Barcelona, Madrid and Malaga have the most ‘golden visas’ for buying a property

Barcelona, Madrid and Malaga were the provinces with the most visas for foreigners who, in 2022, purchased a property worth €500,000 or more, also known as ‘golden visas’, according to the Government in a parliamentary response obtained by Europa Press.

Although the government has not provided a breakdown of the figures by province, it does point out – in its response to questions posed by Ciudadanos – that 476 visas of this type were granted in 2022. These ‘golden visas’ were introduced with Spanish Law 14/2013 to support entrepreneurs and their internationalisation, promoted by Mariano Rajoy’s government.

Escrivá agreed to limit golden visas

Since then, he has been criticised by left-wing groups. Más País registered several initiatives in Congress to repeal these visas and even reached an agreement with the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration to tighten residence permit conditions.

However, the bringing forward of elections and the consequent dissolution of the Spanish parliament has complicated introducing a legislative amendment that would scrap these visas. This is especially true given that the minister, José Luis Escrivá, has said this issue is not a “priority”. More specifically, the minister is considering toughening, or even abolishing, the granting of residence permits for foreigners who buy a home in Spain worth €500,000, also known as the ‘golden visa’. How? Either by increasing the minimum investment from €500,000 to €1 million or by doing away with residence permits in exchange for investment in houses altogether.

In a previous parliamentary response, the government already pointed out that between 2013 and 2022, 4940 visas had been granted, which were not only those granted for investment in real estate but also for capital investments and business projects.

Forty-five per cent of these visas were issued to Chinese nationals, totalling 2263. Investors from Russia accounted for 19.6%, with 969 visas. The government also highlighted the visas issued to Ukrainian citizens, who obtained 2.7% of the permits (136).

Iñaki Unsain, real estate personal shopper and managing director of ACV Gestión Inmobiliaria believes that buying a property to secure a ‘golden visa’ accounts for around 1% of the total investment.

He argues that the measure the government is considering to limit gold visas only contributes to instability and uncertainty for foreign investors: “Investors buy because they want to own a home in Spain, not because they want to obtain a ‘golden visa’,” he says.

Filed under: Headlines by Wendy Jackson
No Comments »