Working Remotely in Spain
Working remotely in Spain: Unlocking new possibilities in 2023
2008 seems so long ago, when I was planning our family move to Spain. I had already been working remotely for many years at that point, though my other half had just started doing it.
Rather than working remotely, I should say I had been working from home. That was basically the only way to do it back then. A flexible employer had given me the chance to see if WFH could work, and it did. The only options to vary anything, in those days before coworking centres and the like was to move house!
Or if you were really crazy enough, you could even move country (that was definitely easier, as a Brit, back in those days… but we won’t go into that.)
Lots of people did think we were nuts of course, but we were used to dealing with other people’s assumptions and remarks about working from home, or working with your partner, etc. We would just smile knowingly and get on with living and working the way we knew worked for us, and definitely had no interest in evangelizing or converting anyone else.
Once we got to Spain, working from home was still regarded as unusual, even if small family/couple-led businesses was not, at least in the expat world. Those small businesses tended to be very local and service led, not least as connecting to anywhere outside of the pueblo you lived in could be touch and go. I do remember at one point we were paying for 3 separate internet connections into one villa, to increase the odds of us both being able to work online simultaneously on any given day. See a friend’s tongue-in-cheek article on expats in Spain.
During the financial crisis which followed soon after we moved, we saw so many of these small businesses devastated and destroyed, sometimes losing everything, and many forced to abandon their Spanish dreams, returning to their country of origin with nothing. There wasn’t much I could do to help, as the options and opportunities for working the way we did – running a British business but living in Spain – were so limited.
It was complicated and expensive too, as back then I had to set up a Spanish limited company to consult to the British one, simply to protect the British business from issues of substance with a director who was a Spanish resident. I had to travel back to the UK for every board meeting as well, though at least flights were cheap then.
Fast-forward one whole financial crisis forward in time, and so much is different!
Today, people all over the world have had a chance to experience working from home, even those who always said ‘oh I could never…’ Their bosses too have experienced employing and managing people at a distance.
For some, they couldn’t wait to go back to ‘normal’. But for others, a whole new world of possibilities has unlocked along with everything else.
Today’s remote work environment is so different. Working remotely in Spain is about designing the lifestyle you want – city or campo, pueblo or playa. Spain has something for everyone
We now have excellent fast wireless broadband available pretty much everywhere in Spain, affordable portable devices to connect to it. We’ve got fantastic collaboration tools to use to work together online with anyone in the world, which cost next to nothing for video calling, secure document sharing, and more.
We even have new possibilities for contracting and working across borders, in increasingly flexible ways, which we never dreamed of a decade ago.
For example, I am self-employed in Spain, but can run my limited company in Estonia, through a platform called Xolo, thanks to Estonian e-Residency.
We have employers-of-record, who offer local business entities to employ people in Spain and around the world, to work for businesses anywhere, even to move country whenever they want to.
We crucially also have businesses who are ever more open to flexibility and blended teams, which bring together full-time employees, freelancers, contractors, consultants, and whoever they need, to get the job done.
Combined with that, we even finally have a digital nomad visa on the table, to can offer even more people the chance to enjoy living in this wonderful country we have chosen to call home.
All of this is great for Spain too, because digital nomads and more permanent remote workers by definition earn money from businesses in different locations, and spend it in local Spanish economies – supporting local companies, by funnelling their profits right into the local communities they live in.
So now that recession threatens once more, at least I feel better able to help more people here, to learn about and benefit from these changes. Especially because I am now freelancing full-time, writing and speaking about future of work and remote work potential.
That’s why I started Remote Work Spain, which began as a Facebook community, and now has a website,, as well as a free fortnightly newsletter. In the newsletter I share real jobs and opportunities people living in Spain can apply for, every other Friday.
I am also researching and writing high-quality advice and information about working remotely in Spain, as an employee or contractor or autónomo, safely, legally, and realistically.
Not dodgy investment schemes, or trading bots, there is still no place to ‘get rich quick’ in any reliable and sustainable way. But there are real places where people pay you to do work for them, wherever you live.
Multi-level /network marketing is banned, but encouragement and advice to help you start a business that really is your own, will always be available and welcome at Remote Work Spain.
I simply want to help as many people as possible to make the most of their skills and experiences, such as the incredible advantage of native English language.
When I hear people moaning that they can’t get a job because Spanish businesses prefer to hire native Spaniards, I can’t believe how little they appreciate their good fortune being born lucky enough to speak and write the language of the international online business world! They just need to open their minds to working globally rather than locally. Working Remotely in Spain is not for everybody but, as I say, if you are flexible and versatile and ready to try something new, it could be just what you need
Changing that point of view changes everything, though it’s not always clear where to start. If you are curious about remote employment or entrepreneurship, in or from Spain, then please do come and join us over at Remote Work Spain!