Filipino Finance Consultant (Client Company in the United Arab Emirates)

The Case & Challenge

The applicant, a Filipino accounting and finance professional, applied for Spain’s Digital Nomad Visa from within Spain while holding a valid stay authorization. He works as an independent contractor for a fashion retail company in the United Arab Emirates, a professional relationship in place since July 2023. His services cover the company’s accounting processes and financial reporting: preparing and reviewing monthly, quarterly, and annual financial statements, overseeing the general ledger, reconciling accounts, and presenting financial reports to senior management. The contract expressly allows him to perform all of this work remotely, from anywhere in the world.

He applied together with his spouse, their adult child, and their minor child — a family of four, with each family application linked to his file as the principal applicant.

Our main concern was the adult child’s application. Spanish rules expect real evidence that an adult dependent still relies on the main applicant, and on this file that evidence was thinner than we would have liked: the adult child was no longer enrolled in schooling, and there were no bank statements showing regular transfers from his father. That is exactly the gap that usually brings a requerimiento — or a refusal on the dependent application alone, even when the main applicant’s own case is sound.

The Strategy & Solution

We submitted the application electronically through UGE on March 31, 2026. The file brought together the sworn-translated contractor and services agreement, the company’s remote-work authorization, the company’s official trade license, three months of bank statements and payslips evidencing his professional income, and proof of more than three years of professional experience together with his résumé.

The submission also included his full passport, the application form and fee-payment evidence, apostilled criminal record documentation with the accompanying responsible declaration, and a commitment to register as an autónomo in Spain and contribute through the corresponding Spanish social security regime.

Spanish law gives UGE 20 working days to resolve a Digital Nomad Visa application. That deadline passed with no express resolution and no request for additional documents. Under the applicable legislation, the applications were therefore approved by positive administrative silence — his own and, with it, the linked applications of his spouse and both children. We then requested the official certification of positive administrative silence so the family could continue with the corresponding formalities.

The Outcome

The signed certification was issued on May 12, 2026, confirming his Initial Residence Authorization for International Teleworkers, valid until May 11, 2029. His spouse and children received their family authorizations linked to his, valid for the same period. The story’s publication date is the date of that resolution.

The adult child was approved as well. UGE never asked us for stronger proof of dependency, and the deadline passed in his favor too — the best possible result on the part of the file we were least sure about.

Following approval, the next steps include completing the required autónomo registration and applying for the family’s residence cards (TIE).

This case shows that a well-prepared file can be approved without a single request for additional documents — even for a family of four, and even where an adult dependent’s proof of dependency is not as strong as we would have liked. Clear contracts, explicit remote-work permission, official company records, and consistent financial evidence allowed the administration’s own deadline to work in the applicants’ favor. Each application is assessed individually; this approval does not guarantee the same outcome for another applicant.