Why are Spain's new self-employed workers all foreign and what are their jobs?

A whopping total of 96.5 percent of new autónomos in Spain who registered over the past four years were foreign nationals, according to the National Federation of Self-Employed Workers (ATA).

From March 2021 to the same month in 2025, 108,155 new self-employed workers have signed up to the Special Regime for Self-Employed Workers (RETA) - out of these 104,338 have been foreign entrepreneurs.

"The data is overwhelming: the foreign self-employed community has become a fundamental pillar of RETA's growth over the last four years . This isn't just a statistic; it's a reality that demonstrates the vitality and dynamism they bring to the Spanish productive fabric," explained the president of ATA Lorenzo Amor.

In fact, the numbers of foreign autónomos (self employed) almost doubled in number over the past 10 years, having increased by 92 percent since 2015.

The number of foreign self-employed workers increased in all 17 regions with the exception of Ceuta and Melilla, which both lost contributors to the system.

The regions with the largest number of foreign self-employed workers since 2021 are Valencia with 22,391 foreign self-employed workers, Catalonia with 21,046 and Andalusia with 15,509, which makes sense as these are also the regions that are most popular with foreign residents, along with Madrid.

At the same time, there has been a decrease in the number of Spanish autónomos over the last five years in nine regions: Aragón, Asturias, Cantabria, Castilla y León, Castilla-La Mancha, Galicia, Navarra, the Basque Country and La Rioja.

Since the numbers of foreigners have increased, however, the total overall signed up has risen.

The growth in the number of foreign self-employed workers has been greater than that of Spanish nationals in most regions, with the exception of Andalusia, the Canary Islands and Madrid where the growth of self-employed workers of Spanish orgiin is greater than that of foreigners.

READ ALSO: Do English speakers still have an advantage in Spain's labour market?

ATA revealed that the number of foreign self-employed workers has grown over the past four years, particularly in the construction sector (+17,446 foreign self-employed workers), professional, scientific, and technical fields (+13,906 self-employed workers), hospitality (+12,670), and information and communication (+11,115).

The professional, scientific and technical fields include autónomos in accounting, architecture and engineering, technical testing and analysis, consulting, research, social sciences and humanities, advertising, public relations and communications, photography, veterinary medicine, design, translation, interpretation and market research.

"It is foreign self-employed workers who are helping to offset the declines in traditional sectors such as commerce and agriculture and who are driving growth in activities such as construction, hospitality, and professional services," explained the president of ATA.

The Spanish authorities have been open about the pivotal role foreign self-employed workers are playing in Spain. They are needed in a country with an ageing population and in place that are suffering from depopulation.

READ ALSO: Foreigners give Spain a new lease of life

“Foreign entrepreneurship is a fundamental pillar of our country's economy,” Spain’s Union of Professionals and Self-Employed Workers (UPTA) President Eduardo Abad has said, with his organisation estimating that Spain will need another 200,000 more foreign autónomos in the next five years.

So why the steep increase in foreign entrepreneurs and decrease in Spanish ones?

There are several reasons behind the shift in numbers.

Firstly, there's the fact that Spain's population is increasing (now 49.1 million) and that's also almost entirely due to the arrival of more foreigners, rather than more Spanish babies being born. Inevitably, a bigger migrant population in part accounts for the higher number of foreign autónomos.

READ ALSO: Why so many different types of foreigners are choosing to move to Spain

Another of the most significant reasons is the introduction of the Digital Nomad Visa (DNV) at the beginning of 2023.

This has enabled remote workers or those that worked for themselves for clients abroad to gain residency in Spain and has proved very popular with non-EU citizens, particularly with those from the US and the UK.

It has also been popular with those from countries who can apply for Spanish citizenship after only two years of residency such as those from the Philippines and Latin America.

In order to be eligible, foreign self-employed workers have to promise to sign up to the autónomo system.

READ ALSO: The requirements for Spain's digital nomad visa

Another reason is the fact that it's often it’s easier for foreigners to start their own businesses than to rely on the local job market. With high levels of unemployment, relatively low salaries compared and language requirements, getting a job here as a foreigner can be challenging.

For many, it’s actually easier to try and work with clients back in their home countries or start businesses aimed at other foreigners.

Thirdly, many foreigners believe it’s a good way to be able to live in Spain, but underestimate how tough it is to actually be self-employed here and so sign up without actually knowing how it all works.

In fact, the 'dream' for many Spanish workers is to become a civil servant, and a great deal of those who've reached this conclusion are former autónomos.

Self-employment tax rules and regulations in Spain can be extremely difficult to get your head around, and what’s more you are required to pay one of the highest amounts of social security in Europe. To put things into perspective, if you’re earning enough to be eligible for the DNV (€2,763 per month), you’ll be paying €440 in social security each month.

And this isn’t even tax – the tax is paid separately on top of this. You’ll also likely have to pay a gestor or accountant to do your taxes as they’re so complicated here – forcing you to fork out an average of another €50 per month.

Around €500 per month straight off the bat before you even earn anything can be very prohibitive for many to even start a business.

Being self-employed here also means stricter rules when it comes to how you invoice, how you get paid and what you can offset against your taxes. It may not be the same as back in your home country.

The drop in the number of Spanish self-employed workers could also be explained by the fact that they’re aware of how difficult the system is and don’t want to take on that burden. They may be happier simply being an employee without the extra stress.

In fact this can be evidenced by the fact that only three out of ten (29.7 percent) of Spaniards would recommend self-employment to others, according to a survey by Emprendedores entrepreneurs website.

Despite the high payments and strict rules, however, being self-employed and paying social security Spain does enable you to get public health care, paternity and maternity pay and in some cases sick pay too.

It’s also one of the easiest ways to be able to move to Spain if you’re from a non-EU country and many foreigners many to make it work.

If you know what you’re getting into, read up on all the rules and are aware of how much you’ll have to pay out it could be a great option if you have your heat set on living in Spain.