Spain’s President: Golden Visas to be axed

Raymundo Larraín Nesbitt, April, 8. 2024

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8^th of April 2024

By Raymundo Larrain

Pedro Sanchez announced today in Seville he would be scrapping the Golden Visa programme that was implemented in 2013 at the height of Spain’s Great Recession. The programme’s goal was to kickstart the dead real estate market attracting foreign wealthy individuals to buy property in Spain.

Over 10,000 individuals have applied for it (alongside their families) since its inception. Over 70% of visas have been granted to Russian and Chinese nationals. Lately, post-Brexit, there had been a great surge of British nationals applying for them.

Mr. Sanchez argues his reason for shutting down the Golden Visa programme is because “(golden visas) create inflation in property prices and makes it difficult for young Spaniards to access the property ladder.”

I totally disagree with his view.

Almost 70% of Spanish youngsters are unemployed, and those which happen to be employed, earn an average wage of under €25,000/year. You cannot seriously think this is the market segment at which €500,000 luxury properties are levelled at? Give me a break. Besides, golden visas granted last year only account for 0.1% of property sales. Hardly a drop in a wide ocean of property sales.

In other words, no young Spanish person is ever going to be able to afford a 500k property. Additionally, the small amount on sales they represent barely make a tiny dent on overall property prices. Let's get real, golden visas' impact on overall property prices is next to negligible because this is a (very) niche market geared exclusively to affluent foreign buyers which represent a very small fraction of overall property sales (0.1%). These type of properties are neither marketed, nor intended, for under 30 year olds, who barely make ends meet every month.

So, it is clear to me that he is scrapping the Golden Visa programme for other undisclosed reasons i.e. electoral.

This is yet another example of him demonizing rich people as scapegoats of rising property prices to hide his incompetence and pander to his electoral base at a time his popularity is hanging at an all-time low. For a man that blabbers so much on how important social housing is for his social-communist administration, the fact is that he's been six years in power and has built ZERO houses at affordable prices for young ones. By contrast, the Community of Madrid, has quietly built thousands of such specially subsidized properties specifically aimed at youngsters to alleviate the housing problem. So, to quote Elvis, a little less conversation and a little more action please, Mr. President.

Lately, Sanchez is besieged by major (understatement) corruption scandals affecting his hard left-wing coalition government. So much so, that even people within his most intimate circle are allegedly being pointed out to be involved in the gross mismanagement of EU Next Generation Funds. You know, the 120 billion euros our EU Overlords generously allocated to Spain post-Covid-19 which no one knows exactly how or where they are being spent on. Surpise, surprise; who could have guessed? Stimmt!

We could always ask the people who were tasked to oversee these EU funds in Spain; oh wait, both of them quit for 'personal reasons´, deary me.

The corruption wave that now engulfs the government has likely led to this ‘dramatic’ announcement today that, in my opinion, will help zero young Spanish people attain a new home "at affordable prices" and will most definitely have a negative impact in Spain’s economy. But hey, that’s 101 Politics for you.

The bottom line is that if you are a non-EU national, this is your last chance to hop on the Golden Visa train before it leaves, as has been the case already in Ireland, Portugal, and Greece.

LNA offers this blue ribbon visa service in under 3 weeks:

Golden Visa (investor visa)

LNA has a 100% track record attaining Spanish residency

At Larrain Nesbitt Abogados, we have assisted hundreds of non-EU nationals, and their families, to successfully attain a Spanish residency permit since 2013.

Immigration & visa services available from Larraín Nesbitt Abogados:

Golden Visa Service (Investor Visa)
Non-Lucrative Visa (Pensioner’s Visa)
Lucrative Visa (Business Visa)
EU-Family Regroupment (Marriage Visa)
Digital Nomad Visa (Tax-free visa)
Non-Domiciled Tax Scheme (Beckham's Law)
Spanish Residency permit for EU nationals

At Larrain Nesbitt Abogados (LNA) we have over 21 years’ experience assisting clients buying, selling, or renting properties. We can also offer you a competitively priced accounting service to file your landlord taxes every tax quarter nationwide. We are also specialized in immigration & residency visas. You can contact us by e-mail at info@larrainnesbitt.com, by telephone on our UK line (+44) 07543 838 218, Spanish line (+34) 952 19 22 88, or by completing our contact form to book an appointment.