Mike Bailey

Head of Content / SEO at Moving to Spain

Mike writes on all areas of moving to Spain including visas (especially the Digital Nomad Visa), residency paperwork, and living and working in Spain. Moved to Spain in 1999 as an EU citizen and in 2023 as a non-EU digital nomad visa holder.

Since May 2024 Mike has shaped content strategy, search and answer engine optimization, and the ongoing audit and updating of the site’s guides. He has written close to 50 articles for Moving to Spain.

Mike has moved to Spain twice, under two different sets of rules. In 1999 he relocated from the UK to Madrid as an EU citizen to join Amadeus IT Group, the Spanish travel technology multinational, where he spent 13 years. He lived in Madrid and later in two towns outside the city, with his NIE and residency documentation handled through his employer’s gestor. He returned to the UK in 2013.

In September 2023 he moved back, this time as a British citizen after Brexit, without the free movement rights he had relied on the first time. He was among the early applicants for Spain’s Digital Nomad Visa, applying from inside Spain in August 2023 with an immigration lawyer and receiving the three-year permit. He handled his own TIE appointment and empadronamiento, and works with an asesor who registered him as autónomo with Social Security and the Spanish tax agency and handles his quarterly and annual tax filings. He exchanged his UK driver’s license for a Spanish one, a process that included a 900 km round trip to Madrid in a single day. In August 2026, working with the same lawyer, he renewed his Digital Nomad Visa. His partner moved on the Non-lucrative Visa, so the household went through both of the most common non-EU routes side-by-side. He also relocated the couple’s two lurcher dogs from the UK himself.

That contrast, between an EU move his employer handled and a non-EU move he navigated himself with professional support where it counted, shapes how he writes and presents: what changed after Brexit, which steps people can realistically handle themselves, and where a lawyer or asesor makes the difference. In March 2026 he shared his own experience of the visa on the Moving to Spain webinar Digital Nomad Visa: What’s Changed, and What You Need to Know, covering document tracking, planning income against the visa threshold, and working with an asesor.

Before Moving to Spain, Mike spent more than 25 years in marketing and communications. At Amadeus he rose from EMEA and Latin America Marketing Manager to Communications Manager and then Global Marketing Manager, leading multicultural teams across regions. He went on to lead content marketing for technology companies in the UK and Germany, working remotely from 2018. He holds a BSc in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Loughborough University. In 2024 El Mundo interviewed him about returning to Spain on the Digital Nomad Visa. He lives in teh Valencian Community.

Areas of expertise

  • Spain’s Digital Nomad Visa, from in-country application to renewal
  • Choosing between the Digital Nomad Visa and the Non-lucrative Visa
  • How relocating to Spain differs for EU and non-EU citizens, including UK citizens after Brexit
  • Residency paperwork: NIE, TIE, and empadronamiento
  • Registering as autónomo while on the Digital Nomad Visa
  • Exchanging a UK driver’s license for a Spanish one
  • Criminal record checks and supporting documents for Spanish visa applications
  • Working in Spain, whether for a Spanish employer or remotely for foreign clients
  • Relocating dogs from the UK to Spain
  • Living in the Valencian Community

Experience and credentials

  • Head of Content / SEO, Moving to Spain (May 2024 to present)
  • Moved to Spain twice: in 1999 as an EU citizen and in 2023 as a non-EU citizen
  • Digital Nomad Visa holder since 2023 (three-year permit, applied for from inside Spain), renewed in August 2026
  • Registered autónomo (self-employed) in Spain since 2023
  • Presented his first-hand Digital Nomad Visa experience on the Moving to Spain webinar Digital Nomad Visa: What’s Changed, and What You Need to Know (March 2026)
  • 13 years at Amadeus IT Group in Madrid (1999 to 2012), rising from EMEA and Latin America Marketing Manager to Global Marketing Manager
  • BSc Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Loughborough University
  • Interviewed by El Mundo (September 2024) on returning to Spain on the Dgital Nomad Visa (credited as Michael Baley)

Languages

English (native), Spanish (working level, comfortable handling day-to-day life, residency appointments, and professional matters in Spanish).

What I do not do

Mike is not a lawyer, tax advisor, or immigration consultant. Moving to Spain provides structured guidance, planning, and access to a vetted network of more than 45 regulated specialists across Spain who deliver the formal legal, tax, and immigration work.

Contact and verified profiles

To start planning your own move, find your starting point with Moving to Spain or email hello@movingtospain.com.

Mike Bailey, Head of Content / SEO, Moving to Spain
Head of Content / SEO at Moving to Spain. Moved to Spain in 1999 as an EU citizen and in 2023 as a non-EU digital nomad visa holder.
BEST SPANISH CULTURAL EXPERIENCE

Being in a bar in my pueblo watching Spain win the World Cup Final in 2010. When Iniesta scored the place erupted into the biggest outpouring of public joy I have seen. The after party went on beyond daybreak!

EMBARRASSING SPANISH LANGUAGE FAIL

In a restaurant, making my first attempts to speak Spanish with a group of work colleagues, I intended to say ‘tengo hambre‘ (‘I am hungry’), but nervously announced ‘tengo hombre’ (‘I have a man’).

MOST USED SPANISH PHRASE

‘Me encanta España’ (‘I love Spain’). I say this most days when yet another thing (great or small) happens to make me feel happy and privileged to live in this uniquely wonderful country.

Articles written by Mike Bailey

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