The two-minute test

Open your most recent W-2 and read box “c” — the employer’s name and address.

  • Your company’s name? Rippling is only the software running payroll. You have a direct employment relationship, and your case is a standard W-2 case.
  • A Rippling entity’s name? Your company uses Rippling’s PEO service. Rippling is your employer of record, and your file needs the PEO treatment.

People genuinely don’t know which setup they have — HR chose it, not you. Two minutes with a W-2 answers it definitively, and it’s one of the first things I check in every Rippling case.

If Rippling is payroll-only

Good news: nothing about Rippling touches your visa. You need the standard W-2 file — an employer letter authorizing work from Spain specifically, the SSA Certificate of Coverage requested by your employer directly, the FBI check with federal apostille, qualifying insurance, and income evidence meeting the 2026 thresholds. The certificate still takes months, so it still starts first — but the request is straightforward because there’s only one employer in the story.

If Rippling is your PEO

Then your case works like the Justworks and TriNet cases, and those guides apply to you almost line by line:

  • The Certificate of Coverage request must be built around the Rippling entity on your W-2, with your operating company documented as the worksite employer. Mismatched names are the classic failure.
  • The employer letters come as a coordinated pair: your company authorizes remote work from Spain and confirms role, salary, and tenure; the co-employment link to the W-2 entity is documented alongside.
  • The company-age rule (1+ year) and the 3-month relationship rule are tested against your real employer, not the PEO — usually a relief for startup employees whose company is older than its Rippling contract.

One Rippling-specific wrinkle

Rippling’s PEO product is younger than Justworks’ or TriNet’s, and its support flows are built for domestic HR questions, not treaty paperwork. Expect the certificate request to need a human champion inside your company — a founder or HR lead — armed with documents someone has already drafted. That drafting is my job; finding the champion is yours, and it takes one Slack message.

Either way, the destination is the same

Both routes end in the same place: filing from inside Spain for a 3-year permit, resolved in about 20 business days. The only difference is how much lead time the paperwork needs — and whether anyone spotted the PEO before it burned two months of your timeline.

The free assessment asks the PEO question directly and adjusts your result. Two minutes, instant answer, and if you leave your email I’ll send you a written assessment naming exactly which route your W-2 puts you on.

Sources: SSA — International agreements · Ley 28/2022 (BOE). Last updated: July 2026.