The Non-Lucrative Visa (NLV) is Spain's residency route for people who can support themselves financially without working in Spain. Below is the full, current list of requirements — financial thresholds, documents, insurance, criminal record checks, the medical certificate, the accommodation proof, the apostille chain, and the practical details that decide whether a consulate approves or rejects your file.
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On paper, the NLV looks simple: prove you have enough money, prove you have private healthcare, prove you haven't got a criminal record, and you're in. In practice, applications are refused every week for reasons that have nothing to do with the main criteria — a bank statement in the wrong format, an insurance policy that technically doesn't comply, a medical certificate worded slightly off, or documents that weren't apostilled or sworn-translated exactly the way the consulate wanted.
The NLV is a documentation-driven visa. Each Spanish consulate interprets the rules with its own quirks, and those interpretations are often not written down anywhere public. What passes in London may not pass in Los Angeles. What was accepted last year may not be accepted this year. Getting the requirements right the first time is the single biggest determinant of approval, and it's where most DIY applications and most non-specialist firms fall over.
This page lays out every NLV requirement as the consulates actually apply it in 2026 — not just what the regulation says, but what's expected when your file lands on a reviewer's desk. It's written to be long, detailed, and specific, because vague NLV guidance is exactly what gets people refused.
Before we go deep into each requirement, one piece of context. The NLV is officially a non-lucrative residence authorisation. "Non-lucrative" is the key word. The consulate is looking at your file and asking one question: can this person live in Spain without needing to work here? Everything else — the income thresholds, the insurance rules, the medical certificate — is downstream of that single question. When files are refused, it's almost always because the reviewer wasn't fully convinced of the answer. Understanding the NLV through that lens makes the requirements far easier to navigate.
The NLV is built for retirees, financially independent individuals, and families who want to move to Spain and live off passive income or savings. It's been the default residency route for Brits and Americans moving to the Costa Blanca, the Costa del Sol, Valencia, Mallorca and inland Spain for over a decade. If you're drawing a pension, living off investment income, receiving rental income from property outside Spain, or simply have enough capital to fund the move without needing to work, the NLV is almost certainly the right visa for you.
It is emphatically not the right visa if you intend to work remotely for a foreign employer while physically in Spain — that's what the Digital Nomad Visa (DNV) exists for. Mixing the two is one of the cleanest ways to trigger a refusal at renewal. If you're unsure which route applies, our NLV vs DNV comparison walks through the differences in detail.
Each of these areas has to be satisfied independently. One weak area — not all six — is enough to trigger a refusal or a request for corrections that pushes your application back weeks.
The NLV requires you to prove you can support yourself in Spain without working. The minimum is calculated from Spain's IPREM index — at 400% of annual IPREM for the main applicant, plus 100% for each dependant.
You need a Spanish-authorised private health policy equivalent to the public system — with no co-payments, no waiting periods, and no annual or lifetime benefit cap. Travel insurance does not qualify.
A clean police certificate is required from every country where you've lived for six months or more in the five years before applying. Apostilled. Translated by a Spanish sworn translator. Issued no more than three months before submission.
A doctor's certificate confirming you are not suffering from any of the diseases listed in the 2005 International Health Regulations. It must be in Spanish or accompanied by a sworn translation and worded to exactly match the consulate's template.
Your passport must be valid for at least one year beyond the visa's issue date and have at least two blank pages. You'll also need photocopies of every page, recent photos to Schengen standards, and the visa application form itself.
You don't have to have bought property, but you do have to show the consulate you have a genuine place to live in Spain — either through a deed, a signed long-term rental contract, or documented hosting arrangements with family.
The financial threshold is the single most common reason applications get refused — usually not because people don't have the money, but because they proved it in the wrong way. Here's how the maths works, what counts, and what doesn't.
The NLV's financial requirement is pegged to the IPREM (Indicador Público de Renta de Efectos Múltiples), a Spanish economic indicator updated annually. The rule is simple: the main applicant must show 400% of annual IPREM, and each dependant — spouse, child, or other — must show an additional 100%.
Based on the current IPREM, the thresholds work out approximately as follows. These figures are rounded and always need to be checked against the IPREM in force at the moment you submit, but they're the benchmark you'll be building your file around:
| Applicant | IPREM Multiple | Minimum Annual Income or Equivalent Savings |
|---|---|---|
| Main applicant (single) | 400% | ~€28,800 |
| + First dependant (spouse or child) | +100% | +~€7,200 |
| + Each additional dependant | +100% | +~€7,200 |
| Couple (no children) | 500% | ~€36,000 |
| Couple + 1 child | 600% | ~€43,200 |
| Couple + 2 children | 700% | ~€50,400 |
Consulates accept income that is passive, predictable and sourced from outside Spain. In practice, the cleanest files are built on one or more of: state pensions, private pensions, annuities, dividends from a long-held investment portfolio, rental income from property held outside Spain, interest on savings, royalties, and income from trusts or life interests. The more predictable and documentable the source, the stronger the file.
