Where the figure comes from
SMI (salario mínimo interprofesional) — Spain’s national minimum wage. It is set monthly but paid 14 times a year: twelve regular payments plus two additional ones, summer and Christmas. That is why the annual amount is divided by twelve to arrive at the monthly threshold: 1,221 € × 14 ÷ 12 = 1,424.50 € per month. Two hundred percent of this figure and grant 2,849 € — the minimum that is needed to confirm for one applicant.
Family members applying alongside you raise the threshold: the first adds 1,068 €, each subsequent one — another 356 €. Being calculated not ’for a person in general,’ but specifically for those travelling under your grounds: spouse, minor children, sometimes dependent parents.
- One applicant — 2,849 € per month
- The applicant and one family member — 3,917 € per month
- The applicant and 2 family member — 4,273 € per month
- The applicant and 3 family member — 4,629 € per month
The second requirement is not about the amount but about the income structure — that very rule 80/20. No more than that 20 % of revenue must come from Spanish employers and clients. The logic is straightforward: the status was created for those who earns in external markets and brings money into the country. If the main the client is Spanish, the basis does not apply, even when the total amount qualifies with a comfortable margin — then people look toward a work-based residence permit or autónomo.
Income must be verifiable and regular: contracts, bank statements, tax returns for the past several months. Relationship with the employer or client usually need to be more than three months old, and the company itself — older than one year. And keep a buffer above the threshold: the SMI is reviewed every year and almost always upward, and applications are not reviewed on the day they are submitted.
What exactly to submit, where, and in what order — covered in the breakdown by basis: Digital Nomad Residence Permit in Spain. If you do not qualify under this calculation — see related bases here: Residence permit without the right to work and other routes to status.