Spain self-employment visa: the autónomo work permit under the general regime

~12 min read · Published 10 October 2026 Updated and checked against official sources 17 October 2026 Print / PDF

The residence and self-employment permit (cuenta propia) lets a foreign national run their own business in Spain as an autónomo (art. 82 RD 1155/2024). The application is filed at the consulate where the applicant lives and also counts as the visa application (art. 39.1). The first permit lasts one year and is limited to one sector and one autonomous community (art. 83). Renewal is for four years and allows both employed and self-employed work in any sector. After five years the holder can obtain long-term residence.

Contents

• What this permit is
• Pros and cons
• Who applies and who counts as family
• Requirements and documents
• Applying from the United States or the United Kingdom
• Can you take a job as an employee
• How the process works
• Refusal and appeal
• Renewal
• Long-term residence and nationality

What this permit is

The residence and self-employment permit, autorización de residencia temporal y trabajo por cuenta propia, is issued to a foreign national over 18 to run their own business in Spain as an autónomo, for more than 90 days and less than five years (art. 82 RD 1155/2024, art. 36.1 and 37 LO 4/2000).

What people call a self-employment visa or an autónomo visa is the permit itself. The visa is only the entry document, and the consulate issues it after the permit has been approved. The permit is granted by the Oficina de Extranjería (Extranjería), the provincial immigration office. It takes effect only once the holder is registered in the Social Security scheme for the self-employed, the alta en el RETA (art. 85.7).

The consular route is rare. In 2024, 3,433 initial self-employment permits were issued across Spain, and that figure includes both consular applications and changes of status made from inside the country (PTE 2024, table PTE-2). There are three reasons. The project must be aimed at the Spanish market and documented before the decision: licenses or pending license applications, startup funds, sometimes premises (art. 84). The first year is narrow: one sector, one autonomous community, no employed work (art. 83). The procedure runs in two stages, silence means refusal, and without alta in the RETA within three months of entry the applicant must leave Spain (art. 85.4 and 85.9). Anyone already living in Spain on another permit obtains the same permit through a change of status, and from a permit that allowed work, directly for four years (art. 191.3).

Other situations have their own permits:

• An innovative project of special economic interest falls under the entrepreneur visa of Ley 14/2013, processed by UGE-CE with an ENISA report. The general-regime self-employment permit does not require innovation.
• Work under an employment contract with a Spanish employer calls for the employed work permit.
• Remote work from Spain for foreign clients falls under the digital nomad visa.
• Citizens of the EU, the EEA and Switzerland need no permit, and their registration is covered in the article on EU citizens’ residence.

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Pros and cons

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Who applies and who counts as family

The applicant files in person at the Spanish consulate where they live (art. 85.1, Hoja 14). The visa application also counts as the permit application (art. 39.1). The consulate checks the general visa requirements, and Extranjería checks the requirements of art. 84 (art. 39.2 and 39.3.b).

Family members are not part of the application, and the permit is issued to the applicant alone. The spouse, partner and children come through family reunification. The holder can apply for reunification after a year of residence in Spain and once they have applied to renew their own permit, and the family members’ permits are granted only after that renewal (art. 68.1). This means the family arrives in the second year at the earliest.

A reunited spouse, partner and children may work with no separate permit (art. 65.2 RD 1155/2024, art. 19.1 LO 4/2000). The procedure is covered in the article on family reunification.

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Requirements and documents

The requirements of art. 84 RD 1155/2024 and art. 37.1 LO 4/2000:

• The applicant meets the requirements that Spanish law sets for Spanish nationals to open and run the planned activity: licenses, permits, declarations (letter a).
• The applicant has the professional qualification or proven experience the activity requires, and membership in the professional association where it is mandatory (letter b).
• The planned investment is sufficient to launch the project, and its effect on employment is shown, including the applicant’s own self-employment (letter c).
• The applicant has no commitment not to return to Spain under a voluntary return program (letter d).

Permit documents (Hoja 14):

• Application form EX-07.
• A copy of every page of the passport.
• For small retail businesses and some services in premises of up to 750 square meters, a responsible declaration (declaración responsable) or prior notice (art. 69 Ley 39/2015). For other activities, a list of the licenses required, stating the status of each application.
• Proof of training and qualifications, with recognition of the degree and association membership for regulated professions.
• Proof that the investment is sufficient and of the project’s effect on employment.

