Why it matters

Ley 28/2022 is the legal foundation for everything on this site. It is cited in every Digital Nomad Visa application because it is the law that authorizes the visa to exist. When the UGE evaluates an application, it is applying the standards set by this law and its implementing regulations.

For Digital Nomad Visa applicants, the practical significance is this: the requirements, the income thresholds, the qualifying conditions, and the Social Security treatment all derive from Ley 28/2022. If anything about the visa changes — and thresholds update annually — the changes come through this law or through ministerial order under it.

What the law created

  • Digital Nomad Visa (Visado/Autorización para Teletrabajadores de Carácter Internacional): The new authorization category for remote workers. Did not exist before December 2022.
  • Updated Beckham Law coverage: Extended the Special Expatriate Tax Regime to Digital Nomad Visa holders — previously limited to employees formally relocated by a foreign employer to Spain.
  • Startup creation incentives: Simplified company formation procedures, reduced corporate tax (15% for first 2 profitable years), and new investor visa categories.
  • Angel investor tax breaks: Increased deductions for investment in early-stage startups.

The implementing regulations

Ley 28/2022 set the framework; the specific rules for the Digital Nomad Visa (income thresholds, document lists, Social Security treatment) were detailed in implementing regulations issued by the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration in early 2023. These regulations are updated periodically — income thresholds, for example, track the annual update to the Spanish minimum wage (SMI).

Common mistakes

  • Citing outdated information from pre-2023 sources. Any information about working in Spain as a remote worker that predates 2023 may describe a workaround or an informal arrangement — not the current legal framework created by Ley 28/2022.
  • Assuming the law is the same as the visa. Ley 28/2022 is a broad law. The Digital Nomad Visa is one provision within it. The law also covers startups, investors, and corporate tax matters unrelated to remote workers.

Ley 28/2022 was published in the BOE (Official State Gazette) on December 22, 2022, and entered into force on December 23, 2022. The implementing regulations that made the Digital Nomad Visa practically operational came into effect in January 2023.

Yes. Before Ley 28/2022, there was no specific legal pathway for remote workers in Spain. The law created the Digital Nomad Visa as a distinct authorization category under Spain's immigration framework, with its own income thresholds, document requirements, and Social Security treatment.

Beyond the Digital Nomad Visa, the law simplified the process for creating startups in Spain, introduced tax incentives for startup investors, reduced corporate tax rates for early-stage companies, and updated the Beckham Law to cover Digital Nomad Visa holders explicitly — which was previously limited to employees relocated to Spain by foreign companies.

No — they are different laws. The Beckham Law (formally the Special Expatriate Tax Regime) existed since 2004. Ley 28/2022 updated and expanded the Beckham Law to cover Digital Nomad Visa holders, but the Beckham Law is a tax regulation, while Ley 28/2022 is a broader innovation and startup promotion law.