Spain’s "Golden Visa" (Spanish residency visa)

In 2013 the Spanish government launched the “Spanish Golden Visa” scheme, offering investors the opportunity to obtain a Spanish (European) Residency Visa for a € 500,000 cash investment in Spanish property.

We are selling to more non European investors each year that wish to obtain a Spanish Golden Visa (residency visa), with most enquires from China and the Middle East. Spain began offering residency visas to non E.U. nationals at the end of 2013 to encourage investment in Spain. There were several routes an investor could take, but the least expensive was to spend a minimum of € 500,000 on purchasing Spanish property, it could be on single property or a number of smaller apartments as long as the total purchase price was over € 500k. However, surprisingly the initial “Spanish Golden Visa” take-up was slow, so in summer 2015, the Spanish government announced that the visa would now additionally cover common law partners, children and even parents of the visa holder. This gives them the right to seek employment and access to the health and education systems. 

The “Golden Visa” legislation in Spain states that investors outside of the European Union who invest more than € 500,000 cash (mortgages do not count) in property or land, will now be permitted to apply for a visa and live legally in Spain for 1 year, with the option of renewal every two years, under the condition that the client remains in possession of the property. After 5 years, an application for a permanent visa is possible, then after a further 5 years, you can even apply for full Citizenship (subject to certain conditions). The law is also retroactive, allowing those who have already invested half a million Euros or more on Spanish real estate to be granted residency, as long as purchased after the date that the Law came into force in 2013. If the head of the family is granted a Golden Visa, their family members can also have residency (subject to certain conditions). There is no obligation to become FISCAL resident in Spain, unlike some countries schemes, there is also no requirement to spend a minimum number of days in Spain each year and renewals can be done from outside Spain. This suits clients that are not intending to take up permanent residency in the short term, but are purchasing a “Buy To Let” investment, retirement property or possibly a safe haven for the future.

If you are interested in finding out more about the “Spanish Golden Visa” / EU residency, and want to speak to a suitable Marbella legal team or if you would like to talk to us with regards to property criteria, preferred areas and the buying process etc. please contact us or simply complete / submit the contact form with the best telephone number/times for us to call and we will contact you as soon as possible.

For more information on buying or selling property on the Costa del Sol, contact Peter or any of his team on Tel: (0034) 951 551 444 or email: info@OverseasDreams.com