NIE, TIE, Padrón and RETA: A Paperwork Glossary for Spain's Colivings
In the shared kitchen of a Spanish coliving, acronyms fly: NIE, TIE, padrón, RETA, UGE. When a trip turns into a longer stay, this is the vocabulary you start hearing. This glossary sorts it by what matters to anyone arriving to work remotely on the digital nomad permit: identity, permit, money, work and movement.
Identity and address: NIE, TIE, padrón and the visa without a card
NIE. The foreigner identification number (NIE) is your personal reference with the Spanish authorities. It identifies you, but it does not authorize you to live or work here. If you apply for the visa at a consulate, you request the NIE at the same time.
TIE. The foreigner identity card (TIE) is the physical document for your permit. You apply in person, at a police station in the province where you live, within one month of entry or of the grant. It is mandatory with the residence permit granted from inside Spain, which lasts more than six months.
Visa without a card. With the consular visa, the TIE is not mandatory: Law 14/2013, which regulates this permit, exempts you from it while the visa is valid. You can apply for one, but the visa already proves that you live here.
Padrón. The municipal census is the register of residents kept by each town hall, the municipal government. Registration with the municipal census (padrón) is done in the municipality where you live and, if you move, in the new one. Without long-term residence, the registration is renewed every two years; otherwise, it expires.
Permit: UGE, positive silence and the difference between a visa and a residence permit
UGE. The Large Companies and Strategic Groups Unit (UGE) is the national body that processes the Law 14/2013 residence permits electronically, the remote-work one among them; the permits are granted by the Directorate-General for Migration. It is not the Immigration Office (Oficina de Extranjería), the immigration office in each province.
Positive silence. The UGE has a maximum of 20 business days to decide, not counting Saturdays, Sundays or public holidays. If the deadline passes without a decision, the application is deemed granted. It is a legal limit, not the real response time, and a rule of this route: in other immigration procedures, administrative silence can be negative, a deemed refusal.
Visa or residence permit. What locals call the visa nómada digital España, Spain's digital nomad visa, can be a visa of up to one year issued by a Spanish consulate, or a residence permit of up to three years, processed by the UGE, for people already in Spain legally. The legal category, the international remote worker, is the same; what changes is the document and the way in. Both are a single permit to live and work.
Money: SMI, double the minimum wage and the 790-038 fee
SMI. The minimum interprofessional wage (SMI) is Spain's legal minimum salary. In 2026 it is €1,221 a month in 14 payments (twelve monthly payments and two extra ones): €17,094 a year.
Double the minimum wage. The main applicant must prove income of 200% of the current SMI: €2,849 a month in 2026, the annual SMI divided by twelve and multiplied by two. These are gross figures, before tax withholding; the first family member adds €1,068.38 a month and each additional one, €356.13. The figure changes with each new SMI.
790-038 fee. This is the UGE fee: €73.26 for each initial application, the main applicant's and each family member's. It is paid online and generates an NRC, the payment reference number. At a consulate you pay a different one, the consular fee, which varies by country.
Work: RETA, the General Scheme and the certificate of coverage
Social security. Anyone who works from Spain must register with Spanish social security, even if their employer or clients are abroad, except an employee with a certificate of coverage. During the first six months, your passport is enough to register, even if you don't have an NIE yet.
RETA. The Special Scheme for Self-Employed Workers (Régimen Especial de Trabajadores Autónomos) is the scheme for people who work for themselves. For freelancers, registration is mandatory and cannot be replaced by paying contributions in their home country, according to the UGE's official FAQ. It can be done at a Business Support Point (Punto de Atención al Emprendimiento, PAE) through the CIRCE system, which handles registration with the Spanish Tax Agency (Agencia Tributaria) and with social security at the same time.
General Scheme. This is the scheme for employees: your foreign employer must register with Spanish social security as a "non-resident entity without an establishment" and enroll you in it.
Certificate of coverage. This is the common name for the certificate of applicable legislation issued by your home country's social security when it has an agreement with Spain. If it expressly covers remote work from Spain, it exempts the employee from registering here. The certificate counts, not the application for it, and if the agreement does not include healthcare, you will need health insurance.
If you are required to register and don't, your permit can be terminated, and so can your family's.
Movement: Schengen 90/180, absences and long-term residence
Schengen 90/180. With the TIE or the consular visa, which is a long-stay visa, you can spend up to 90 days, within any 180-day period, in the other Schengen countries. The rule looks at those other states: time in Spain, where you live, does not use up that allowance.
Absences. The law sets no minimum number of days in Spain to renew this permit; it requires you to keep meeting the conditions under which it was granted.
Long-term residence. This is the residence you can apply for after five years. Here absences do count: no more than six months in a row, nor ten in total over those five years (eighteen if they are for work reasons).
183 days. This is a tax threshold, not an immigration one: spending more than 183 days in Spain in a calendar year makes you, in principle, a taxpayer for IRPF, Spain's personal income tax.
Keep proof of your trips and keep your padrón registration up to date: they will help you prove your absences.
Each acronym, at its own desk
These words will come up again in your decision, at your TIE appointment and in your social security registration. Knowing which office handles each one (consulate, UGE, police station, town hall or social security) saves you trips.
