Spain’s Ministry of Labour opened negotiations on 23 January with employers’ groups (CEOE–Cepyme) and the two big trade-union confederations (UGT, CCOO) to set the 2026 Salario Mínimo Interprofesional (SMI). The government’s opening bid is a 3.1 % rise that would push the statutory wage floor from €1,184 to €1,221 per month (14 payments). Employers countered with a maximum 1.5 % increase, while unions reiterated their demand for €1,273, in line with the 60 %-of-average-wage benchmark in the European Social Charter.(cronista.com)
Although the SMI is a domestic labour issue, it has direct consequences for Spain’s one-year-old Digital Nomad Visa (DNV), because the visa’s financial threshold is expressed as 200 % of the SMI. If the government’s proposal is adopted, the monthly income that remote workers must prove would rise from €2,368 to roughly €2,442; under the union scenario it would jump to €2,546. Multinationals that employ remote staff in Spain—or that support ‘work-from-anywhere’ programmes—will therefore need to revisit salary benchmarking, global mobility budgets and cost-of-living allowances.
For remote professionals and HR departments grappling with these evolving thresholds, VisaHQ provides real-time guidance and end-to-end assistance for applications to Spain’s Digital Nomad Visa, Highly Qualified Professional permit and other residence options; full details are available at https://www.visahq.com/spain/.
![Spain kicks off 2026 minimum-wage talks — rise to €1,221 could lift digital-nomad visa threshold]()
The debate is also being watched by corporate relocation teams that use the Highly Qualified Professional (HQP) permit under Spain’s 2022 Start-up Law. That residence route requires salaries of at least 1.5 × SMI; thus, a new floor of €1,221 would lift the HQP minimum to €1,832 per month. HR directors will want to lock-in assignments or definitive job offers before the Royal Decree raising the SMI is published in the BOE—usually in early February—to avoid unexpected payroll costs.
Beyond immigration knock-ons, the SMI talks are a bellwether for wage inflation in 2026. Tourism, hospitality and agriculture associations warn that consecutive above-CPI rises risk eroding competitiveness, while unions argue that consumers need relief after four years of high prices. The government insists that a modest real-wage gain is compatible with continued strong job creation.
If Madrid, unions and business fail to reach consensus, the cabinet is empowered to impose the new SMI unilaterally, as it did in 2025. For global-mobility managers, the key takeaway is timing: once the figure is published, all salary-linked immigration categories (DNV, HQP, EU Blue Card) will update automatically, leaving little grace period for pending applications.
Although the SMI is a domestic labour issue, it has direct consequences for Spain’s one-year-old Digital Nomad Visa (DNV), because the visa’s financial threshold is expressed as 200 % of the SMI. If the government’s proposal is adopted, the monthly income that remote workers must prove would rise from €2,368 to roughly €2,442; under the union scenario it would jump to €2,546. Multinationals that employ remote staff in Spain—or that support ‘work-from-anywhere’ programmes—will therefore need to revisit salary benchmarking, global mobility budgets and cost-of-living allowances.
For remote professionals and HR departments grappling with these evolving thresholds, VisaHQ provides real-time guidance and end-to-end assistance for applications to Spain’s Digital Nomad Visa, Highly Qualified Professional permit and other residence options; full details are available at https://www.visahq.com/spain/.
The debate is also being watched by corporate relocation teams that use the Highly Qualified Professional (HQP) permit under Spain’s 2022 Start-up Law. That residence route requires salaries of at least 1.5 × SMI; thus, a new floor of €1,221 would lift the HQP minimum to €1,832 per month. HR directors will want to lock-in assignments or definitive job offers before the Royal Decree raising the SMI is published in the BOE—usually in early February—to avoid unexpected payroll costs.
Beyond immigration knock-ons, the SMI talks are a bellwether for wage inflation in 2026. Tourism, hospitality and agriculture associations warn that consecutive above-CPI rises risk eroding competitiveness, while unions argue that consumers need relief after four years of high prices. The government insists that a modest real-wage gain is compatible with continued strong job creation.
If Madrid, unions and business fail to reach consensus, the cabinet is empowered to impose the new SMI unilaterally, as it did in 2025. For global-mobility managers, the key takeaway is timing: once the figure is published, all salary-linked immigration categories (DNV, HQP, EU Blue Card) will update automatically, leaving little grace period for pending applications.