What consulates do not accept as NLV qualifying income is anything that looks like active work performed from Spain: salary from a Spanish employer, self-employment income earned in Spain, or remote salary from a foreign employer where you intend to continue working while resident here. That last category is the most misunderstood — and the most common reason a file that looks financially strong on paper is nevertheless refused.
If your passive income falls short of the 400% IPREM threshold, most consulates will accept capital savings to make up the difference — or indeed to cover the full requirement in lieu of income. The usual calculation is the shortfall (or full threshold) multiplied by the intended visa period, held in your name in an accessible account. In practice this means showing a lump sum sitting in a bank with supporting statements over several months, not a figure that appeared the week before submission.
Consulates are alert to "coached" savings accounts — funds that appear suddenly with no traceable origin. Where they see this, they either request documentation of the source (inheritance letters, sale of property, business exit, gift from family) or refuse on grounds of insufficient evidence. Building a clean, well-documented savings file is as important as the number itself.
Bank statements must be official, stamped or verified by the issuing bank, and usually cover the previous six to twelve months of continuous activity. A screenshot of an online banking app will not pass. A PDF export without any issuer marking may not pass either. Statements should show the full account holder name, account number, and a consistent running balance. Pension and investment statements should be on issuer letterhead, clearly show the benefit amount, and — where possible — confirm that payments will continue during residency in Spain.
Where documents are in a language other than Spanish, they must be sworn-translated — not just translated — by a translator authorised by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A well-meaning friend with fluent Spanish, a courtesy translation from the bank itself, or a generic translation agency will not satisfy the consulate. This is an area where self-prepared applications frequently collapse at the last moment.
Spouses, children and in some cases other dependants can be included on the principal applicant's NLV. The core requirements apply to every adult, but each category has its own documentary nuance.
Dependants can be included at the original application stage or added later through family reunification. Including them at the outset is almost always cleaner: the consulate reviews the full family as a single file, and everyone receives their visa together. The main applicant's financial threshold simply rises by 100% of IPREM for each person added — but the documentary requirements for each dependant are essentially a parallel version of the main applicant's file.
Spouses must evidence the marriage through an apostilled, sworn-translated marriage certificate. Children under 18 are added with their birth certificate, again apostilled and sworn-translated. Adult children (18+) living with their parents may qualify as dependants where there is clear financial dependency — the bar is higher and they need their own criminal record certificate. Older relatives (typically parents) may be included in more limited circumstances where the financial dependency is documented and the relationship is close.
Every dependant aged 18 or over needs their own criminal record certificate, their own medical certificate, their own passport copy, and their own inclusion on the family's health insurance policy. Under-18s don't need a criminal record certificate but still need medical cover, passport and birth certificate. All foreign-issued documents — marriage, birth, police — follow the full apostille and sworn translation chain.
Illustrative annual figures based on current IPREM. Always verified against the IPREM in force at submission.
Every document below needs to be originated, legalised (apostilled where foreign), and sworn-translated into Spanish before the consulate will accept it. The list below is the core set. Consulate-specific variations apply.
Valid passport with two clear pages and at least one year's remaining validity, plus recent passport-style photographs meeting Schengen specifications — white background, neutral expression, no glasses.
The official national visa application form, completed in full, signed by the applicant. Incomplete or inconsistent answers between the form and your supporting documents trigger delays.
Bank statements, pension slips, investment statements, tax returns — enough to clearly evidence 400% IPREM plus any dependant uplift, in the format the consulate accepts.
Certificate of a compliant policy from an authorised insurer, explicitly confirming no co-payments, no caps, and full equivalence to Spanish public cover. Must cover all applicants.
From every country of residence in the last 5 years. Apostilled (Hague Convention) and sworn-translated into Spanish. Dated within the last 3 months of submission.
Signed by a licensed doctor, using wording prescribed by the Spanish Ministry of Health, confirming no public-health diseases. Dated within 90 days. Sworn-translated.
Deed of a Spanish property you own, a signed long-term rental contract, or a notarised hosting arrangement with a Spanish resident. Generic reservations don't qualify.
For dependants. Apostilled and sworn-translated. Family books, adoption papers and guardianship orders follow the same legalisation route as the core civil documents.
Visa fee (nationality-dependent), biometric/appointment fee where applicable, and TIE card fees payable post-arrival in Spain. Payment methods vary by consulate.
A correctly worded UK police certificate that hasn't been apostilled is treated by the Spanish consulate as if it were not submitted at all. The same certificate, apostilled but translated by an unqualified translator, is treated the same way. Legalisation is non-negotiable and it's where otherwise complete files quietly fall apart.
Every document issued outside Spain that forms part of an NLV application needs to pass through a two-step legalisation chain before the consulate will accept it. The first step is the apostille: an international certification under the 1961 Hague Convention that confirms the document is authentic and that the signing authority is genuinely authorised. The second step is a sworn translation into Spanish, performed by a traductor jurado authorised by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
For UK documents, the apostille is issued by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) Legalisation Office. Standard turnaround is a few working days but peaks in the application cycle can extend that. For US documents, apostilles are issued at state level by the Secretary of State in the state that originated the document — federal documents (e.g. FBI checks) are apostilled by the US Department of State. For most Commonwealth and EU countries the apostille process is similar, though the issuing body varies.
