Spain scraps Golden Visa

On Monday April 8, Spain’s President, Pedro Sánchez, visited a subsidised housing development in Seville, where he announced that the government will modify the law that allows those who invest in housing in Spain to obtain a residence visa.

“We are going to eliminate the Golden Visa concession that allows access to resident status when more than €500,000 is invested in real estate”, he said, adding that, “we are going to take the necessary measures to guarantee that housing is a right and not a mere speculative business”.

The Golden Visa, which was created in 2013 and gives Spanish residency to foreign real estate investors who spend at least €500,000 on property with no mortgage finance, has been a great success in areas including the Costa del Sol where average prices are higher than most of Spain.

The scheme brought in €2.16 billion

In the first 3 years of it being in operation, the scheme brought in €2.16 billion and almost 30,000 residency permits were handed out to wealthy foreigners of which, 60 per cent were either Russian or Chinese. Although no definitive timeline has been given it seems that Spain is now following the lead of Portugal and Ireland who had already eliminated or revamped their own versions of the Golden Visa citing concerns over money laundering and ballooning property prices.

“We want to roll out the red carpet for those who come to Spain to create jobs, to invest in innovation and to boost our production, and not for those who simply seek to speculate with a commodity such as housing”, Sanchez concluded.