Spain is set to eliminate its “golden visa” program, which grants residency to non-EU investors who invest at least 500,000 euros in property or a Spanish company, as announced by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez during a visit near Seville. The decision, to be finalized at Tuesday’s cabinet meeting, aims to tackle speculative property investment that hampers housing accessibility for many young people and families.
The “golden visa” initiative, established in 2013 during economic challenges to attract foreign capital, provides a three-year work and residency permit to investors meeting the investment threshold. Sanchez highlighted that the majority of these visas, 94 out of every hundred, are linked to property investments mainly in major cities like Barcelona, Madrid, Malaga, Alicante, Valencia, and the Balearic Islands, leading to housing market tensions.
This move mirrors recent actions in Southern Europe, where countries like Portugal ended their similar programs in 2023 due to housing price escalations. Greece also tightened its visa rules last month, increasing the required investment to up to 800,000 euros. Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun criticized such visas, calling them a “European disgrace” and emphasizing that residency permits shouldn’t be granted solely based on wealth.
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