Police certificate, marriage certificate, birth certificate or medical certificate issued in its country of origin.
Via the relevant Hague Convention authority in the issuing country. UK: FCDO. US: State or Federal Secretary of State.
By a Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs accredited sworn translator. Translation covers both the document and the apostille.
Bundle originated document + apostille + sworn translation together as a single piece of evidence in the NLV file.
Apostilles are issued on original documents, not copies. A scan or photocopy of a UK police certificate cannot be apostilled — the original has to be sent to the FCDO. This alone is why we recommend starting document legalisation at the very beginning of an NLV file: timing is the hidden constraint. If you order a UK police certificate, send it for apostille, then have it sworn-translated, you're already well into a multi-week process, and every week that passes eats into the three-month validity window at the other end.
Translations themselves are not apostilled; they sit alongside the apostilled original. A common mistake is to present a bundle where the apostille is stamped on the back of the translation — this reverses the chain and usually triggers a soft rejection. The apostille must be on the original issuing document, and the sworn translation must translate both the document and the apostille text.
Most NLV refusals are avoidable. Consulate officers don't refuse applicants — they refuse files. Here's what keeps turning up in refusal notices.
Unstamped bank exports, screenshots, PDFs without issuer verification. The numbers are fine — the format isn't, and the consulate treats unverified documents as no documents.
Many standard expat policies have small co-pays for GP visits. The consulate treats that as non-compliant, even when overall cover is generous. Only fully equivalent policies pass.
Certificates older than three months at the point of submission are routinely rejected — even if they were fresh when you started the process weeks earlier. Dates matter.
Foreign documents without the Hague apostille, or translated by a non-sworn translator, are treated as if they were not submitted. This is the single most common avoidable cause of refusal.
A generic "fit to travel" letter from a GP doesn't pass. The Ministry of Health wording has to be used verbatim, in Spanish, on the doctor's letterhead.
The NLV prohibits work in Spain. Any remote employment arrangement that looks like it will continue while resident here can be read as incompatible with the visa's non-lucrative nature.
You must apply from the Spanish consulate that covers your legal residence — not the one that's most convenient, has the shortest waiting list, or where a friend of yours recently applied successfully.
Rental contracts that don't match the application dates, hosting letters without notarisation, or hotel bookings presented as accommodation evidence are all frequent soft rejections.
A lump sum that lands in your account the month before submission with no documented origin reads as coached evidence, not genuine financial independence.
One missing apostilled marriage certificate, or a child's birth certificate that hasn't been sworn-translated, is enough to hold up the entire family file.
The requirements feed into a four-stage journey. Understanding where each document is used helps you prepare them in the right order and not waste time (or apostille fees).
Your nationality, income, dependants and personal circumstances checked against the current NLV criteria before any paid work starts.
Financial, medical, criminal record, insurance and accommodation documents collected, apostilled and sworn-translated in the correct order.
Appointment booked, interview attended, full file submitted at the Spanish consulate covering your country of legal residence.
Visa stamped in passport, you enter Spain, and within 30 days we register your TIE residency card and empadronamiento.
The NLV vignette in your passport is only the first half of the story. Once you arrive in Spain, a separate set of registrations turns the visa into a proper residency — and the clock on those is tight.
When your NLV is approved, the Spanish consulate places a visa vignette in your passport that is valid for 90 days. You must enter Spain within that 90-day window. Once you've entered, the 30-day post-arrival clock starts: during that month, you are expected to register with your local town hall (empadronamiento), apply for your foreigner identity card (TIE), and — if you didn't already have one — confirm your NIE is linked to your new residency status.
In practice, the TIE application is the key step. You'll attend a police station appointment in the province where you live, present fingerprints and biometric data, and hand over the paperwork package: passport, NLV visa page, proof of address in Spain (almost always your empadronamiento certificate), the tax form 790 showing payment of the TIE fee, and a passport photo. The TIE card itself is issued a few weeks later, at which point you have formal proof of Spanish residency.
Under RD 1155/2024, NLV holders are expected to spend at least 183 days a year physically in Spain to maintain residency. That matters at renewal — and it matters for tax residency, which crosses the same threshold. We cover the detail on the NLV renewal page, but you should be planning around 183 days from the first year, not waiting to worry about it at renewal.
What needs to happen after you land in Spain on your NLV. Dates are from the day you enter.
Take our short eligibility check or create a portal account — we'll review your position against the current NLV requirements, flag anything that needs attention early, and come back with a fixed-fee quote if it makes sense to proceed.
Our Non-Lucrative Visa service is built around a transparent fixed fee — split into three stages so you never pay for work before it's done. Everything you need from eligibility to consulate approval sits inside the price.