The Spanish Digital Nomad Visa, applied for from Canada.
Keep the job and the clients; change the January. What changes when you apply from Canada is underneath: a fingerprint-based RCMP check, an apostille from a system Canada only joined in 2024, and a tax residence that has to be ended deliberately rather than left behind at the airport. We are Spanish immigration lawyers on the Costa del Sol, and we work in English.
Fifty euros — about eighty Canadian dollars, give or take whatever your bank thinks of the euro this week. Still cheaper than a refused application.
Three things that only bite Canadian applicants
The visa conditions are the same for everyone: remote work for a company or clients outside Spain, roughly 200% of the Spanish minimum wage in income, a degree or three years' experience, private health cover, a clean record. Those are set out in full on the main Digital Nomad Visa page. These three are the ones that are yours alone.
Canada apostilles now — most guides say otherwise
Canada joined the Hague Apostille Convention in January 2024. Before that, Canadian documents had to be authenticated and then legalised at a Spanish consulate, and an enormous amount of advice online still describes that dead procedure. Today an apostille is issued by Global Affairs Canada, and by several provinces for documents they issue themselves. Following the old instructions costs you the whole chain.
The RCMP check, not a local police one
Spain wants a national criminal record check — the RCMP certified record, fingerprint-based rather than name-based — apostilled and then translated by a sworn translator. A municipal police clearance letter is a different document and is routinely turned away. The fingerprint route takes longer, which is precisely why it goes first.
Leaving Canada does not end Canada
Canadian tax residence is a question of ties, not of postcodes, and it does not lapse because your flight landed. Breaking it properly is a deliberate act with consequences — the deemed disposition on emigration, the treatment of your RRSP and TFSA, the Canada–Spain treaty. The good news, and it is real: Canada taxes residence, not citizenship. Do this properly once and it is done.
Income thresholds are fixed in euros by current Spanish law and verified at the time of application. Any Canadian-dollar figure here is an indication, not a promise the exchange rate intends to keep.
RCMP check, apostille, sworn translation
In that order, and only in that order. Each link is issued by a different office, and none of them can start until the one before it is finished.
Request the RCMP check
Fingerprint-based, submitted through an accredited agency or police service. It is the slowest link in the chain and everything else can be gathered while it runs.
Apostille it
Federal documents go to Global Affairs Canada; several provinces apostille the documents they issue themselves. Which office applies depends on who signed the paper, and sending it to the wrong one is a month you do not get back.
Sworn translation
Spain accepts translations by a traductor jurado appointed by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A Canadian certified or notarised translation is not the same thing, however official it looks.
File and follow
We assemble the file, act as your legal representative and answer whatever the authorities ask. The decision is theirs; the argument is ours.
Four posts for a very large country
Spain covers Canada from the embassy in Ottawa and three consulates general. Each has a defined jurisdiction, its own appointment queue and its own view on how a file should be presented. You apply at the one covering where you legally reside — not the one you can get a flight to. Honorary consulates cannot accept a visa application.
- Ottawa (Embassy)
- Toronto
- Montreal
- Vancouver
Jurisdictions and appointment procedures are set by each post and do change — we confirm yours before you spend a dollar on fingerprints.
Or don't file in Canada at all
Canadians may enter Spain visa-free as visitors for up to 90 days, and the Digital Nomad Visa can be applied for from inside Spain during a lawful stay. The two routes do not produce the same result: the consular route typically yields a one-year visa you convert on arrival, while the application filed in Spain is usually granted as a three-year authorisation. Which is right for you depends on your employer, your family and your calendar — and deciding it late is expensive, because the document lists differ.
You can genuinely leave the Canadian system. You just have to do it on purpose.
Canada taxes residence rather than citizenship, which puts Canadians in a markedly better position than their American neighbours: there is an exit, and it is real. But residence is decided by your ties — a home kept “just in case”, a spouse who stays behind, accounts and memberships left running — and not by the date on your boarding pass. Emigration also triggers a deemed disposition of certain property, and registered accounts such as RRSPs and TFSAs behave differently once you are non-resident. The Canada–Spain treaty then decides who taxes what.
On the Spanish side, many Digital Nomad Visa holders can elect the Beckham Law — broadly a flat 24% on Spanish-source employment income up to €600,000 for up to six years, on Modelo 149 and within a hard six-month window. Miss the window and it is gone, which is why we screen for it on day one rather than in year two.
We advise on the Spanish side and coordinate with your Canadian accountant rather than pretending to replace them. Figures are set by current legislation and confirmed for your case before you rely on them.
