Iโm going through this process right now. I have not yet been approved. A coupe things Iโve learned:
Thereโs a โself-employedโ visa as well as a โnon-lucrativeโ.
The non-lucrative is really supposed to be for people that are retired. However, in my case, since I own a company in the USA, I was able to say that my income comes from the โownershipโ of the company and not me โworkingโ.
If you are working for a companyโฆ or freelanceโฆ this is going to likely be considered โSelf-Employedโ. Spain is allegedly getting more stringent on this particular rule.
Having credit cards with available credit helpsโฆ having 25k-30k euros in the bank helpsโฆ the more the better. Theyโre getting more concerned about people that get approved for a year with their 26000 in savings and then donโt have the means to continue financially beyond the yearโฆ but stay anyway.
Youโll only be given a 90 day visa from the USA โ then you need to go an finish the process at the local police station where you live. You need to have a โpermanent addressโ when you do this.
Which Consulate youโre applying at matters. Los Angeles & San Francisco are considerably more ball-busters than New York & Miami, for instance. (I went to the LA location with all my documentsโฆ but they ultimately made me come back with a new appointment (6 weeks later) because I did not make copies of bank statements & insurance info for my childrenโs applications.)
For nomads, I think the Visa application process is going to be pretty challenging b/c weโre used to being so โfreeโ and โflexibleโ. Government red tape is like our kryptonite. I canโt speak for โallโ countries - but Iโve talked to some other nomads and expats and really itโs the same everywhere โ well โsame but differentโ - they all have red tape, but the nuances are very different from country to country (and even Spanish Consulate to Spanish Consulate).
If I was single, I would seriously consider just 3 months in Spainโฆ then 3 months in a non-Schengen countryโฆ and then back again. If you really want to stay in Spain for a year or more โ then youโve just got to be ready to collect a bunch of paperwork and decide that itโs worth it to overcome the challenge.
(Oh, and if your plan is to just stay in Spain for a year and not travel outside of that country - theyโre known to be very relaxed in this regard. Spain, Italy, Greece and some others are very relaxed on the โ3 month schengenโ rule. Maybe thatโs changing b/c of the refugee crisis, I donโt know.)