From Dublin to Barcelona to work remotely (Non EU citizen)

Hi Dela,

I live in Spain, firstly, I thought Turkey is in Europe 🤔. if you stay more than 90 days you must leave or face a huge fine. Exceeding 180 days you must get a 'padron' and register as a tax resident. You must also register for social security. I'm not sure how your company has the other employees working legally here in Spain without being registered themselves 🤔 Anyway, you must have an NIE identification before you can do anything. Can be applied for from Ireland. You need to have a Spanish bank account, you need to show that you have enough money in it to support yourself without Gov help. These are only a few basic requirements. I know, not easy at all. The bureaucracy is so complicated here and takes forever to sort out. Better to wait until the new digital nomad law is launched. I'm sure it will make things a lot easier for for you

@Dila Sen

Welcome to the expat.com forum, and good luck with your potential move to Spain!

Barcelona is lovely, and the weather is much better than Dublin. So I understand the temptation. But leaving aside immigration issues, this is a VERY expensive city to live in. Call me a cheapskate, but I find the benefit of being a remote worker is being able to say goodbye to expensive locations like London, Dublin, and Barcelona... and hang out somewhere cheap like Bulgaria or Turkey! :-)

If you have an Irish work permit, I figure you have acquired it as an employee of an Irish company. Is this correct?

In which case, it's much, much easier to remain an employee of this company, and keep (and be able to renew) your Irish work permit, and continue to pay taxes in Ireland as now (presumably). And continue to enjoy the benefit of working from your (Irish) home.

As you're already working remotely, nothing stops you from popping over to a Spanish beach for a couple of months, and continuing your work there (without changing your employment or immigration status). As the holder of an EU residence permit you can visit any EU country for (up to) 90 days in 180 days, as a tourist. If you work on your laptop while there, nobody will care.

You should also note that this option is advantageous because after 5 years in Ireland, you should be able to qualify for an EU Long Term Resident's Residence Permit, which makes it MUCH easier to relocate to Spain or another EU country. And maybe you already have a year or two. If you relocate now, you start again.

If you move to Spain now, you need a way to get your Spanish residence. I don't think DN is available yet. If your Irish company doesn't have a Spanish subsidiary (and clearly they don't want to have one), then they can't offer a Spanish job to you, as a basis for a Spanish residence by employment. The No Lucrativa Visa (non working) might be possible, if you have 30k euros of savings.

Personally, I simply would not give up my Irish employment-based residence for a Spanish visa (either DN or NLV). I would (a) use my visa-free allowance to hang out at a Spanish beach (and work, of course) when I needed a sunshine break from rainy Dublin, and (b) sit tight until I had 5 years in Ireland, and could upgrade my residence permit (at which point I could revisit the Spain issue).