If your income comes from investments, dividends, rental properties, royalties, or savings (not from a job), Spain has a legal residency route designed for exactly your situation.
Spain does not have a visa labelled «passive income visa» or «wealth visa.» What it has is the Non-Lucrative Visa (NLV), a well-established residency permit for non-EU nationals who live in Spain without working and can support themselves through income that is not derived from employment in Spain.
The reason this page exists alongside the NLV page is simple: people searching for their options use very different vocabulary. A 55-year-old retired teacher and a 35-year-old who reached financial independence through investment portfolios are often looking for the same legal route, but they describe their situation in entirely different terms. This page speaks to the second group, people who are financially independent, not necessarily retired, whose income comes from dividends, rental properties, stock portfolios, savings drawdowns, royalties, or other capital-based sources.
The legal mechanism is the Non-Lucrative Visa. The financial threshold is the same. The prohibition on working in Spain is the same. What changes is the framing and, sometimes, how you present your proof of income.
You are a strong candidate if you are a non-EU national who:
The Non-Lucrative Visa does not allow you to work in Spain, work remotely for a foreign employer, or provide services to Spanish clients. If you work remotely, the Digital Nomad Visa is the correct route. If you are genuinely not working and your income is truly passive, this is the right permit.
We review your income sources and documentation to confirm you meet the 2026 threshold. We also assess how your income is documented. Different income types (dividends, rental income, and savings drawdowns) require different evidence, and consulates have specific expectations.
We build your full application file: your apostilled criminal background check, translated medical certificate, health insurance policy verified to meet Spain’s requirements, and income documentation structured for your consulate. Income documentation is often the most complex part for financially independent applicants and where we add the most value.
You submit your application to the Spanish consulate in your country of current residence. We prepare you for the appointment and review everything before you go.
Once your visa is approved, you travel to Spain. Within 30 days you complete your empadronamiento (registering at the local town hall) and begin the process of obtaining your TIE (Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero, your Spanish residence card). We handle the appointment booking and support you through this step.
We track your renewal timeline and prepare each renewal application with the appropriate financial evidence. The doubled threshold at the first renewal is the critical planning point, and we advise on this from the start.
For financially independent applicants, income documentation is usually the most complex part of the application. Brokerage statements, dividend records, and multi-currency savings accounts need to be presented in a specific format that your consulate will accept. Getting this right is the difference between a clean first-time approval and a delay that pushes your timeline back by months.
Our role:
If you are in the FIRE community or living on portfolio income, we understand the specifics of how that income is documented and what consulates look for when they review it.
The legal route for passive income residency is the Non-Lucrative Visa. Our NLV page covers the same route with full details on requirements, the step-by-step process, and renewal planning. If you arrived here from a search for a «retirement visa» or «non-lucrative visa,» the information on both pages covers the same underlying route.
If your situation involves larger capital that you want to invest directly in Spanish financial assets, rather than simply demonstrating passive income, the Capital Investment route ties your residency to qualifying investment thresholds.
The passive income residency route is a direct path toward Spanish citizenship after ten years of continuous legal residence. We advise clients on maintaining uninterrupted legal status throughout the pathway.
If you are financially independent and want to live in Spain, whether you are in your 30s with a dividend portfolio or in your 60s with a pension and savings, the route exists and the requirements are clear. The 2026 income threshold is €28,800 per year for a single applicant.
The process takes three to five months from instruction to TIE card, and most of it happens before you travel.
Book a free consultation. We will review your income sources against the 2026 criteria, tell you how to document each one for your consulate, and map out exactly what your application needs to look like.
No. Spain does not use that label officially. The legal route for non-EU nationals who want to live in Spain on passive income is the Non-Lucrative Visa (NLV), a well-established permit that has been the primary route for financially independent and retired applicants for many years. The NLV is the mechanism; «passive income residency» is simply how many applicants describe their situation when searching for it. The requirements, process, and permit are the same.
Yes, provided the investment income is genuinely passive, meaning you are not actively managing a business in Spain or trading in a way that constitutes professional activity. Dividend income from a stock portfolio, ETF distributions, interest on savings, and similar capital returns are generally accepted for the NLV. The key is documentation: consulates want to see recurring income flows, not just asset values. We advise on how to present this.
Rental income from properties outside Spain is accepted as passive income for the NLV. Rental income from Spanish properties is more complex and may be treated as commercial activity depending on how the properties are managed. We assess this case by case. Foreign rental properties are generally a strong basis for income documentation.
For 2026, the threshold is €28,800 per year for the main applicant (400% of Spain’s IPREM). Each dependent adds approximately €7,200 per year. At the first renewal, you must demonstrate two years’ worth of income—approximately €57,600 for a single applicant. These figures apply whether your income comes from dividends, rental income, savings, pensions, or a combination.
The key difference is whether you work. The Non-Lucrative Visa is for people whose income is entirely passive. The Digital Nomad Visa is for people who work remotely for employers or clients outside Spain. If you receive employment or contractor income, even from a foreign company, the Digital Nomad Visa is generally the correct route. We assess your complete situation before recommending the appropriate permit.
Yes. Your income can be held in US dollars, British pounds, Australian dollars, or another currency. The threshold is assessed in euros using the prevailing exchange rate at the time of application. Your documentation should clearly show the euro equivalent. We advise on structuring multi-currency documentation for your specific consulate.
Yes. After ten years of continuous legal residence in Spain, maintained through regular NLV renewals, you are eligible to apply for Spanish citizenship. Each renewal contributes to that ten-year total. We advise clients on maintaining uninterrupted legal residence throughout the process.
