With the ‘Work from Home’ lifestyle getting increasingly recognised, travelers frequently look to move to a different country to work remotely, away from their country of residence.
In a situation like this, many countries have taken a step to introduce the digital nomad visa, making it easier for digital nomads to simply book cheap flights to a different country, discovering their next tripiko.com adventure and starting to work remotely.
A digital nomad visa is a document or program that gives applicants the legal right to work remotely while away from their country of residence. Hence, as a part of this, Spain and Portugal have also approved—and one of them has even introduced—the digital nomad visa.
As Portugal launched its digital nomad visa in October 2022, and Spain approved its digital nomad visa in November 2022 and is set to introduce it in January 2023, here is a comparison of both digital nomad visas.
Ease of applying
When it comes to the ease of applying for the digital nomad visa, Portugal definitely takes the lead. This is because the country has already launched its digital nomad visa as of October 2022, unlike Spain.
Even though the Spanish authorities approved the digital nomad visa in early November, it is yet to be launched in Spain and is reported to be introduced by January 2023.
Taxation
With both countries, Spain and Portugal, expected to offer tax benefits to all the digital nomads who move there, the benefits offered might differ from each other in some circumstances.
Digital nomads in Portugal can benefit from a favorable tax regime known as the Non-Habitual Resident (NHR) Regime. With a validity of 10 years, Portugal’s NHR Regime allows taxpayers to benefit from a special reduced tax rate of only 20% on income derived from high-value activities.
Moreover, depending on the digital nomad’s type of income and source of income generation, the NHR tax regime might also allow remote workers and digital nomads to benefit from a tax exemption on foreign passive income.
On the other hand, according to some reports, under the Spanish digital nomad visa, holders would pay 15% for 4 years before moving onto the standard 25% rate. While this is initially better than Portugal's NHR regime, these benefits are only available for 4 years instead of Portugal’s 10 years.
Income requirement
Although the income requirement to apply for both the countries’ digital nomad visas is almost similar, Portugal’s income requirement is slightly higher than Spain’s expected income requirement.
To be eligible to apply for a digital nomad visa in Portugal, applicants need to show a minimum income requirement of €2820 per month. However, in Spain, the minimum income requirement to apply for a digital nomad visa is expected to be €2000 per month.
Citizenship
After 5 years of being resident in Portugal, Portugal allows travelers to apply for Portuguese citizenship or a permanent residence permit. Although the entire process can take another 2 years, being able to apply for citizenship after five years is considered very fast compared to that of Spain.
It takes around 10 years for applicants to apply for citizenship in Spain, which is almost double the period in the case of Portugal.
Moreover, a significant benefit of Portuguese citizenship is that Portugal recognises dual citizenship, whereas Spain recognises dual citizenship in some instances. However, it is not as straightforward as Portugal’s approach.
