Entrepreneur Visa Spain

The Spanish entrepreneur visa, or ‘visa de emprendedor’, is a type of residence permit that allows holders to relocate to Spain for a period of up to 3 years. Designed for non-EU citizens, it also acts as a type of self-employment work permit that allows you to start up your own business in Spanish territory.

The Spanish entrepreneur visa also allows you to bring family members such as your spouse and children (including financially dependent adult children) with you. However, you must be able to prove your family relationship as part of the application process.

Providing you meet the eligibility criteria, the application procedure for this startup visa is relatively straight forward, making this pathway one of the easiest and quickest ways for business people to obtain residency in Spain.

Page Contents

• What Is a Spanish Entrepreneur Visa?
• Am I Eligible for a Spain Entrepreneur Visa?
• Required Documents For Spain Entrepreneur Visa
• How To Apply for Spain Entrepreneur Visa
• What If My Spain Entrepreneur Visa Application Is Rejected?
• Can I Renew My Entrepreneur Visa Residence Permit in Spain?
• How Can Total Law Help?
• Frequently Asked Questions

There are certain eligibility requirements all applicants must meet to be granted a Spanish visa. For the entrepreneurial visa, the most significant is your business plan and how you intend to implement it. There are 3 core components that the Spanish consular office will assess when considering your application for a startup visa.

Personal Profile

Firstly, the authorities will expect you to present your personal profile. Here, you will showcase your skills, qualifications and experience to prove you have the professional trajectory to implement your plan. You will need to prove that your educational history and professional experience are relevant to your ideas and that you have the motivation to develop your business and make it a success.

Business Idea

Your business idea plays a crucial part in the outcome of your application. To be successful, your idea must be innovative and new, and something that will benefit Spain and its economy. You must be able to show that your business idea can generate wealth and create investment opportunities once up and running. It should also be able to generate future employment opportunities and therefore be in Spain’s economic interest.

Business Plan

You will need to provide a detailed business plan that outlines your business proposal and shows how this is realistic to achieve. It should include a thorough description of the services you intend to offer, how your idea is an innovative business venture, and what its strengths are.

Your plan should also contain market analysis research. For example, you should show how you have considered business competitors, both direct and indirect, and how you intend to implement marketing strategies to work around them and combat problems.

You must also provide details of the businesses financial projection, including all expected financial reports and show how your business strategy supports this. The plan must also show the expected impact on Spain’s economy, for example, the number of job vacancies it can create.

As part of the application process, you will be required to provide legal documents. The required documents can vary depending on your individual circumstances:

General Documents

• A signed application form.
• A valid, unexpired passport. The passport must have at least 2 blank pages, and a validity length of at least 1 year. You must provide both the original document and photocopies of the relevant passport pages, including those that contain your biometric data.
• A recent colour photograph that meets the specified requirements.
• Criminal record check certificate.
• Proof of fee payment.
• Proof of all necessary requirements such as financial resources to support your stay, health insurance, and social security details.
• Your business concept, strategy and plan.
• Proof that your business concept has been accepted by the Commercial office (Embassy of Spain).
• A favourable report on your business plan from ENISA – you must get this report through the Large Companies and Strategic Groups Unit.

Additional Documents

You may also wish, and are highly encouraged to, provide additional documents to support your business concept. For example, these could include:

• Letters from potential investors.
• Letters of recognition from consumers who have purchased the project or tested a prototype.
• Letters from prospective customers that are willing and eager to buy your product.

Documents for Family Members

You will need to provide additional documents for each family member that you intend to bring with you. Not only will you need to submit all of the general documents requested in their name, including their complete passport, proof of health insurance, and visa application form, you must prove your family relationship. Documents proving family relationships could be birth certificates or marriage certificates that coincide with the representative’s identity.

It is worth noting that all foreign documents must be legalised and submitted together with an official translation into Spanish.

To be granted an entrepreneur visa, you must follow an official application process. The process you follow will depend on if you are applying from inside or outside of Spain.

From Inside Spain

If you are currently residing in Spain on a tourist visa, you should go in person to the Unidad de Grandes Empresas (UGE) headquarters in Madrid. Your documents will need to be delivered to the Large Business Unit and your business plan to the Ministry of Economic affairs.

The administration has a period of 20 days to decide how to proceed with your application. If granted, you must then schedule an appointment with the immigration office in order to have your biometric data (fingerprints) collected and registered. You have 1 month from the decision date to collect your entrepreneur visa in person.

From Outside Spain

To start the application process from your home country, you should first submit all of your relevant documents online (using a digital certificate) via the Unidad de Grandes Empresas (UGE) electronic headquarters. You will then be granted a visa that will allow you to enter Spain.

Next, you should submit your business plan to the General Directorate of Foreign Trade and Investment. You should receive a decision as to whether or not your business plan has been accepted after 10 days, however, this period can be extended if the authorities decide an interview needs to be scheduled or request further documents. If it is approved, you will then be able to travel to Spain to collect your residence card.

It is not uncommon for applications for the entrepreneur visa to be rejected and it is usually on the grounds that your business model does not satisfy the requirements of Spain’s national innovation company. It is worth remembering that the international trade market is large and competitive and therefore your business idea needs to really stand out and meet the strict requirements of the Spanish government to be accepted.

If your application is denied and you believe that it is in error and that you do definitely meet the criteria for the entrepreneur visa in Spain, there are some things you can do to receive one.

1. Appeal – You may wish to appeal your application decision and await the outcome. However, it is worth remembering that appeals can take several months to complete and therefore option 2 may be the quicker and best option for you.
2. Reapply – You may choose to reapply for the entrepreneur visa instead of lodging an appeal due to the time frame (20 days) it takes to reach a decision.
3. Reconsider your options – If your entrepreneur visa application is rejected due to the fact that your idea is not original enough for the Spanish market, you may be able to apply for a work visa with a self-employment element instead. This would still allow you to trade in Spain, and perhaps expand your practise as you maintain your independence.

If you are successful in obtaining an entrepreneur visa in Spain and reside there for the maximum time period that it allows (3 years) you can apply to extend it for a further 2 years.

If you want to renew your residence permit on the grounds that you are still operating a start up business, you must continue to meet all of the eligibility requirements. For example, your business must still be growing and creating investment or job opportunities.

If after 5 years you still wish to reside in Spain, you may be able to apply for permanent residency.