New Company or Sole Trader? Which Spain Digital Nomad Visa Route You Can Use (2026)

If your company is less than 12 months old, you cannot use the business owner route for Spain's Digital Nomad Visa yet. Article 74 ter a) of Ley 14/2013 requires the foreign company behind your application to show at least one year of real, continuous activity, and that applies to every route.

If you are a sole trader working under your own name, the business owner route is not your route at all. You apply as a freelancer, and the one-year test applies to the companies you work for, not to your own business.

This guide helps you identify which profile you fit, what the UGE (Unidad de Grandes Empresas, the office that decides applications filed from inside Spain) will check, and what you can legitimately do if your company is still too young.

Key Takeaways

• Every company behind a Digital Nomad Visa application needs at least one year of real, continuous activity (Article 74 ter a) of Ley 14/2013).
• The business owner route applies to autónomos societarios: people who work through a company they own or effectively control.
• Sole traders and other natural-person businesses apply through the freelancer route, with at least three months of professional relationship with their clients.
• A company under 12 months old cannot support its owner's application on any route until it reaches its first year.
• Owning 100% of a company with more than one year of activity lets the UGE presume your three-month professional relationship.
• Backdating contracts or restructuring a company to appear older is not an option and puts your application at risk.

What This Guide Covers

• The two rules behind the business owner route
• A quick profile check: sole trader, new company or established company
• How sole traders apply
• Why a company under 12 months old blocks the business owner route
• What counts as one year of real activity
• Owning less than 100% of your company
• Your options while your company reaches its first year
• UK sole traders and new UK limited companies
• Mistakes to avoid

The Two Rules Behind the Spain Digital Nomad Visa Business Owner Route

Two separate requirements apply to company owners, and they are often confused.

The first is about the company. Article 74 ter a) of Ley 14/2013 requires the foreign company, or group of companies, that you work with to prove at least one year of real and continuous activity. The UGE asks for this through an official certificate from the commercial registry, or its equivalent, in the company's country.

The second is about you. Article 74 ter c) and d) require at least three months of employment or professional relationship with that company before you apply.

Owners get one concession on the second rule. The UGE's documentation guidance for applicants states that, for autónomos societarios, the seniority of the professional relationship "se dará por supuesta" (will be presumed) once you prove 100% ownership and more than one year of real, continuous activity of the company.

In other words, the one-year rule is not only a condition for that shortcut. It is a condition for the company to count at all.

The UGE also asks business owners for four extra documents: proof of ownership or effective control, the company's latest corporate income tax return, evidence of investment in productive assets, and a report from the social security body in the company's country showing its history of registered employees. Our guide for business owners applying for the Digital Nomad Visa explains that file in detail.

Find Your Profile: Sole Trader, New Company or Established Company

Use this table to see which route applies to you today.

If your company runs a physical business, such as a shop, restaurant or clinic, a separate question applies: whether you can manage it remotely. Our guide on the Digital Nomad Visa for owners of in-person businesses covers that case.

If you are not sure which row describes you, you can request a free case evaluation and our lawyers will tell you which route fits your structure before you start gathering documents.

Sole Traders Apply Through the Freelancer Route, Not the Business Owner Route

A sole trader, sole proprietor or natural-person business has no separate company. You invoice in your own name, so in Spanish terms you are a self-employed professional, not an autónomo societario.

That changes what the UGE checks. Instead of your company's age, it looks at your professional relationship with your clients. You need at least three months of that relationship with one or more companies based outside Spain, documented through contracts, invoices and matching bank payments.

Each client company you rely on must itself show one year of real activity. A long-standing client is a strength. A client incorporated six months ago is not enough, however good the contract is.

You must also prove that you are registered as self-employed in your country of origin, apostilled and with a sworn translation where needed. In Hoply's experience, that registration should cover at least the same three-month window as your client relationship. Our guide to proving self-employment registration lists the documents that work where no formal registry exists, and our article on how far in advance to register as a freelancer explains the timing.

If most of your clients are individuals rather than companies, read our analysis of whether freelance clients who are private individuals count. The full freelancer file is covered in our freelancer guide.

Company Under 12 Months Old: Why the Business Owner Route Is Closed for Now

If you work through a company you own, the UGE places you on the business owner route. That is set out in its guidance and explained in our article on how the UGE decides between the employee and business owner routes.

On that route, your company is the foreign company that Article 74 ter a) refers to. If it has less than one year of real activity, it does not meet the requirement, and no other document in your file can compensate for that.

Two practical problems usually appear at the same time. A young company often has not yet filed its first corporate income tax return, which is one of the four owner documents. And its activity record is too short to show the consistent income the UGE expects, currently €2,849 gross per month for the main applicant, 200% of the minimum wage set by Real Decreto 126/2026.

Paying yourself a salary from the new company does not move you to the employee route either. The UGE decides the route by your ownership and control, not by your payslip.

