Gecko Towers
The coincidence of the ‘work from home’ practice visited on so many as a result of the Pandemic and the desire of those seeking a better work/life balance, seems to have been heard by the powers that be in Spain.
Just before much of Spain disappeared on the month long August break, the Cabinet in Madrid approved the outline of a plan (dated 06.07.21) to bestow on “digital nomads” – consisting primarily of entrepreneurs and those keen to start new digital businesses – an initial one year visa that is thought to be renewable for a second year.
It is suggested that the proposed recipient of the new visa would need to establish that they were either educationally or experience qualified to undertake the work they were doing or proposing. Additionally, the key element is that much of the work done would be for clients based outside Spain.
This, of course, could also be a very attractive solution to UK companies looking to send their teams into Spain to advance their international business. It would seem to reduce the necessity of such company needing to apply to the Spanish Consulate in the UK to obtain a work visa for each such team member in Spain, a dubious gift that Brexit has handed to UK companies.
There are mutual incentives to both those seeking to reallocate and to the Spanish Exchequer which would see an increase in the tax take from the holder of the visa who would, initially, pay tax on earnings as a non-resident.
As the law introducing this new initiative is yet to be approved by the Spanish Parliament, we do not yet fully understand the impact on the visa-holder’s social security position and resulting payments into the Spanish system.
Watch this space – but it could take up to a year for this to be brought into effect.
It may be early days but this is another proactive initiative that should benefit those who may chose to live in Spain while continuing to deliver to their client based outside Spain.
Please see an earlier piece reflecting on an approach by the UK Ocado Group Work/Life balance
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