Golden Visas obtained by purchasing a property in Spain are on their way out, unless the elections result in a shift in sentiment.
The future of the Golden visas is once again the subject of debate within the central government.
During the month of February , Más País presented a bill in the Congress of Deputies to eliminate the ‘golden visa’, the “golden” visa for those foreign investors who buy a home in a Spanish dream worth 500,000 euros . And the Government is now studying whether to eliminate this residence permit or toughen the requirements to obtain it , having to invest a greater amount of money.
Iñaki Unsain, real estate personal shopper and general manager of ACV Gestión Inmobiliaria, believes that this measure only contributes to generating instability and uncertainty for foreign investors: ” Investors buy because they want to have a home in Spain, not because they want to obtain the ‘golden visa,” he asserts.
Data from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs suggest that in 2022 only 136 residence permits were issued for investment in real estate , 72% less than the previous year (497). Before the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic, 681 visas were issued to those purchasing homes and other types of real estate in Spain in 2019.
“The number of investors who obtain Golden visas by buying property is negligible, it has no weight compared to the total investment in our country,” says the former president of AEPSI (Spanish Association of Real Estate Personal Shoppers), who points out that the purchase housing for the purpose of obtaining Golden visas represents around 1% of the total investment.
European countries such as Portugal, Ireland and Greece have already begun the procedures to repeal this law that the Executive is considering totally or partially suppressing. The real estate expert affirms that the measure of raising the minimum investment to obtain the ‘golden visa’ would not have any direct effect beyond the reduction in the number of residence permits granted.
Iñaki Unsain points out that these measures “contribute to generating obstacles in the real estate investment of foreign capital , who, attracted by the good conditions of our country, finds more and more problems to invest in the national economy.”
Eliminating these ‘golden visas’ has been and is one of the flagship proposals of Más País. In February the party proposed this bill, and even took advantage of the final phase of the processing of the Housing Law to introduce an amendment that eliminated Golden visas. However, the proposal was rejected in Congress.
This residence permit for foreigners can also be obtained if investments of more than one million euros are made in deposits or shares of Spanish capital companies, or more than two million in government bonds.
Errejón does support maintaining the Golden visas for foreign investors who buy Spanish debt worth two million euros or who develop a business project in Spain.
This article is brought to you by Expat Hub Valencia, a property buying agent in Valencia. Using the Expat Hub’s services, you will be able to successfully navigate Valencia’s complicated property market in no time.
© Golden Visas in Spain: A Future Full of Uncertainty – valenciaproperty.es
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