In 2023, Spain launched a residence permit program for digital nomads — the simplest and most widely accessible way to obtain EU residency ever created. Despite sanctions and tightened visa policies after 2022, European countries are opening immigration opportunities due to a demographic crisis: Eurostat forecasts that the EU will lose 1 million working-age residents annually if all migration flows stop.
Why Europe is expanding immigration
In January 2026, Spain announced the legalization of half a million illegal immigrants — people living in the country without legal status. This decision is driven by demographic data available in the public domain: according to Eurostat’s official forecast, without immigration the EU loses approximately 1 million working-age residents per year. A European Commissioner officially stated that the European Union needs to legalize at least one million immigrants annually to compensate for this effect.
At the same time, most EU countries do not discriminate based on a Russian passport. The exception is the Czech Republic, which has officially stated that it will not legalize Russian citizens or issue them passports. In Spain, for example, more than 100,000 people with Russian citizenship live according to official data, plus those who have already obtained a Spanish passport and renounced their Russian one.
Residence permit program for digital nomads
From the moment of entry to Spain until receiving the residence permit card takes approximately 7 weeks. This is the fastest way to obtain EU residency in the entire history of such programs.
A residence permit in Spain suits those who want to obtain a card for their own purposes: travel to Europe unlimited without a visa, have a backup option in the EU, or gain experience living in different EU countries. Another option is France, if the plan is to obtain a second citizenship in Europe: it is allowed to have two passports and not renounce your original one. In France, citizenship documents can be submitted after just 5 years of residence.
How the process of obtaining a residence permit in Spain works
The process begins with a tourist Schengen visa from any Schengen Agreement country for any duration — this can be a multi-entry visa or a one-week visa. The multi-entry status of the visa doesn’t matter.
After obtaining the visa, you need to allocate 2 weeks to prepare a complete document package. The package can be compiled independently or on a turnkey basis if necessary.
After entering the country with the prepared documents, the package is submitted online on the immigration service website. After approximately 2 weeks, approval arrives by email. Then after 2 weeks you need to appear in person to submit biometric data. Another 3 weeks later, a second personal visit to the immigration service is required to pick up the completed residence permit card.
What to pay attention to when planning
If planning to arrive in Spain during summer, at the height of the tourist season, there may be queues at the immigration service, which could extend the process to a month and a half instead of the planned two months. This is especially true for Barcelona. However, in other cities, such as Madrid, such delays may not occur — it’s worth choosing the city of entry taking seasonality into account.
A residence permit in Spain is not revoked if you don’t live in the country and you don’t need to pay taxes if you don’t become a tax resident. Tax residents are those who have spent more than 183 days in the country in a calendar year.
A residence permit is issued to the entire family and is valid for 3 years.
Conditions for residence permit applicants
If you have a financial base — means of subsistence in the form of salary, remote income, bank accounts, or assets in Russia or abroad — all of this can be used to apply for a residence permit in Spain or France. It is precisely financial capability that is the main condition for access to the program.
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