Eliminating the Golden Visa – you say

We asked four Costa Blanca North locals about the Spanish Government’s possible elimination of the Golden Visa.

Rhys Morgan from Britain, who resides in the north of Alicante is in favour of the proposal. “One wonders what has taken Pedro Sanchez so long to get around to disclaiming his inheritance. The ‘Golden Visa’ policy is part of the collapsing scenery of Mariano Rajoy’s response to the Eurozone crisis”. And believes, “attracting ‘foreign investment’ is not what it would say on the charge sheet if this cynical policy, which almost openly gives a licence to money laundering, ever goes to court, which of course it will not”.

Rhys Morgan

This opinion has been endorsed by Francisco Blanes Mayor, a Spanish local living in the San Juan beach area. Francisco believes that in his neighbourhood, “the introduction of the Golden Visa requirement in PAO 5, a development project, has drastically inflated housing prices, making affordable options scarce in the area”. Therefore to him, the Golden Visa “represents a totally brutal discrimination between the rich resident and the poor resident, or the applicant for asylum or residence”. And how this has led to “the total and absolute transfiguration of the real estate market”.

Francisco Blanes Mayor

Carlos Ramirez from Madrid, an actuary who has settled in El Campello for seven years, opposes their views. “I think that all entry of foreign capital and investments should be favoured, especially in areas like the Costa Blanca where locals depend on tourism”. Highlighting his opinion with numerical evidence. “If we consider that approximately 300 golden visas have been granted in Alicante during 2023, we would be talking about the equivalent of receiving the investment of 120,000 more tourists each year in the Province of Alicante solely due to this measure”.

Carlos Ramirez

Javier Castello Lopez, an Alicante local, also voices dissent against the proposal. “It implies a limitation in the direct investment of foreigners in our economy. If someone gets the Golden Visa, they will stay and spend their money here. Why should we limit this? I think the proposal responds to the current electoral time in Spain”.

Javier Castello Lopez