Living in Spain as a Brazilian: study, work, digital nomad visas and citizenship in 2026

Brazil is on the European list of countries whose nationals do not need a visa for short stays in the Schengen area ¹. You can stay up to 90 days in every 180-day period, counting all Schengen countries together ¹.

To study for more than 90 days, work or live there, the route is a national visa applied for in Brazil before the trip. The consulate's national visa form lists the reasons: residence without work, family reunification, employed work, self-employed work, investor or entrepreneur, study, internship and research ².

Route	For whom	Core requirement
Study	Those admitted to higher education or training	Admission letter, health insurance without co-payment and 600 euros a month 2
Employed work	Those with an offer from a Spanish company	The employer obtains the residence and work authorisation; then you apply for the visa 5
Highly qualified and others under Law 14/2013	Qualified professionals, researchers, entrepreneurs	Visa decision within 10 working days 2
Digital nomad	Those who work remotely for companies outside Spain	200% of the minimum wage, a degree or 3 years of experience, 3 months of ties to the company 6
Non-lucrative	Those who live on their own income	400% of the IPREM, with no on-site or remote work 7

The Spanish minimum wage for 2026 is 1,221 euros a month, in effect since 1 January 2026 ⁸. This puts the digital nomad income at 2,442 euros a month ^{6 8}. With the IPREM at 600 euros, non-lucrative residence requires 2,400 euros a month, plus 600 euros for each dependent family member ^{7 2}.

The time the consulate has to decide a national visa is, as a rule, one month; for non-lucrative residence it is three months and for family reunification two months ².

The list of requirements of the Consulate General in Porto Alegre, from May 2026, shows the pattern for Brazilians ²:

• application at least 2 months before the start of the course;
• admission letter in Spanish with dates, course fee, hours and mode of study, plus proof of the paid enrolment;
• health insurance from a company authorised in Spain, paid in full, with no limits, co-payments or reimbursements; travel insurance does not qualify;
• medical certificate with the signature notarised and an Apostille, issued no more than 90 days earlier;
• for stays of more than 181 days, a criminal record certificate from the Polícia Federal with an Apostille, for those over 18; issued in Portuguese, it does not need translation;
• 100% of the IPREM: 600 euros a month, shown with the income tax return, payslips and statements of the last 3 months signed and stamped by the bank.

Income from remote work that you plan to do in Spain does not count as financial means ². If a parent or grandparent will support you, that person's documents are included together with a statement of financial commitment with a notarised signature ². Family members of students in higher education need 75% of the IPREM for the first (450 euros a month) and 50% for the others (300 euros a month), and they cannot work ².

The new Immigration Regulation, in force since May 2025, allows students to work up to 30 hours a week ⁹.

For the employed work visa, the employer starts the process: the initial residence and work authorisation is processed in Spain and the favourable decision is notified to the employer ⁵. From that notification, you have one month to apply for the visa at the consulate ⁵. On arrival, the company registers you with Social Security within 3 days. If the authorisation lasts more than six months, you apply for the foreigner card (TIE) within one month counted from that registration ⁵.

At the Consulate General in São Paulo, study, employed work and highly qualified visas require credentials requested by email at cog.saopaulo.citasvis@maec.es, with name, date of birth, CPF and type of visa ³. That consulate waives the translation of documents in Portuguese only in the cases the page indicates, such as the criminal record certificate for some visas; confirm the rule for your visa ³.

Without a company willing to request the authorisation, this route cannot start, because the employer takes the first step ⁵.

Spain handles visas at the Consular Section of the Embassy in Brasília and at the Consulates General of Porto Alegre, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and São Paulo ⁴. Each one serves an area:

• São Paulo: the states of São Paulo, Paraná and Mato Grosso do Sul ³;
• Porto Alegre: Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina ²;
• Brasília, Rio de Janeiro and Salvador: check on the Embassy map which one serves your state ⁴.

You apply for the visa at the consulate of the place where you live and you must prove residence in the area, with a utility bill or a rental contract in your name ².

The Spanish Civil Code asks, as a rule, for ten years of residence for nationality, and reduces this to two years for nationals by origin of Ibero-American countries, Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea and Portugal ¹⁰. The residence must be legal, continuous and immediately before the application ¹⁰.

You must also prove good civic conduct and sufficient integration into Spanish society ¹⁰. Nationals of these countries are exempt from renouncing their previous nationality ¹⁰.

Only legal, continuous residence immediately before the application counts ¹⁰. Whether the years on a study visa enter that count is a question for an immigration lawyer in Spain.