«El Ministerio de Trabajo ha alcanzado un acuerdo con CCOO y UGT … para subir el salario mínimo interprofesional (SMI) un 3,1% en 2026, hasta los 1.221 euros mensuales por catorce pagas».
The Spanish Ministry of Labor and the trade unions CCOO and UGT have reached an agreement to increase the minimum wage (SMI) for 2026. This represents an increase of approximately 3.1%, to €1,221 per month with 14 payments (which is equivalent to €1,424.5 when calculated over 12 payments).
The text of the Royal Decree Real Decreto 126/2026 was published in the BOE on February 19.
Why This Matters for Immigrants
Some types of Spanish residence permits have financial requirements:
Digital Nomad Residence Permit — the minimum income is calculated based on the SMI, so its increase automatically raises the threshold for applications:
As of today, when applying for a Digital Nomad residence permit, you must refer to the updated income requirements (gross, per month):
€2,849 — primary applicant
€3,917 — family of 2 people
€4,274 — family of 3 people
+€356 — for each additional family member
Self-Employment Residence Permit (Cuenta propia) — although there is no strict savings requirement, in practice the financial requirements for this residence permit are also tied to the SMI indicator, so they may increase.
Residence by Settlement (Arraigo) — for some types of Arraigo, such as social-labor settlement, there are minimum wage requirements specified in the pre-contract.
What this means if you are applying for residence in Spain
The SMI is not only a payroll number. Spanish immigration ties several income thresholds to it, so every rise in the minimum wage also raises the bar for applicants — including permits that have nothing to do with employment.
For the self-employment route (cuenta propia) the law sets no fixed savings amount. In practice, the income projected in your business plan is weighed against the current SMI, which is why the same plan can read differently from one year to the next.
If you are preparing an application, start with our overview of the self-employment residence permit in Spain — requirements, documents and the order of the steps.
