# Self-employed visa in Spain for US citizen



## panama (Nov 24, 2011)

Hello everyone. I was wondering about self-employment and the requirements. I have a cousing who lives in San Francisco, CA that wants to move her family to Madrid, Spain.

She is self-employed with a business in I.T. tech support. Everything is done remotely via the Internet for her clients. So she works from home. 
Also, she would like to get both children enroll in School (they know a little bit of spanish, not that much!)

Anyways, what are the requirements for the Visa? Please take into account that she will work from home for her business in the US.

Thanks a lot everyone

Alex


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## joshjadavies (Jan 22, 2012)

panama said:


> Hello everyone. I was wondering about self-employment and the requirements. I have a cousing who lives in San Francisco, CA that wants to move her family to Madrid, Spain.
> 
> She is self-employed with a business in I.T. tech support. Everything is done remotely via the Internet for her clients. So she works from home.
> Also, she would like to get both children enroll in School (they know a little bit of spanish, not that much!)
> ...


Americans can only stay 90 days in Spain without a work permit from a company that operates in Spain. Does her company have an office in Spain and is willing and able to get her a work visa?


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## panama (Nov 24, 2011)

joshjadavies said:


> Americans can only stay 90 days in Spain without a work permit from a company that operates in Spain. Does her company have an office in Spain and is willing and able to get her a work visa?


No Office in Spain. No sponsorship either. She owns her own i.T consulting company in the US. However, she likes to know how she can be in Spain for more than a year as an entrepreneur (self-employed) working from home in Madrid for example or the like.

Hopefully that was clear. Thanks

Alex


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

panama said:


> No Office in Spain. No sponsorship either. She owns her own i.T consulting company in the US. However, she likes to know how she can be in Spain for more than a year as an entrepreneur (self-employed) working from home in Madrid for example or the like.
> 
> Hopefully that was clear. Thanks
> 
> Alex


Hi

if you have a look at the 'useful links' sticky thread near the top of the 'Spain' front page you'll find some links to articles & discussions about the various visas

I'm not an expert but from what I've read I don't think there is a visa which fits her circumstances


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## skip o (Aug 1, 2011)

Interesting. I am surprised there is not a visa for this.


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## skip o (Aug 1, 2011)

There is a "Residence visa and work permit for investors or self-employed" at the bottom of this page from the consulate in Spain. I have no idea if this would work.

Consulado de España en Chicago


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

skip o said:


> There is a "Residence visa and work permit for investors or self-employed" at the bottom of this page from the consulate in Spain. I have no idea if this would work.
> 
> Consulado de España en Chicago


there's nothing like that on that page that I can see - do you have another link?


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

it seems there is (was? no date on this) such a visa - I've found an application form for it!!
http://www.maec.es/subwebs/Consulados/Chicago/en/MenuPpal/DocumentacinRequisitosparaServiciosConsulares/RequirementsEntrSpainVisas/Documents/self-employment.pdf


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## panama (Nov 24, 2011)

xabiachica said:


> it seems there is (was? no date on this) such a visa - I've found an application form for it!!
> http://www.maec.es/subwebs/Consulados/Chicago/en/MenuPpal/DocumentacinRequisitosparaServiciosConsulares/RequirementsEntrSpainVisas/Documents/self-employment.pdf


O.K. this is what I was looking for. Thanks for your help

Alex


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

panama said:


> O.K. this is what I was looking for. Thanks for your help
> 
> Alex


let us know how your cousin gets on

we've yet to have a poster here from the US who has managed to get a resident visa (without marrying a Spaniard or EU citizen)


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## panama (Nov 24, 2011)

xabiachica said:


> let us know how your cousin gets on
> 
> we've yet to have a poster here from the US who has managed to get a resident visa (without marrying a Spaniard or EU citizen)


O.K. we´ll do. Just some additional info here. I moved from California 3 years ago (currently living in Panama because I was born here) and now some of the family members I have in the States want to follow me to Europe. We all have I.T. consulting companies so it allows us to work from home. We´ll see how it goes.

Thanks a lot again for your help.

Alx


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## Brangus (May 1, 2010)

xabiachica said:


> we've yet to have a poster here from the US who has managed to get a resident visa (without marrying a Spaniard or EU citizen)


This forum has had American posters married to non-EU highly skilled professionals, but we're not very memorable.


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## cdat12 (Aug 17, 2010)

Brangus said:


> This forum has had American posters married to non-EU highly skilled professionals, but we're not very memorable.


Interesting, my wife and myself are planning on moving to Europe, right now we are divided between France, England and Spain. Spain has a rather "small" requirement for annual salary to meet the so called retirement visa, lovely weather for the most part. The fact that we already speak some spanish and are familiar with the language seems to us that it makes a great choice. Is it impossible, or highly improbable to immigrate to spain from the US? Any more difficult than other European countries?

Thnks


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Brangus said:


> This forum has had American posters married to non-EU highly skilled professionals, but we're not very memorable.


you then 


it might well be that some of the US posters here who try for a resident visa do indeed get one eventually, but they don't seem to come back to tell us 


married to someone with an 'in demand' skill will obviously do it - but that I think is an unusual situation just now, isn't it


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

cdat12 said:


> Interesting, my wife and myself are planning on moving to Europe, right now we are divided between France, England and Spain. Spain has a rather "small" requirement for annual salary to meet the so called retirement visa, lovely weather for the most part. The fact that we already speak some spanish and are familiar with the language seems to us that it makes a great choice. Is it impossible, or highly improbable to immigrate to spain from the US? Any more difficult than other European countries?
> 
> Thnks


as I said in my last post - the perception is that it is difficult here - we get lots of US posters asking how to get a resident visa here

either they aren't successful or they simply don't tell us how they got on, no matter how nicely we ask 


you say the income requirement for a retirement visa is 'small' compared to other countries - so you have managed to get a figure from somewhere??