Take Laura, a Mexican product designer (an invented example). She incorporated a company in Mexico eight months ago and invoices all her clients through it. Today her company is too young to support a business owner application, and she cannot apply as an employee of her own company. Her realistic options are the ones described further down.

What Counts as One Year of Real, Continuous Activity

The UGE's guidance asks for an official certificate from the commercial registry or its equivalent. That certificate shows when the company was formed, but the requirement is for real and continuous activity, not just a registration date.

In practice, the UGE looks for evidence that the company has been operating: tax filings, invoices, business bank statements, contracts with clients and operating expenses. A company registered 14 months ago that only started trading five months ago may struggle to meet the test, because the registration date alone does not prove activity.

Activity carried out before the company existed is a harder question. If you traded as a sole trader for years and then incorporated recently, the new company's own track record is still short. Whether your earlier history can support an application through the freelancer route depends on how your current contracts and invoices are structured. That needs a case-by-case review by a lawyer, so do not assume it either way.

The law also mentions a "group of companies". If your company belongs to an established group, the group's track record may be relevant to your file. This is an assessment of how your business is already organised, not a way to meet the rule by creating a new holding structure.

Owning Less Than 100%: Effective Control and the Three-Month Relationship

The business owner route covers people who own all of their company and people who, without owning all of it, hold effective control. The UGE uses the term without defining it, and neither Ley 14/2013 nor its published guidance sets a percentage.

The reference point in Spanish law is Article 305.2.b) of the General Social Security Law (LGSS). Control exists when you own at least half of the capital, and it is presumed when you own at least one third, or at least 25% while performing management functions.

The difference matters for the three-month relationship. The UGE's presumption refers to 100% ownership. If you hold less, plan to document your relationship with the company for the three months before you apply, through your contract or appointment, payments and bank records.

Your Options While Your Company Reaches Its First Year

Waiting is not your only option, but every alternative depends on a real, existing relationship.

If you also work for established companies outside Spain under your own name, you may be able to apply as a freelancer based on those contracts. Each client company must have one year of activity, and your income from them must reach the threshold. Our article on combining salary, freelance and company income explains how mixed income is assessed.

If you have a genuine job offer, or keep a job, with an established employer outside Spain, the employee route is open with that employer. You will need its written authorisation to work remotely from Spain, which our guide on getting your employer's approval covers.

If your company is your only income, the safest path is usually to keep building its activity and file once it has passed its first year. Use the waiting time to prepare everything else: your degree or proof of three years of experience, your criminal record certificate, sworn translations and the company's first tax filings. That way you can file as soon as the company qualifies.

If you need to be in Spain in the meantime, a student stay lets you live there legally and apply for the Digital Nomad Visa from inside Spain once you qualify. It does not shorten your company's one-year clock, so it only pays off if you genuinely want to study. Our guide on using a student visa as a bridge to the Digital Nomad Visa compares it with simply waiting.

If your company is close to its first anniversary, ask us for a free case evaluation and our lawyers will help you plan the filing date and the documents to prepare now.

UK Sole Traders and New UK Limited Companies

The rule applies to UK applicants in the same way as to any other nationality. We have found no UK-specific exception in Ley 14/2013 or in the UGE's guidance.

For a UK limited company, the Companies House certificate of incorporation and registry extract serve as the commercial registry certificate. The one-year activity test still applies, so a Ltd company formed less than a year ago cannot support its director's application yet. Directors on PAYE should also read our article on UK limited company directors and the salary vs dividends question, and on UK companies with late accounts or no HMRC history.

UK sole traders apply as freelancers. HMRC does not issue a self-employment registration certificate, so status is usually proved with the SA302 tax calculation, the Tax Year Overview and the Self Assessment return. These only exist once you have filed a return, which is a timing issue for new sole traders. HMRC printouts usually need certification by a solicitor or notary before the £45 apostille.

Mistakes to Avoid

• Applying as a business owner with a company that has less than one year of activity, hoping the UGE will overlook it.
• Signing contracts or invoices with earlier dates than the real relationship. The UGE looks for accumulated evidence, and inconsistent dates can lead to refusal.
• Treating your own new company as a "client" to apply as a freelancer. You are its owner, so the UGE reads that relationship under the business owner route.
• Presenting a company with no real operations. A company without activity, expenses or revenue is treated as created only for the visa.
• Assuming a sole trader needs a company that is one year old. What matters is your clients and your three-month relationship with them.

Check Your Route Before You Prepare Your File

The age and structure of your business decide your route before any document does. Sole traders should build their file around their clients and their self-employment registration. Owners of companies under 12 months old should plan around the company's first anniversary, or rely on another genuine relationship that qualifies today.

Hoply's immigration lawyers review every case, prepare the file with you and present it on your behalf, with a simple promise: approved or your money back. If you are unsure whether your business qualifies, start with a free case evaluation and we will tell you which route fits your situation and when you can file.

Regulations verified on 30 October 2026.