Before the school decision
Every guide gives you the number for one person. You are five.
The threshold rises with each person on the application, and the two routes rise at different rates. For a family of five they cross over: the Digital Nomad Visa asks for less than the Non-Lucrative one, and it lets the second parent work.
What each route asks, by household size
| People on the application | Non-Lucrative, monthly | Non-Lucrative, first year | Digital Nomad, monthly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | €2,400 | €28,800 | €2,442 |
| 2 | €3,000 | €36,000 | €3,357.75 |
| 3 | €3,600 | €43,200 | €3,663 |
| 4 | €4,200 | €50,400 | €3,968.25 |
| 5 — two parents, three children | €4,800 | €57,600 | €4,273.50 |
| 6 | €5,400 | €64,800 | €4,578.75 |
Non-Lucrative Visa
400% of IPREM for the main applicant, plus 100% of IPREM for each additional family member.
Real Decreto 1155/2024, art. 62.1. The first application evidences twelve months (art. 61.4). A renewal evidences twenty-four (art. 64.7).
IPREM is €600 a month. That is the 2023 figure, still in force by extension: no IPREM has been published for 2026.
One year initially, then two-year renewals. No work at all, for the applicant. That is what non-lucrative means.
Digital Nomad Visa
200% of the minimum wage for the main applicant, plus 75% for the second person and 25% for each one after that.
Ley 28/2022, with the percentages set by a joint Instruction of March 2023. Worth knowing: the percentages are not in the Act itself, nor in any regulation. They live in that Instruction and in the UGE‑CE guidance, which means they can move without a law changing.
Three years. Remote work is the point of it, and the spouse may work.
Three things families find out too late
The choice is made once
A family that enters on the Non-Lucrative Visa cannot later switch to the Digital Nomad Visa. The UGE says so in its own FAQ. This is the most expensive decision in the move, it is taken before anyone lands, and it is usually taken from a forum thread.
Spain looks at the average, not at today
The requirement is evidenced with the average balance of the last year and the balance at 31 December, not with a screenshot of the account this morning. Money moved in shortly before applying does not do what people assume it does.
Your consulate is decided by where you live
You do not choose it, and they do not ask the same things. Los Angeles publishes a requirement that appears in no regulation: no outstanding loans or mortgages in the United States. Washington and Ottawa publish their figures in dollars at exchange rates that have not been updated. Dublin and Los Angeles publish no figure at all.
And one thing that is repeated confidently and is wrong
The claim: That two years of residence lead to Spanish citizenship "as a citizen of a former colony".
For a US or Canadian national it is ten years (Código Civil art. 22.1). The two-year route belongs to nationals of Ibero-American countries, Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea and Portugal, and to Sephardic Jews. The "former colony" reasoning does not even hold on its own terms: Andorra and Portugal were never Spanish colonies and they are in; Florida and the Southwest were Spain and they count for nothing.
The part worth planning around: a child born in Spain needs one year of residence, not ten (art. 22.2.a).
Then the other half of the decision
The visa says whether you can come. It says nothing about whether the year group each of your children needs has a place in the September you are landing — and that is the part that actually moves families, in both directions.