I'd be interested to know what that is & where it came from - so many others who have gone before you have tried & failed to get any concrete info from anywhere!


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## Brangus (May 1, 2010)

xabiachica said:


> either they aren't successful or they simply don't tell us how they got on, no matter how nicely we ask


My perception is that we don't hear back because of the anti-American attitude on this forum. One even sent me a private message saying "What did I do to deserve this?" and understandably never posted again. (And that person is currently living in Spain, as far as I know.)


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Brangus said:


> My perception is that we don't hear back because of the anti-American attitude on this forum. One even sent me a private message saying "What did I do to deserve this?" and understandably never posted again. (And that person is currently living in Spain, as far as I know.)


really 


I wasn't aware there was an anti-American attitude :confused2:


we even have several moderators who ARE American


I don't think it's particularly anti-american - although we have had quite a lot of non-europeans who get irritated/angry/whytheheckwon'ttheyletmeinallIwanttodoislivethereandspendmymoney when it's pointed out that they can't move here 'just because they want to' - & won't get much sympathy if they overstay any visa they have, or try to find ways to 'beat the system'

it happens the other way too - Brits/Europeans who want to move to the US/Canada/Aus/NZ & get narky when they don't qualify for a visa in their chosen country or overstay any visa they do manage to get


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## cdat12 (Aug 17, 2010)

xabiachica said:


> as I said in my last post - the perception is that it is difficult here - we get lots of US posters asking how to get a resident visa here
> 
> either they aren't successful or they simply don't tell us how they got on, no matter how nicely we ask
> 
> ...


Yes, as a matter of fact I did. According to the letter I received from the Consulate General of Spain, (probably a form letter I would believe) The amount of "permanent yearly retirement income" would be 25.560 euros, plus an additional amount of 6.390 euros for additional family member. 
I've often found that being polite to people yields much in the way of assistance from others, even members of the bureaucracy. 
NOW, I'm also aware that there are many reasons to deny fully qualified applicants visas, sometimes no more then the individual being in a bad mood, so regardless of me meeting all requirements, I can and possibly will be denied. The document also states I have the right to appeal to a court in Spain should that happen. Would I, cross that bridge when/if it comes to that. 

John


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

cdat12 said:


> Yes, as a matter of fact I did. According to the letter I received from the Consulate General of Spain, (probably a form letter I would believe) The amount of "permanent yearly retirement income" would be 25.560 euros, plus an additional amount of 6.390 euros for additional family member.
> I've often found that being polite to people yields much in the way of assistance from others, even members of the bureaucracy.
> NOW, I'm also aware that there are many reasons to deny fully qualified applicants visas, sometimes no more then the individual being in a bad mood, so regardless of me meeting all requirements, I can and possibly will be denied. The document also states I have the right to appeal to a court in Spain should that happen. Would I, cross that bridge when/if it comes to that.
> 
> John


thanks for that - it really isn't so VERY much, is it?

is there any way you could scan the letter (taking out personal bits, of course) & post it here?


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## cdat12 (Aug 17, 2010)

xabiachica said:


> thanks for that - it really isn't so VERY much, is it?
> 
> is there any way you could scan the letter (taking out personal bits, of course) & post it here?


I will post it shortly.


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## cdat12 (Aug 17, 2010)

DOH!!!!!!
No scan, no copy, just post the link.
http://www.maec.es/subwebs/Consulad...sVisados/Visados/Documents/RetirementVisa.pdf

Also, this link has more info on other visas, although I can't seem to locate this link at the consulates website, maybe it requires a "super secret code" to access, but I will post this link also.
http://www.maec.es/subwebs/Consulad...osConsularesVisados/Visados/Paginas/Visa.aspx

Let me know if any problems


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

cdat12 said:


> DOH!!!!!!
> No scan, no copy, just post the link.
> http://www.maec.es/subwebs/Consulad...sVisados/Visados/Documents/RetirementVisa.pdf
> 
> ...


that is brilliant thanks :clap2:

I'll copy those links to our 'useful' sticky


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## cdat12 (Aug 17, 2010)

xabiachica said:


> that is brilliant thanks :clap2:
> 
> I'll copy those links to our 'useful' sticky[/QUOTE


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## skip o (Aug 1, 2011)

The application from the San Francisco consulate makes more sense to me than the one from Chicago. Chicago asks for

"− Proof of accommodation. Provide one of the following documents: Letter of Invitation as issued by the "Policía Nacional" in Spain, Lease, or Title deed of property."

So basically an American needs to buy or rent a place in Spain before they have the visa, then apply for the visa in person in the Chicago and wait a few months for the results.


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## cdat12 (Aug 17, 2010)

skip o said:


> The application from the San Francisco consulate makes more sense to me than the one from Chicago. Chicago asks for
> 
> "− Proof of accommodation. Provide one of the following documents: Letter of Invitation as issued by the "Policía Nacional" in Spain, Lease, or Title deed of property."
> 
> So basically an American needs to buy or rent a place in Spain before they have the visa, then apply for the visa in person in the Chicago and wait a few months for the results.


I believe all of the countries that have a "proof of accommodation" requirement are pretty reasonable on this. I know France simply wants a letter from a real estate agency or attorney that you intend to purchase or rent a property thru them. Letters from friend stating that you intend to stay with them while you search for property are usually accepted. 
I'm sure someone with more experience will be along to clarify Spain's definition of "proof of accommodation". 

Cdat


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