Spain Entrepreneur Visa (Startup Visa)

1. Draft the business plan. This is the heart of the application. Three mandatory blocks: project description (activity, start date, location, legal form, potential economic impact, estimated jobs to be created and their functions), a description of the product or service, and a financial analysis with identified funding sources.
2. Request the ENISA report. ENISA assesses the innovative character of the project and its special economic interest for Spain, along with the applicant’s professional profile and involvement. By law, this mandatory report must be issued within 10 working days and is sent directly to the UGE-CE.
3. File the immigration package with the UGE-CE through its electronic office: form MI-T, passport, fee payment, proof of funds, insurance and certificates. The application can be filed personally or through a representative.
4. UGE-CE decision within 20 days. Positive administrative silence applies: no answer within the deadline counts as approval.
5. Final step. If you applied from your home country, you receive an entrepreneur visa to enter Spain. If approved while inside Spain, you book a police appointment and collect your TIE, valid for 3 years, in person.

ENISA report: 10 working days by law. UGE-CE decision: 20 days with positive administrative silence. In practice, the full cycle including document preparation usually takes one to two months, incomparably faster than the general immigration regime. The government fee is paid via Modelo 790, código 038 (the tariff for international mobility permits under Law 14/2013) within 10 working days of the application being admitted; check the current amount on the UGE-CE website.

The first card runs for 3 years, and according to the official one.gob.es portal the renewal is also granted for 3 years. The renewal application is filed within 60 calendar days before the card expires (filing up to 90 days after expiry is also possible, though with the risk of a sanction procedure), and filing itself extends the previous authorisation until a decision is made. To renew, you must show the project is still operating, and you must not have spent more than 6 months per year outside Spain. Keep the tax angle in mind: spending over 183 days per year in Spain makes you a Spanish tax resident, with all the filing obligations that follow.

After 5 years of legal residence you qualify for long-term residency, with years on this permit counting in full, and later Spanish citizenship. More on the mechanics: renewals.

Your family applies jointly with you using the single MI-F form: spouse or partner, children, and dependent relatives. Family members’ permits also carry the right to work once they reach working age.

General regime. Spending more than 183 days a year in Spain makes you a tax resident, declaring worldwide income under IRPF (Modelo 100) on a progressive scale that, with the regional component, reaches roughly 47% and above. As an autónomo you pay IRPF on your business profit plus Social Security contributions. If the project runs through a company (SL), it pays corporate tax (Impuesto sobre Sociedades) at the general 25% rate, and any newly created company, with no certification needed, pays 15% in its first profitable period and the one that follows (Art. 29 of Law 27/2014).

The Beckham regime for entrepreneurs. The Startups Law extended the special impatriate regime (Art. 93 of the IRPF Law) to entrepreneurs carrying out an activity in Spain qualified as entrepreneurial under the Art. 70 procedure of Law 14/2013, that is, backed by a favourable ENISA report. Conditions: no Spanish tax residency during the previous 5 years and, under the IRPF regulations, holding the entrepreneur residence authorisation (Art. 69 of Law 14/2013) before relocating to Spain. This is a key planning point: if you are counting on Beckham, obtain the permit from your home country rather than after the move. The option is exercised via Modelo 149 within 6 months of registering with Social Security, and the annual return is filed on Modelo 151. The benefits: a flat 24% on employment and entrepreneurial income up to 600,000 euros per year (47% above), taxation essentially limited to Spanish-source income, exemption from the Modelo 720 foreign assets declaration, and wealth tax on Spanish assets only. Duration: the year of relocation plus the five that follow.

The 15% startup rate. If the project runs through a company, Law 28/2022 grants a 15% corporate tax rate in the first period with a positive taxable base and the three following ones (up to four years in total), plus a deferral of the tax due for the first two profitable periods (12 and 6 months, no guarantees required) and an exemption from advance instalments. The key point: these benefits require the company to be separately certified as an empresa emergente. That certification is also issued by ENISA, but it is a distinct procedure from the ENISA report used for the visa: two different applications. Requirements (Art. 3 of Law 28/2022): the company must be no older than 5 years (7 for biotech, energy and industrial projects with proprietary technology), headquartered in Spain, with at least 60% of the workforce employed in Spain, turnover up to 10 million euros, no dividend distribution and no stock exchange listing. Certification is requested online through the ENISA portal, resolved within 3 months with positive administrative silence, and the status is then recorded in the Commercial Registry, which is precisely what unlocks the benefits.

I advise on the tax side of relocation, including the choice between the general regime and the Beckham regime, and I file Modelo 100 and Modelo 151 returns.

1. Dressing up a traditional business as a startup. A cafe with an ordering app is still a cafe: ENISA looks at substance, not packaging.
2. A vague financial section. The plan needs real, identified funding: documented savings or committed investors, not an abstract intention to raise money.
3. Unrealistic job-creation promises. There is no formal minimum, but employment is weighed as a priority: inflated numbers that do not match the financial plan undermine the credibility of the entire project.
4. Claiming there are no competitors. That reads as weak market research. The right move is to name the competitors and show exactly where your project beats them.
5. A weak link between the applicant’s profile and the project. If your education and experience do not support your ability to run this specific business, approval chances drop even with a strong idea.