Visa documents, filed together with them (art. 38 and 39.1):

• A passport valid for at least one year.
• A criminal record certificate from every country of residence in the last five years.
• A medical certificate stating that the applicant has no disease with serious public health implications under the International Health Regulations (2005).
• Proof of payment of the visa fee.

The fees are paid within ten working days of filing, and the applicant pays them (Hoja 14):

• The residence part, Modelo 790 code 052, heading 2.1.3.
• The work permit, Modelo 790 code 062, heading 3.3.1. The exception in art. 3.1 Orden PJC/617/2025, under which the employer pays the work permit fee, covers only employed work.

If the work permit is requested in Catalonia, its fee is paid to the Generalitat de Catalunya, the Catalan government (Los Angeles and London consular checklists). The current amounts are in our total cost calculator.

Not required for the initial application:

• A labor market test: art. 84 does not provide for one.
• An innovative project: art. 84 requires a sufficient investment and an effect on employment.
• A valuation report from a self-employed workers’ association (ATA, UPTA, CIAE, OPA or UATAE): Hoja 14 cites it “a título de ejemplo,” that is, as one way to prove qualifications and a sufficient investment, alongside “otros medios admisibles en Derecho.”
• Means of living beyond the investment: art. 84 does not mention them.
• Health insurance: it does not appear in art. 38 or 84, in Hoja 14, or in the Los Angeles and London consular checklists. Once registered in RETA, the holder is covered by the public health system.
• Housing in Spain: it does not appear in art. 84 or in Hoja 14.
• Knowledge of Spanish: the regulation sets no such requirement.

Foreign documents must carry an apostille or consular legalization and a translation into Spanish by a sworn translator (traductor jurado) (Hoja 14). We determine which documents need an apostille and translation when the service is ordered.

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Applying from the United States or the United Kingdom

The application is filed at the Spanish consulate for the district where the applicant lives (art. 85.1). Nationality does not matter: a British citizen living in California applies in Los Angeles and proves legal residence in the United States.

• The Los Angeles consulate takes applications in person at the consulate, by appointment. Its checklist describes two stages, as Hoja 14 does: the permit application first, then a visa application within a month of approval. Under art. 39.1 a single application covers both.
• The London consulate (page dated July 6, 2026) takes applications at the BLS center in London and processes the visa and the permit together.

Additional requirements:

• Both consulates require a business plan stating the planned investment, the expected return and any jobs it will create, plus proof of the means for the investment or a commitment by a bank or another institution to provide them.
• London asks for an ACRO criminal record certificate no older than six months, with the Hague apostille and a sworn translation, and a medical certificate from a registered medical practitioner, issued in the United Kingdom or in Spain no more than three months before the application, with the apostille.
• The Los Angeles checklist asks for a passport valid for at least four months. Art. 38.d RD 1155/2024 and the London checklist require one year.
• The visa is valid for 90 days in Los Angeles and for one year in London.

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Can you take a job as an employee

Yes, but before renewal only through a change of status. The initial permit allows self-employment in one sector and one autonomous community (art. 83). If the holder takes a job as an employee in the first year, the employer or the worker files the application (art. 191.2 and 191.5). The employer must meet all the requirements of art. 74, including the labor market test, and the new employed permit is issued for one year as an initial permit.

A different sector or autonomous community in the first year requires an amendment of the permit under art. 192.1. The holder applies to the Extranjería office where the new activity is located, the labor market test does not apply to self-employment, and the decision is due within a month, with silence meaning approval.

After renewal there are no limits: the renewed permit allows employed and self-employed work in any sector anywhere in Spain (art. 87.1). The conditions for switching to self-employment from other permits are covered in the article on change of status.

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How the process works

The process takes place before entry. The consulate accepts the application and sends the file to Extranjería, Extranjería decides on the permit, and then the consulate issues the visa (art. 39 and 85 RD 1155/2024).

Approval does not yet give the right to work. Its effect depends on the visa being issued and the subsequent alta in RETA (art. 85.5), and the permit takes effect on the date of the alta (art. 85.7). If there is no alta three months after entry, the permit never takes effect and the holder must leave Spain, or else their stay is irregular and counts as a serious offense (art. 85.9).

