Remote workers in Las Palmas: first steps
Two imaginary newcomers, one Danish and one Canadian, the same laptop and the same beach. Why their first steps on Gran Canaria could hardly be more different.
The picture is a familiar one in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria: a laptop on a café table by the Las Canteras promenade, a short rental in Guanarteme, and a plan to stay “a while”. If a while turns into months, papers come into it, and the order you take them in depends on your passport.
Take two imaginary newcomers. Sofie is a Danish developer; Daniel is a Canadian designer. Both work for clients far from the island, and both have fallen for the same beach. Their first steps could hardly be more different.
Sofie needs nothing while she is visiting. Once she decides to stay beyond three months, she registers as a resident. She signs a rental contract, registers on the padrón of the municipality, then books the green certificate (form EX-18) at Plaza de la Feria 24. The proof she brings depends on how she works, as an employee of a foreign firm, as a freelancer or on her savings, with health cover. The certificate carries her NIE.
Daniel’s first step happens before the island. As a non-EU citizen, he cannot turn a visit into residence by working from a café. Spain has a route for international teleworking, but its first step is a visa, requested at a Spanish consulate, or in some cases an authorisation applied for from within Spain. We do not list its conditions here: the administration sets and revises them, and each case deserves a careful look.
Once Daniel holds his visa and lands, his steps become local. He registers on the padrón, then books the toma de huellas, the fingerprint appointment for his TIE, within a month of entering Spain. In the city, the TIE belongs to Plaza de la Feria 24. He brings form EX-17, his passport with the visa, a photo and the paid Modelo 790, código 012.
Sooner or later both of them meet the same questions: a Spanish bank account, health cover, taxes. Living on the island for a large part of the year can make you a tax resident of Spain, and the Canary Islands have their own indirect tax. A tax adviser is the right person for that, and we will tell you when it is time to see one.
Not sure which of the two you resemble, perhaps because you hold two passports or your partner is European? Drop us a short note before you book anything: the right first step saves several wrong ones.