Spain is weighing up whether to axe its so-called "golden visa" scheme, which offers non-European Union nationals a three-year residency, with two year optional extension, if they buy property worth €500,000 or more or invest the same amount in businesses.
El País reported yesterday (8 May) that sources at the county's Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration said it was looking at two options to change the scheme.
One would be to increase the real estate minimum investment to at least €1m to bring it in line with the business investment and bank deposit alternative ways to join the scheme.
The other option would be to scrap the real estate option completely.
Reuters also said yesterday that the leader of a party negotiating the issue with the government, Iñigo Errejon, had told reporters his Mas Pais party had reached a preliminary agreement with the ministry to put an end to the scheme.
"Spanish citizenship cannot be bought," Errejon said, adding that golden visas had led to a "brutal" rise in housing prices and forced locals out of their neighbourhoods without creating any new jobs.
The Spanish government has not yet responded officially to the reports.
Last year, 2,462 golden visas were granted by the Spanish government, a rise of 60% compared with the year before.
In a recent parliamentary response, the government put the total number of investor visas or ‘golden visas' issued between 2013 and 2022 at 4,940, including in this amount not only those granted for investing in real estate, but also for investments in capital and business projects.
Around 45% of these visas were issued to Chinese citizens, a total of 2,263, while investors from Russia accounted for 19.6%, with 969 visas.
The government also highlighted the visas issued to Ukrainian nationals, who obtained 2.7% of the visas, with a total of 136.
Reuters said yesterday (8 May) that the leader of a left-wing party negotiating the issue with the government, Iñigo Errejon had told reporters his Mas Pais party had reached a preliminary agreement with the Social Security Ministry to put an end to the scheme.
"Spanish citizenship cannot be bought," Errejon said, adding that golden visas had led to a "brutal" rise in housing prices and forced locals out of their neighbourhoods without creating any new jobs.
