Spain Golden Visa: Closed and Replaced

The Spain Golden Visa was, for more than a decade, the best known way for investors to secure legal residence in Europe. It gave applicants and their families the right to live, work and study in one of the most developed countries on the continent in exchange for a qualifying investment.
Spain closed the programme to new applicants in 2025. This guide sets out what the golden visa was, what it asked of applicants, and which Spanish residence routes remain open to investors and their families today.

Under a law passed and published in Spain on 3 January 2025, the Spain Golden Visa was formally withdrawn on 3 April 2025. Applications filed before that date continue to be processed under the old rules. New golden visa applications are no longer accepted.

What was the Spain Golden Visa?

Spain has been a member of the European Union since 1986 and part of the Schengen area since 1995. High living standards and a growing economy keep it near the top of most European shortlists. Families and businesses alike still treat the country as a serious place to invest.

For nationals of countries outside the European Union who wanted to build a career or a life in Europe, the golden visa was a strong option. It allowed the holder to live, study and work in Spain, and it opened a path to long-term residence and, in time, Spanish nationality.

After five years of legal residence in Spain you can apply for long-term residence. Spanish nationality by naturalisation generally requires ten years of legal, continuous residence in total, with much shorter terms for certain nationalities.

Who qualified for the Spain Golden Visa?

The Spain Golden Visa was one of the most established residence-by-investment routes in Europe. It was built for non-EU nationals who wanted lawful residence in Spain and the practical benefits of living inside the Schengen area. Entry came with a defined set of conditions, and they are worth understanding, because several of them carry over to the routes that replaced it.

Minimum investment

Residence in Spain through investment required one of the following:
1. Property worth at least EUR 500,000, held as one property or several
2. At least EUR 1 million in shares of Spanish companies or in a Spanish bank deposit
3. Spanish government bonds worth at least EUR 2 million

General conditions for the main applicant

The main applicant had to meet the following conditions:

Be over 18
Hold lawful status in Spain, or at least not be present there unlawfully
Have no criminal record for the previous five years
Not appear on Spain’s list of inadmissible persons
Hold valid health insurance, public or private
Show enough money to cover living costs without needing to work in Spain
Have no history of a visa refusal from Spain or from certain other countries
Be free of the illnesses listed under the International Health Regulations (2005)

Family members who could be included

Family members could be added to the same application:

A spouse or registered partner
Dependent children, with no age limit where financial dependency is proven
Parents or parents-in-law over 65, where financial dependency is proven
Family members also had to meet the health and criminal record conditions

European residence through investment, with no obligation to live in the country full time, no language test and no particular work history: that combination is what made the Spain Golden Visa one of the most sought-after programmes in Europe while it lasted.

Documents required for the Spain Golden Visa

Alongside the application form, an investor residence application had to carry a core set of documents.

Valid passport: the passport had to be valid for at least one year.
Proof of funds: evidence that you held enough money to cover living costs in Spain.
Health insurance: a policy from a recognised insurer covering the whole of your stay in Spain.
Schooling for children, where applicable: evidence that education in Spain had been planned and that enrolment had been made or arranged.

Important: every document had to be officially translated into Spanish and legalised, by apostille or the equivalent, before the Spanish authorities would accept it.

The same standard applies to the routes that replaced the golden visa. Have an experienced immigration firm check the preparation, translation and legalisation of your file before anything is submitted, and the process runs without avoidable delay.

Why the Spain Golden Visa was one of the strongest routes

For anyone looking at Europe through investment, the Spain Golden Visa was among the fastest options on the table. These are the benefits it carried for the applicant and their family, and they explain why so many people still search for it:

1. Legal residence for the whole family: the permit covered not only the investor but a spouse, dependent children and parents over 65. Every one of them could live, study and work in Spain.

2. Free movement across the Schengen area: one of the biggest advantages was travel across the Schengen area without a separate visa, up to 90 days in any 180. That benefit still applies to anyone holding a Spanish residence card today.

3. No requirement to live in Spain full time: holders did not have to live in the country to keep the permit. Being present at renewal was enough. That flexibility is what made the programme attractive to people running interests in several countries at once.

4. A clear path to permanent residence and a Spanish passport: for those who did settle, long-term residence becomes available after five years of legal residence. Spanish nationality by naturalisation generally follows ten years of legal residence, and brings an EU passport with it.

5. State schooling and advanced healthcare: children can attend high-quality state or private schools and later enter Spanish universities on local tuition terms. Spain’s healthcare system is among the most advanced in the world and is available free or at very low cost.

6. No language certificate and no particular work history: unlike most immigration programmes, the golden visa asked for neither a Spanish language certificate nor a specific career record. That is what made it work for families, investors and retirees alike.

7. A wide choice of property: the property threshold was EUR 500,000, and it could be met with homes, apartments or commercial units anywhere in Spain. That breadth set Spain apart from European programmes that narrowed or removed their real-estate options.

If a lawful, low-risk route to European residence is what you are after, the closure of the golden visa is not the end of the road. Spain still runs investor and professional routes, and our team can tell you which of them your profile actually supports.

How the Spain Golden Visa application worked

These were the main stages of the investor residence process, and they remain a useful map of how Spanish residence applications are handled:

Step 1: choose the form of investment

The first step was selecting one of the approved investment routes: property, shares or government bonds. Immigration advisers earn their fee at this stage, because the choice drives everything that follows.

Step 2: file the visa application
Once the decision was made, the visa application form went in together with the supporting documents.

Step 3: travel to Spain for biometrics
The applicant travelled to Spain for fingerprinting and biometric enrolment. This stage typically took around two months.

Step 4: final review by the Spanish authorities
The authorities examined the documents and the applicant’s circumstances. A decision, whether approval or refusal, was normally issued within about 20 working days.

Step 5: issue of the residence card
Where the application was approved, the residence card was issued and the holder could use the full benefits of the permit.

Spain Golden Visa: a route that closed, and what comes next

The Spain Golden Visa was one of the most attractive ways into Europe through investment. It opened real options for living, working and studying in an advanced European country on unusually flexible terms.

It is also a lesson in why the rules have to be watched. Programmes change, and a route that is open one year can be shut the next. Before you commit money or time, have your options reviewed by the advisers at Aval Visa so the decision you make is the right one.

The routes open to investors and professionals in Spain today, among them the digital nomad visa, the non-lucrative visa, the entrepreneur and start-up route and the highly qualified professional permit, differ from each other in ways that matter. Book a consultation and our team will tell you which one your profile supports, prepare the file and handle the appointment.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Does Spain have a digital nomad visa?
Yes. Spain has offered a digital nomad visa to non-EU nationals since 2023, allowing remote work from Spain for a foreign employer or foreign clients.
2. Where did golden visa investors usually buy?
The Spain Golden Visa is closed to new applicants, so historical investment patterns no longer bear on what is available.
3. What were the drawbacks of the Spain Golden Visa?
The cost was high, the road to citizenship was long at ten years of residence, and naturalisation generally requires renouncing a previous nationality.

Spain Golden Visa: What It Required and What Replaced It