The application was filed at the consulate on February 3, Extranjería received the file on February 17 and approved the permit on May 12, and the visa was issued on June 2. The applicant entered Spain on June 20 and registered in RETA on July 1. The permit runs from July 1 for one year (art. 83), and the TIE must be applied for by August 1.

A tourist in Spain cannot obtain a self-employment permit without leaving. Only the consulate where the applicant lives accepts the application (art. 85.1), and a change of status is open only from residencia temporal (art. 191.1) and from study stays (art. 190). Autónomo taxes and contributions after registration are covered in the article on autónomo taxes.

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Refusal and appeal

Both the permit and the visa can be refused. Extranjería decisions on the permit and consular decisions on the visa are final at the administrative level (DA 9ª RD 1155/2024).

• Refusal of the permit. It is issued by the Delegación or Subdelegación del Gobierno, the central government’s office in the province, and the consulate notifies it (Hoja 14). A recurso de reposición, an appeal to the same office, is filed within a month of notification (art. 124 Ley 39/2015). Alternatively, a recurso contencioso-administrativo, a claim before the Juzgado de lo Contencioso-Administrativo, the first-instance administrative court, can be filed directly within two months (art. 8.4 and 46.1 LJCA, Ley 29/1998, the law on administrative court proceedings). Against a refusal by silence, the appeal can be filed at any time.
• Refusal of the visa. The consulate notifies a refusal in writing, stating the grounds. A recurso de reposición is filed with the consulate within a month, and a recurso contencioso-administrativo with the High Court of Justice of Madrid (Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Madrid) within two months of notification of the refusal or of the dismissal of the appeal (London consulate checklist).

Instead of appealing, a new application can be filed once the reason for the refusal has been removed, for example with a reworked business plan or more evidence of funds. Repeating a refused application with no new circumstances is not admitted (DA 4ª.1.c LO 4/2000).

We prepare and file the appeal to Extranjería or to the consulate ourselves. A court claim requires an abogado and a procurador: we prepare the case, and a partner Spanish lawyer represents the client in court.

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Renewal

The renewal application is filed online, through Mercurio (Hoja 15), during the two months before the permit expires. Filing in that window extends the previous permit until the decision. Filing within three months after expiry also extends it, but a fine may be imposed for the delay under art. 52.b LO 4/2000 (art. 86.1 RD 1155/2024).

The permit is renewed on one of the grounds in art. 86.2:

• The activity continues, and tax and Social Security obligations have been met. Extranjería checks this itself.
• A family member within the circle of art. 66 has enough income to reunify the holder.
• The holder receives the benefit for cessation of activity of the self-employed (protección por cese de actividad).
• An economically dependent autónomo (TRADE) lost their contract for reasons beyond their control, including gender-based or sexual violence.
• The holder receives contributory unemployment benefit (prestación contributiva) or a public welfare benefit aimed at labor or social integration (art. 38.6.b and c LO 4/2000).

Unpaid Social Security contributions do not block renewal if the activity was carried on regularly, but Extranjería reports them to the labor inspectorate (art. 86.2.a). If school-age children are not enrolled, the holder receives a written warning and a month to enroll them, and without that the permit is not renewed (art. 86.4). Extranjería also assesses the holder’s integration efforts, which a report from the autonomous community can show (art. 86.6).

The decision is due within three months, and silence means approval (art. 87.2). This means that after three months without an answer the permit is deemed renewed. The renewed permit lasts four years, runs from the day after the previous one expired, and allows both employed and self-employed work (art. 87.1). The new TIE is applied for within a month of notice (Hoja 15). Fees: Modelo 790 code 052, heading 2.2.3, and code 062, heading 3.3.2 (Hoja 15).

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Long-term residence and nationality

One year on the initial permit and four on the renewed permit add up to five years of legal residence. At that point, instead of another renewal, the holder applies for long-term residence: art. 87.1 renews the permit for four years “salvo que corresponda una autorización de residencia de larga duración.” The years on the permit also count toward Spanish nationality: the general term is 10 years, and 2 years for nationals by origin of Latin American countries, the Philippines and a few other countries (art. 22.1 Código Civil).

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Author Aleksandr Nazarov