The one-year company rule

Spain requires that the company you work for (and own) has been incorporated and operating for at least one year before you file the Digital Nomad Visa application. This rule exists to prevent people from creating a shell company solely to meet the visa requirements.

You document this with a Certificate of Incorporation — the state document showing when your company was legally formed — apostilled and sworn-translated. The incorporation date must be at least 12 months before your application filing date. If your company is younger than a year, you need to wait.

This is the most common blocking issue I encounter with founder applicants. If you are thinking about moving to Spain in the next year and you own a company incorporated in the last 6–10 months, we should talk now about the timing.

The authorization letter problem — and the solution

Every Digital Nomad Visa application requires an employer authorization letter confirming that the applicant is permitted to work remotely from Spain. For W-2 employees, this comes from HR or a manager. For founders, you sign this letter as the owner of your own company.

The UGE is aware of this structure and accepts it — but the letter must be written correctly. It needs to function as a genuine employer letter, not as a self-certification. That means: company letterhead, company address, your name in both the "from" and "to" fields (as company officer and as employee), explicit confirmation of your role, salary or compensation, and specific authorization to work remotely from Spain. I draft this letter for every founder client because the phrasing matters.

Documenting income as a founder

W-2 employees have it easy: pay stubs and a W-2. Founders have more options, and more complexity:

  • If you pay yourself a W-2 salary from your company: Use your own pay stubs and W-2 as the primary income evidence. This is the cleanest path if your W-2 salary alone meets the threshold.
  • If you take distributions: K-1 statements, bank statements showing transfers, and corporate tax returns (Form 1120 or 1120-S) documenting the distributions. The UGE wants to see consistent, documented income — not sporadic large deposits.
  • If income is a mix: We document both streams and present a clear picture. The key is showing consistent monthly income that exceeds the threshold — lumpiness is harder to explain than regularity.
  • Bank statements: Always required regardless of structure. Three to six months of statements from your business account (showing revenue) and personal account (showing what you actually live on).

The income threshold is the same for founders as for everyone else: ~€2,849/month gross for a solo applicant. What "gross" means for a business owner depends on your structure, which is one of the first things I work through.

The 20% Spanish-client rule

The Digital Nomad Visa requires that you work primarily for employers or clients located outside Spain — and specifically that no more than 20% of your income comes from Spanish sources. For founders, this means no more than 20% of your company's revenue can come from Spanish clients or customers.

If you run a SaaS with customers in Spain, or a service business with some Spanish clients, this requires analysis. If Spanish revenue is currently above 20%, it does not necessarily disqualify you — but it creates a documentation and planning question that we need to work through before filing.

Social Security: the founder's reality

This is where founders face a meaningful difference from W-2 employees. W-2 employees with an SSA Certificate of Coverage remain exempt from Spanish Social Security. Founders who become Spanish tax residents and do not have an equivalent Social Security exemption typically need to register as autónomo with Spain's self-employed Social Security system (RETA).

The autónomo contribution starts at around €200/month for low incomes and rises with income. At €3,000/month net, you pay approximately €310/month. This is a real ongoing cost that W-2 employees do not have, and it is one of the factors to weigh in your financial planning before moving.

There are structures that can reduce or defer this obligation — particularly if your U.S. company maintains your formal employment relationship in a way that qualifies for treaty coverage. This is case-specific and worth discussing with a cross-border tax advisor before you file. I can make referrals.

Tax structure: LLC vs. S-corp vs. C-corp

Your company's U.S. legal structure does not affect your visa eligibility. But it significantly affects your Spanish tax situation, particularly under the Beckham Law. The interaction between U.S. pass-through taxation (LLC, S-corp) and Spanish tax treatment is complex — the same income can be taxed very differently depending on how it flows to you personally.

I am not a tax advisor and I do not give tax advice — that is a separate engagement with a cross-border tax specialist. But I flag this in every founder case because the visa filing and the tax structure decisions interact, and making them in the right order matters. File the visa first, then plan the tax structure for Spain? Or plan first, then file? Answer: plan and file simultaneously, with both advisors communicating.

Additional documents for founders

Beyond the standard application documents, founder applications typically add:

  • Certificate of Incorporation with state apostille and sworn translation
  • Corporate bank statements (3–6 months) showing business revenue
  • Most recent corporate tax return (Form 1120 or 1120-S)
  • Operating Agreement or bylaws confirming ownership structure (for LLCs)
  • Client contracts or invoices if income documentation requires it

The timeline for founders

Founder applications typically take 3–5 months, similar to other applicant types. The difference is that the income documentation is more complex to assemble and explain — it is not the two-page process of handing over pay stubs. I build a clear income narrative for every founder file so the UGE sees a coherent picture, not a collection of documents that require interpretation.

The one-year company rule means that if your company is young, the clock is the constraint. Other than that, founder files move on the same government timeline as everyone else.

Where to start

The free assessment includes founder-specific questions about company age, income type, and Spanish client exposure. It will tell you immediately whether you are in a waiting period or whether you can file now. If there are complications, I will identify them in the assessment and explain what can be done.

Sources: Ley 28/2022 (BOE) · UGE. Last updated: July 2026.