your degree or experience.  These are the papers a Canadian brings differently.

Everything not written in Spanish needs a sworn translation by a translator on the Spanish Foreign Ministry’s register, apostilles included.  The U.S. certificate of coverage is printed in English and Spanish and needs none.  The CRA’s is in English and French, so it is translated.  Payslips, invoices and the bank certificate are not.  The sworn translation checklist goes through the rest.

For a child, the birth certificate is the long form, the one that names the parents.  The short certificate does not prove the relationship.  A common-law partner has no marriage certificate to bring: the UGE asks for a registered partnership certificate or, if you never registered, proof of one year living together, with at least two of these: joint bank accounts, the same registered address, a joint lease, mortgage or property, or a company you own together.  With a child in common, living together on the day of filing is enough.  An unregistered partner also needs private health insurance of their own.  The guides for families and unmarried couples cover the rest.

The RCMP check

The criminal record follows where you lived over the last two years, not your passport.  If you lived in Canada, the certificate is the RCMP certified criminal record check, which is the national record and is based on fingerprints.  You give your fingerprints at an accredited fingerprinting company, which sends them to the RCMP electronically.  With nothing on file the answer usually comes within days.  When something needs checking, it can take months.

Then it needs its apostille from Global Affairs Canada.  If you already live in Spain, the Embassy of Canada in Madrid apostilles police certificates for people living here, which saves sending it back to Canada.  The certificate counts for six months from the day it is issued, so it is ordered about five months before the filing date, never at the start.  If you also lived in the U.S. in those two years, you bring the FBI check with its federal apostille as well.

Social Security: the CRA certificate

The UGE wants to see how you are covered for Social Security while you work from Spain.  Canada and Spain have a Social Security agreement, in force since 1988.  If a Canadian company employs you, the Canada Revenue Agency can issue a certificate of coverage that keeps you on the Canada Pension Plan instead of Spanish Social Security, for up to five years.  Your employer fills in and signs the request on form CPT125, and the CRA issues the certificate.

It does the job the U.S. Social Security certificate does for Americans, and it is just as slow, so it is ordered first and the filing date is planned around it.  The UGE does not accept the request on its own.  It wants the certificate.  The agreement is built for an employee whose Canadian employer keeps paying them while they work in Spain, so I look at your contract and payroll with you at the start.  It does not cover Spanish health care either, and you still need private health insurance from an insurer authorized in Spain.

A contractor or freelancer has no certificate.  You register as self-employed in Spain and pay Spanish contributions, at a reduced rate in the first year.  The self-employed registration guide covers how.  If a U.S. company pays you on U.S. payroll, the certificate comes from the U.S. Social Security Administration instead.

Apostilles by province

Canada joined the Apostille Convention on 11 January 2024.  Before that, a Canadian document needed authentication and then legalization at a Spanish consulate.  Now one apostille is enough, and who issues it depends on the document.

• Federal documents (the RCMP check, the CRA certificate, a federal corporation’s papers) go to Global Affairs Canada.
• Documents issued or notarized in Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec or Saskatchewan take the apostille of that province.
• Documents from the other provinces and the territories go to Global Affairs Canada.

The degree has one step more.  A notary certifies a copy first, and the apostille goes on that copy, never on your original diploma.  The province where the copy is notarized decides who apostilles it.  Family certificates have their own timing, explained in the family apostille guide.

Taxes, briefly

Canada taxes residents, not citizens.  If you settle in Spain and cut your residential ties to Canada, you can stop being a Canadian tax resident, which a U.S. citizen never can.  Leaving has a cost of its own: Canada treats you as having sold certain assets on the day you leave, and taxes the gain.  The tax treaty between Canada and Spain decides where you are resident when both countries claim you.

In Spain, an employee who moves on this visa can usually opt for the Beckham regime: a flat 24% on work income up to €600,000 a year, for the year you arrive and the five after.  It does not exist in the Basque Country or Navarra, which have their own tax systems.  A freelance contractor usually does not qualify.  The Beckham guide explains the election and its deadline.  Its sections on U.S. federal tax, like the guides on FEIE, FBAR and the foreign tax credit, are for U.S. citizens and do not apply to you.

I don’t give tax advice.  See an adviser who knows both systems before you leave Canada, not after.

What I don’t take yet

Quebec. Work in Quebec is covered by the Quebec Pension Plan, which has its own agreements, and I have not confirmed one with Spain.  Without it an employee there has no certificate to bring, and the file depends on the employer registering in Spain or on registering as self-employed.  Quebec papers also come in French, and I don’t have a sworn translator from French in place yet.  Until both are settled I don’t take Quebec residents or employees of Quebec companies.  A Spanish immigration lawyer who already works with Quebec files is the right person to ask.

The Non-Lucrative Visa. For Canadians it is filed at the Spanish consulate for your province: Montreal for Quebec and the Atlantic provinces, Ottawa for the capital region and Toronto for the rest.  I have not built that file for Canada, so for now I take Canadians on the Digital Nomad Visa only.  If you will keep working, even part time, the Digital Nomad Visa is the one that fits.

How it works, and the fee

I check your case before you pay anything.  Then I build your document list with a date to order each paper, counted back from the filing date, so the RCMP check does not expire while the CRA certificate is on its way.  I review every document before it goes to the translator, assemble the file in the UGE’s order and file it from Spain.  The UGE has 20 working days to decide, and the permit lasts three years.  After approval I stay with you for the residence card and the Social Security step. How it works, step by step.

You come to Spain as a visitor, which a Canadian passport allows for 90 days in any 180, and the application is filed during that stay.  Keep your boarding pass.  Since April 2026 passports are no longer stamped at the border, and it is how you show the day you entered.  The proof of entry guide covers what else works.

The fee is the same as for U.S. clients: $2,400 flat, in U.S. dollars, for you and $500 for each family member.  Half on signing, half once your file is complete and before filing.  If we file and it is not approved, my professional fees come back. Apostilles, translations and the fingerprinting company are paid to the providers, and I tell you what to expect before you order anything. Full pricing.

Check your case

The free assessment takes two minutes.  Choose Canada as your passport and it asks what matters for a Canadian file: your province, where the company that pays you is and how it pays you.  I read every answer and reply within a day.

Sources: Ley 28/2022 (BOE) · RCMP, criminal record checks · CRA, form CPT125 · Global Affairs Canada, document authentication · HCCH, Apostille Convention status table. Tax points are general information, not tax advice.  Last updated: 16 October 2026.