The gym in Winnipeg
A client once mentioned, almost in passing, that he had been paying for a gym in Winnipeg for six years. He had not been to Winnipeg in six years. He had moved away, changed continent, changed career, and at no point had the gym been informed, because he had assumed — reasonably, humanely — that leaving was itself a form of notice.
It was not. The contract did not track his whereabouts. It tracked whether anyone had ever formally ended it, and nobody had. Distance is not cancellation.
Tax residence works the same way, only the direct debit is larger. Ties do not dissolve because you are elsewhere; they are ended, deliberately, in the right order, and documented. The difference between the gym and the Canada Revenue Agency is that only one of them eventually stops asking.
What Canadians actually ask us
Can Canadians get the Spain Digital Nomad Visa?
Yes. Canadians are non-EU nationals, which is exactly who the Digital Nomad Visa under the Startups Law (Ley 14/2013) was designed for. You need genuinely remote work for a company or clients based outside Spain, income at roughly 200% of the Spanish minimum wage, a degree or three years of relevant experience, private health insurance and a clean national criminal record.
How much income do I need, in Canadian dollars?
The threshold is set in euros — around 200% of the Spanish minimum wage, roughly €2,850 a month at current figures, which lands somewhere near CAD $4,200–4,500 depending on the exchange rate on the day. There is an uplift for a spouse and for each additional dependant. The euro figure is the one that counts and it moves with the minimum wage, so we confirm the exact number and the accepted proof at the time you apply.
Does Canada issue apostilles?
Yes, since 11 January 2024, when the Hague Apostille Convention came into force for Canada. Federal documents such as the RCMP criminal record check are apostilled by Global Affairs Canada, while several provinces apostille documents they issue themselves. This replaced the old authentication-and-legalisation route through a Spanish consulate, and a great deal of guidance online has not caught up — following it will send your documents to an office that no longer performs that step.
Do I stop being a Canadian tax resident when I move?
Not automatically. Canadian tax residence turns on your residential ties — home, spouse and dependants, and secondary ties such as accounts, licences and memberships — rather than on the date you left. Emigrating triggers a deemed disposition of certain property, and registered accounts such as RRSPs and TFSAs are treated differently once you are non-resident. The Canada–Spain treaty then governs what each country may tax. Unlike US citizens, you can genuinely exit the Canadian system, but it is a step you take rather than one that happens to you. We advise on the Spanish side and work alongside your Canadian accountant.
What happens to my provincial health coverage?
Provincial plans such as OHIP or RAMQ are tied to residence in the province and lapse once you are living abroad, usually after a defined absence. That is not a gap you can afford: the Digital Nomad Visa requires full private health insurance valid in Spain, with no co-payments and no waiting periods, from day one. Getting the Spanish policy right is part of the application rather than an afterthought, and later you may be able to move to the Spanish public system as a contributor.
Do I apply in Canada or from inside Spain?
Both routes exist and they do not produce the same thing. Filing at the consulate covering your province typically yields a one-year visa that you convert once you arrive; filing from inside Spain during a lawful 90-day visitor stay is usually granted as a three-year authorisation. Which suits you depends on your employer, your family and your timing, and it changes the document list — which is why it is one of the first things we settle.
Coming from the United States instead? The American route has its own paperwork.
Reviewed by a lawyer
Reviewed by Alberto García López
Immigration lawyer · ICA Málaga, reg. no. 11.441
We check every page against current Spanish law. This is general information, not advice on your individual case.
Globalium is an independent law firm, not a government agency, and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any public administration. Visas, permits and identification numbers are granted solely by the Spanish authorities, and you are free to apply to them directly yourself. Our fees pay for legal advice and representation, and are separate from any official fee or tax.
Tell us the setup. We'll tell you if it flies.
A video consultation with a Spanish immigration lawyer, in English, for €50. A straight answer on whether you qualify, which route fits and what it costs, before you book a single fingerprint appointment.
+34 667 77 02 19 · infoglobalextranjeria@gmail.com
Globalium is a Spanish law firm based in Fuengirola, Málaga. We advise on Spanish immigration and tax law only; we are not licensed to practise law in any Canadian province or territory and do not give Canadian legal advice. Our lead lawyer, Alberto García López, is registered with the ICA Málaga under no. 11.441. Our office keeps Spanish hours (CET).
P.S. — yes, the winters are the reason. Nobody has ever pretended otherwise, and we have never once asked a client to justify it.