Starting a business in Spain — which visa fits?

Spain's recent immigration-law reform and the maturing Startup Law have made the path to starting a business there clearer than before — but choosing the right visa still comes down to one question: is your business idea genuinely innovative?

The two tracks at a glance

• Best for: Self-Employed visa — restaurants, cafes, general consulting, trade. Entrepreneur visa — IT, biotech, tech-driven startups.
• Business-plan approval: Self-Employed — a self-employed association (UPTA, ATA, etc.). Entrepreneur — ENISA (Spain's National Innovation Company).
• Where to file: Self-Employed — must apply at the Spanish Embassy in Korea. Entrepreneur — can apply from inside Spain, including as a tourist.
• Initial visa length: Self-Employed — 1 year. Entrepreneur — 3 years.

If your business is a conventional one, file the Self-Employed visa. If it's genuinely innovative, the Entrepreneur visa is faster and grants a longer initial stay. (This doesn't cover the Digital Nomad visa, which doesn't require starting a Spain-based business at all.)

Self-Employed Visa (Cuenta Propia)

The traditional path for a one-person business or small trader — restaurants, cafes, general consulting, trading companies. Must be filed at the Spanish Embassy in Korea, and you enter Spain only after it's approved.

The core requirement is proving your own professional qualification for the business — a degree or work experience in the relevant field (apostilled and translated into Spanish), plus a Spanish-language business plan approved by a Spanish self-employed association (UPTA, ATA, or similar) covering the business concept, market analysis, a 3-year financial plan, marketing strategy, and economic contribution (including whether you'll hire locally). A review fee of roughly tens to a hundred euros applies.

You also need to prove financial capacity: available funds of at least €600/month (100% of Spain's IPREM public income index) for your own living costs — though €20,000–30,000+ is the realistic target for approval — plus documented startup and operating capital.

Innovation Entrepreneur Visa

For IT, biotech, renewable energy, and other tech-driven startups that contribute significantly to Spain's economy. Easier to bring family along, and residency review moves faster.

The core requirement is approval from ENISA (Empresa Nacional de Innovación, S.A.) — Spain's Ministry of Industry-affiliated national innovation company — which must recognize both the "innovativeness" of the business and its job-creation potential. Technical innovation carries far more weight in this business plan than in the Self-Employed track's.

Unlike the Self-Employed visa, which can only be filed at the Spanish Embassy in Korea, the Entrepreneur visa can be filed from inside Spain — including while on a tourist stay — and approval there grants a 3-year residence permit immediately. It moves faster than the Self-Employed track, but the financial bar is higher: monthly income at Spain's SMI (minimum wage) standard, currently €1,221.

Documents both tracks require

A criminal background check (within the last 5 years, apostilled), a health certificate on the embassy's designated form from a designated hospital, private Spanish health insurance with no co-pay, and copies of every passport page. For both visas, preparing comfortably above the minimum financial threshold is safer than filing at the exact minimum.

Why work with a Korea-based agent on this

Choosing the wrong track, or a business plan that undersells (or oversells) its innovation angle, is the most common reason these applications stall. We prepare and certify the Korean-side documents both tracks require and coordinate with our Madrid partner firm, OROZCO ABOGADOS, on the Spain-side business-plan and filing strategy.