Question
Question about switching visas while in Spain. Can you come to Spain on a non lucrative Spain visa and switch to Spanish student visa or Spanish Digital Nomad Visa while in Spain?
Answers
These are the answers of some Facebook group members:
“Student probably but not non lucrative Spain visa, one claims you don’t/or have income from work, while the other would be claiming you work/make income. So it would be like getting caught in a lie essentially. For the Spanish Digital Nomad Visa you have to show history of present/past income.”
“The requirements of the digital nomad visa are such that no, you couldn’t. (For the Spanish Digital Nomad Visa you cannot have lived in Spain in the past five years AND you have to show employment over the past several months or a year or something)
Dunno about the student.”
“The five-year requirement of the Spanish Digital Nomad Visa is to be eligible for the tax incentive (Beckham law) and not necessarily for the visa itself. It remains to be seen if NLV holders can successfully switch, and I’d post the Spanish Digital Nomad Visa is there precisely so that NLV holders who have been working remotely can switch.”
“NLV allows you rights to study and reside. So why would they change to a student visa, where their time in country doesn’t count to citizenship and student visas are limited to course length. Whereas NLV is annual or bi annually on renewal? Why would you switch from an NLV which gives you right to study anyway and counts towards citizenship, whereas student visa still lists you as resident in your home country.
As for Spanish Digital Nomad Visa how do you show you’ve been employed previously before applying since an NLV doesn’t allow work? But you can change from an nlv to a work visa etc before commencing work. After having been resident for over 12 months.”
“I feel like switch from NLV to student visa wouldn’t be a problem but the NLV to Spanish Digital Nomad Visa switch is more questionable. If I had to guess based off what I’ve seen and read I think that it actually might be ok. Based off the most recent tax plan for 2023 by hacienda, it seems that hacienda knows a lot of people work here remotely (especially on NLV) but aren’t paying taxes to Spain. The DNV is a great way to give people a lower tax rate and keep the tax money in Spain. Applying for the switch would be kinda like admitting you were breaking the rules but the gov will be happy because the money will now be going to them so they will allow it. Again this is all based off my personal opinion.”
“Is your intention to stay in Spain long term? If so, I’d not recommend a student visa. I know that wasn’t your question, but just in case you weren’t aware of how a student stay would affect your long term status here I wanted to mention it.”
“There’s no procedure to switch from a residence to a stay. I can only think of a few reasons you’d want to, but many of those would best be addressed with a different strategy.
You can, however, apply for a new student stay permit from within Spain as long as you have at least one month left on your current legal status.”
Conclusion
In conclusion, according to Spainguru Facebook group members, switching from a non lucrative Spain visa (NLV) to a student visa might be feasible, as the non lucrative Spain visa permits study and switching may not pose significant challenges. Conversely, transitioning from a non lucrative Spain visa to the Spanish Digital Nomad Visa (DNV) presents more complexities. The DNV entails stringent prerequisites, including a mandate to demonstrate employment history. Some interpretations suggest that transitioning from NLV to Spanish Digital Nomad Visa might be seen as acknowledging non-compliance with previous visa terms. Nevertheless, the DNV may be viewed as an avenue to regularize remote work in Spain and thus potentially encourage such a transition.
