Spain: Minimum wage rises 3.1% to EUR1,221 per month for 2026

Who it affects

Employees and applicants for permits whose means test is tied to the minimum wage, including the Digital Nomad Visa.

Sources

Primary: BOE — Real Decreto 126/2026 ↗

Corroborating: Spanish Consulate Houston — 2026 Digital Nomad Visa threshold ↗

Verified 2026-08-02 · methodology

Related changes in Spain

More recent updates

In force 9 Nov 2028

Announced Housing

Barcelona plans not to renew roughly 10,100 tourist-flat licences

Barcelona has committed not to renew the city's roughly 10,100 tourist-use housing licences when the current authorisations expire by November 2028. The measure is a municipal plan with a future effective date, not a present nationwide ban on short-term rentals. Its implementation remains separate from the national decree partly annulled in 2026 and from Catalan licensing law.

Who it affects: Owners and operators of licensed tourist-use homes in Barcelona and people assessing future long-term rental supply.

Barcelona City Council — tourism management summary ↗ · verified 2026-08-02

In force 18 Jul 2026

In force Housing

Supreme Court rulings dismantle the national short-term rental register

Three Supreme Court judgments published in June and July 2026 annulled the landlord duties, registration procedure, registration-number verification and related provisions in Real Decreto 1312/2024. The Digital Rental One-Stop Shop and surviving platform-data provisions remain, while autonomous-community and local licensing rules still control tourist accommodation. The former site claim that every operator must display a national registration number is no longer current.

Who it affects: Short-term rental hosts, platforms and renters who had relied on the 2025 national registration procedure.

BOE — consolidated Real Decreto 1312/2024 after Supreme Court rulings ↗ · BOE — Supreme Court judgment of 1 June 2026 ↗ · verified 2026-08-02

In force 16 Apr 2026

In force Residency

Extraordinary regularisation closes with 1.17 million applications

Real Decreto 316/2026 created a one-off residence-and-work process for qualifying people present in Spain before 1 January 2026. Applications ran from 16 April through 30 June 2026; the Government reported 1,174,978 applications, with 609,737 processed by 2 July. Successful applicants receive an initial one-year authorisation to live and work in Spain, not an EU-wide work right. The filing window is closed, so this is not a route for new arrivals.

Who it affects: People who applied by 30 June 2026 after living in Spain without ordinary status or applying for international protection before 2026.

La Moncloa — final extraordinary-regularisation figures ↗ · BOE — Real Decreto 316/2026 ↗ · verified 2026-08-02

In force 1 Jan 2026

In force Labour

2026 self-employed contribution bases remain tied to net income

Orden PJC/297/2026 published the 2026 contribution tables for self-employed workers. The income-based system introduced in 2023 continues: workers select a contribution base within the band matching forecast net returns and Social Security later regularises it against actual returns. For 2026 the reduced table starts at net returns of up to EUR670 per month with a minimum contribution base of EUR653.59; the general maximum base is EUR5,101.20 per month. A contribution base is not the monthly fee itself.

Who it affects: Self-employed people registered in the RETA system, including some international remote workers and founders.

BOE — Orden PJC/297/2026 ↗ · verified 2026-08-02

In force 20 May 2025

In force Residency

Second-chance arraigo becomes available to former permit holders

The replacement Immigration Regulation introduced arraigo de segunda oportunidad. It can cover a person who held a renewable residence authorisation not granted for exceptional circumstances during the two years before applying and whose renewal or extension failed for qualifying reasons. The resulting authorisation lasts one year and includes unrestricted employee and self-employed work permission. It is not a general route for anyone who once held two years of residence.

Who it affects: People in Spain whose renewable non-exceptional residence authorisation ended or was not renewed within the preceding two years.

Ministry of Inclusion — second-chance arraigo guidance ↗ · BOE — Real Decreto 1155/2024 ↗ · verified 2026-08-02

In force 20 May 2025

In force Residency

Replacement Immigration Regulation enters force

Real Decreto 1155/2024 replaced the previous immigration regulation from 20 May 2025. It reorganised temporary residence and work permissions, family provisions, study-to-work transitions and exceptional-circumstances routes. It created five arraigo categories and generally reduced the continuous-presence requirement for the social, sociolabour and socio-training variants to two years. Individual route requirements and transitional provisions still control; the regulation did not create a blanket one-year family-reunification rule for every permit.

Who it affects: Third-country nationals using Spain's ordinary residence, work, study, family and exceptional-circumstances routes.

BOE — Real Decreto 1155/2024 ↗ · Ministry of Inclusion — arraigo instructions ↗ · verified 2026-08-02