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Sean Woolley: Deadline set for the end of Spain’s Golden Visa

In April 2024, the Spanish Government announced that the Golden Visa scheme would be ending, but did not give a time frame or any guidelines for how this would be applied. This caused significant concern among non-European Union citizens who wanted to gain residency in Spain through this visa.

We have finally gained clarity on this issue, and it has been confirmed that any applications for new Golden Visas must be submitted by the 3 April 2025.

After that point, no new visa applications will be accepted. However, applications which have been submitted but not approved will continue to be processed. This is a relief to many people who are currently in the application process, and gives people three months to purchase a property, or make the required minimum investment of 500,000 euros and get their applications in. Another piece of good news for those who already have the Golden Visa is that the government confirmed that these visas will still be able to be renewed, they are simply stopping any new ones being applied for from 3 April.

What is the Golden Visa?

The Golden Visa was introduced in 2013 and allows anyone of good character outside the EU to apply for residency in Spain and gain unrestricted access to the Schengen area of Europe. The only requirement is an investment of at least 500,000 euros in Spain. This includes a simple investment in property. However, this investment can’t be via a mortgage, so you’d need to pay 500,000 euros without leveraging a mortgage loan to do so.

A Golden Visa provides the same rights to the applicant’s partner/spouse and any dependent children under 18 years of age. The initial residency is for two years, which can then be extended by a further five years if all the original conditions are still met. You can then apply for permanent residency and thereafter citizenship.

How quickly do you need to act if you still want one?

It’s important to note, for anyone investing in property to get the Golden Visa before the application deadline, that you need to move quickly to choose and purchase the property. The purchase must be finalised before the Golden Visa application can be submitted, and you will typically need 6-to-8 weeks from choosing the property and making an offer to completing on the sale.

This means you need to aim to find the property and put an offer in this month.

This news is certainly encouraging anyone who has been considering this visa to get moving and accelerate their search. Since the announcement we’ve been inundated with fresh enquiries with budget levels between 500,000 euros and 1 million euros, which would qualify for the Golden Visa. January is typically a quiet month, which takes time to get moving, but we’ve already seen a 20-to–30-percent uplift in leads in January.

If you’re still hoping to take advantage of the Golden Visa, my advice is to get on with it! Find a specialist who can help you with submitting the visa and start gathering the paperwork you need and filling in the forms. Also, get serious with your property search and try and make an offer before the end of the month to ensure you don’t get caught out by the deadline.

However, it’s important to note, that the end of the Golden Visa is not the end of non-EU citizens living in Spain as there are several other alternatives. You can be in Spain 90 days out of every 180 days just on a tourist visa.

Or if you want to make the permanent move, you can choose between the employee visa and the non-lucrative visa options or even the digital nomad visa if you are working remotely for a company outside of Spain.

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See more about Golden Visas here in Dispatches’ archives.

Read more from Sean here.

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Sean Woolley is the founder and director of Cloud Nine Spain. With 20 years’ experience of helping clients buy and sell properties in Spain, he’s known as “The Property Doctor” and has contributed to a host of publications. He has recently written the book “From the Ground Up – The Insider’s Guide to Buying Spanish Property,” sharing his years of experience, real life stories, tips and tricks with buyers interested in investing in Spanish Real Estate.

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