Business plan for moving to Spain

TinaChico Active member

62POSTS

5 years ago

Hello,
I am hoping to move to Spain this year. I would like to be self employed- teaching piano lessons. I know I have to submit a business plan. Has anyone else done this or doing this? Not sure what the Spanish authorities are looking for.
What if it gets rejected?
Any advice welcome

1 member reacted to this post

The Spain expat guide

Updated in 2025, comprehensive and free

Read it now

doomhouse Member

11POSTS

5 years ago

My wife and I are currently working on that. We hired lawyers to help with the paper work, but essentially, we needed to prove financial viability - meaning we can meet the minimum required earnings, which is about 10,000 EUR per year.

I can give you more details, on a skype call or something, but essentially we needed to:
• create a business plan
- have it translated (since we dont speak spanish – yet)
- get the biz plan approved by some committee
- provide letters from potential employers
- prove there is a need for what we do
- etc

• get all of our other documentation: criminal background check, passports, etc

our law firm we used is called Lexidy... they are pretty good, but they also made several mistakes that my wife had to fix.

1 member reacted to this post

TinaChico Active member

62POSTS

5 years ago

Have you done any investigating into it yet?
We want to move out this year, and we were wondering about asking a legal team to help us but obviously that costs a lot of money.
Wish we had moved out last year, we wouldn’t have to do any business plan or anything.

1 member reacted to this post

doomhouse Member

11POSTS

5 years ago

What do you mean "any investigating"? We are currently in the process of doing it. We "hired lawyers to help..."

Was this not clear?

1 member reacted to this post

TinaChico Active member

62POSTS

5 years ago

That’s great.
Thank you for the info.
Do you think you could have done it all by yourselves, or would you advise me to have a legal team?

TinaChico Active member

62POSTS

5 years ago

Sorry, I was replying to the other lady Trish.
The replies are not in the correct order

1 member reacted to this post

doomhouse Member

11POSTS

5 years ago

- Oh, ok. That's weird... Expat.com should probably fix that bc its very confusing -

Would we recommend lawyers to someone else?
Since we dont know spanish, yes... Lawyers were very helpful in doing all the work needed with spanish forms, requirements, talking to the consulate, etc.

If you know Spanish, you can probably do without lawyers

1 member reacted to this post

TinaChico Active member

62POSTS

5 years ago

Thank you.
I do speak Spanish but not that well to deal with the legal stuff.
When are you hoping to move to Spain?

1 member reacted to this post

k3dk Guest

0POSTS

5 years ago

#10

I am Interested to learn about the required business plan but for autonomo/freelancer as a Software Developer working online. Non-Eu country

Thank you

1 member reacted to this post

doomhouse Member

11POSTS

5 years ago

#11

@TinaChico:
We expect to move in July, this year

1 member reacted to this post

doomhouse Member

11POSTS

5 years ago

#12

@k3dk:
This is a broad topic. I am going to need a little more information from you before I can help... however, we found all the information we needed by first talking to lawyers.

Most spanish lawyers will offer a consultation to answer your questions. You can see which lawyer we went with in one of the previous threads.

k3dk Guest

0POSTS

5 years ago

#13

@doomhouse
Thank you for replying.

To add more info :
1.I am interested in moving to Spain as autonomo / freelancer from Non-Eu country.
2.I will be working as freelancer - Software Developer so i will be conducting my work online through various freelancing sites.
3.Since i will be working as a freelancer it will only be me and no need for a company but as i read it is still required to have a business plan, so what type of information should i provide for the business plan, does anyone have some example for a business plan as a Software Developer working online.
How much money are required etc.

I appreciate any information possible.

Thank you very much.

doomhouse Member

11POSTS

5 years ago

#14

@k3dk:
We, my wife and i have done the same, but for UX design (myself) and financial analyst (my wife).
I just googled freelancer business plan spain - in english - in the US (so my results may be quite different than yours).
https://spainguru.es/2016/12/21/self-em … -in-spain/

I used hers as a template. If you would like me to share our business plan, and other information that our lawyers shared with us, i can – but for you will have to pay ~100 EUR, through Upwork.

We did a lot of homework, so, my suggestion is to do your homework as well.

Expat.com is pretty lame as far as getting decent information, but googling your questions (in english & spanish), with your VPN in different locations, + using google translate you can get a lot of info.

I still recommend talking to a lawyer though. Or you can pay me

1 member reacted to this post

TinaChico Active member

62POSTS

5 years ago

#15

@Doomhouse
We have been quoted £5,500 for a legal team in Spain to help us get our self employed work permits and visas to move to Spain.
We thought this was a lot of money, what do you think?
Has anyone else had any quotes?

doomhouse Member

11POSTS

5 years ago

#16

@TinaChico, thats way too much. Who did you pick?

Ours was about 4k EUR for 3 people. 2 business plans and one non-lucrative visa. I have already mentioned our firm above.

TinaChico Active member

62POSTS

5 years ago

#17

@doomhouse
Thanks for the info.
Who did you get for removals and storage ?
We have been quoted £6,500 to pack and ship our stuff to Spain and £60 a week for storage

doomhouse Member

11POSTS

5 years ago

#18

@TinaChico
Removals and storage??? You mean moving out of your house?

If so, our approach is to keep everything in the US until we are sure we want to move all our stuff to Spain. Those prices will be very different depending on your geography/ local, etc.

1 member reacted to this post

Kittykingmax Member

1POSTS

5 years ago

#19

Hi! I have been researching moving to Spain, I want to start a gift shop business me my partner, I thought you needed €2150 a month for me and a extra €650 for my partner so would need approx €33,600 plus enough to start a business. Am i wrong on these figures? As you mentioned just €10,000 a year each. It's like a mine field, I will be grateful for your reply.

Vonster.1 Active member

66POSTS

5 years ago

#20

My lawyer charged me 1200€ for the investor visa application. No Business plan though. She's spanish based in Madrid and speaks English. Let me know if you want her contact.

Lmflmf1 Serial expat

203POSTS

5 years ago

#21

***

Moderated by Priscilla 5 years ago
Reason : thanks to recommend this company in the business directory
We invite you to read the forum code of conduct

TinaChico Active member

62POSTS

5 years ago

#22

@doomhouse
Hi doomhouse- another question about driving in Spain.
Do you need to just exchange your drivers licence for a Spanish one or do you have to take the driving exam again in Spanish?
I speak a little Spanish but not enough to complete a Spanish exam. We did ask the people at Lexidy but they weren’t sure.
If we can’t drive out there then we won’t be able to go.
You’re the only ones we know who are moving to Spain this year.
Thank you

Ellesweets Member

19POSTS

5 years ago

#23

Hola!

Me and my fella moved from the UK to Spain last July, (desperately trying to beat Brexit lol) so I'm not too sure about the residency or visa process now, as we luckily got our TIE cards sorted at the end of last year, but I know that we only have until the end of June to exchange our British driving licenses, and that was dependent on doing the initial part of the process that allows them to do checks with the DVLA before Brexit so I'm not sure if this route is still available...

We have our actual appointments to exchange our licenses on Thursday, so depending on the scale of the language barrier I will do my best to ask them what Brits will need to do in the future 😂

1 member reacted to this post

TinaChico Active member

62POSTS

5 years ago

#24

@Ellesweets
That’s brilliant Thank you
Good luck with your meeting. Wish we had done it last year- which part of Spain are you in?

k3dk Guest

0POSTS

5 years ago

#25

YOu are being ripped. That said, would you take responsibility to run around the home office, lawyers banks etc for 6 months of your time? Depends on how much your time is worth. If you have time, then do it yourself and then pay a minimum to have a lawyer look it over before submitting. That is my 5 cents worth

Vonster.1 Active member

66POSTS

5 years ago

#26

You can use your foreign license for 6 months then you need to go through the whole Spanish driving test. Written and practical!

tymrtn Active member

41POSTS

5 years ago

#27

doomhouse wrote:
@k3dk:
Expat.com is pretty lame as far as getting decent information, but googling your questions (in english & spanish), with your VPN in different locations, + using google translate you can get a lot of info.

I've never seen anyone suggest improving their search results by VPNing into different locations. Would it not accomplish the same thing by turning off personalized search results in your Google profile?

If you're up for writing a comprehensive article on the autonomo visa and earning some $, I'd be interested.

tymrtn Active member

41POSTS

5 years ago

#28

Those figures are for the non lucrative visa (based on a 400% multiple of IPREM), but as I understand it the minimum requirements for the autonomo visa are less.

TinaChico Active member

62POSTS

5 years ago

#29

Me too

Ellesweets Member

19POSTS

5 years ago

#30

Hola! I'm sorry, I didnt get the chance to ask about the future process, they spoke absolutely no English and were honestly some of the most miserable people I've ever experienced 😂😩

We're just outside of Barcelona. We haven't really been able to experience much of the country yet (thanks covid) but we love it! I'm sorry that things seem to be much more difficult now...

1 member reacted to this post

TinaChico Active member

62POSTS

5 years ago

#31

@Ellasweet
Thanks for the message.
Spain is a lovely country and “most of the people are nice”
We are going to Zaragoza

walter33 Member

1POSTS

4 years ago

#32

There is no minimum investment to show if you set up as a self-employed worker. You must show in your business plan that it is financially viable.

However, you need to be able to show you can cover your accommodation costs for 12 months.

I am not sure if you understand that the application process is a two part process, which has to be completed retrospect of each other. The first stage on average can take up to 6 months to complete.

I say this as I am not sure how some of the posters plan to be out there is July?

opokuflx Member

1POSTS

4 years ago

#33

Ok thanks

perjaku New member

3POSTS

4 years ago

#34

I’m planning to move and living in Spain
And by the time interested to invest in partnership with anyone who have any great ideas and plan,
Ore any one who have experience in
Import export, Sea fishing, Sea activity, Spanish food exporting to Europo, but don’t have a budget and want to have % by planing and manage the business. We can invest up to 150k

Alexascatering New member

3POSTS

4 years ago

#35

Hello perjaku i live here in Barcelona and im looking for an investor for my project..which is Fast-food yes i have the products and concept and the plan is already done..
If you are here in Barcelona i can show you the plan and try my products..
Thank you

Sonson1603 Member

1POSTS

3 years ago

#36

@doomhouse Helloo! im reading into this as currently im doing the same.

I just spoke to someone from Lexidy as well and spsly by today they should get back to me with some list

How is your experience with them ?

Im googling online on the business plan template right now, they said they would send me but im trying to do my own homework too ( which i have done since August honestly, because i like to prepare things in advance )

Any advice for me ?

Thank you 💜