Spain’s controversial Golden Visa ban gets thrown out of Senate

Spain’s Senate has temporarily stalled the Golden Visa ban, but Congress could push it through for early 2025.

Last month, Spain’s controversial Golden Visa programme looked set for abolition when the country’s Congress approved a bill to scrap the scheme. At the time, it was thought the ban could come into effect as soon as January 2025.

But the bill has hit a snag, which could see a ban delayed for several months, or even abandoned altogether.

Check out our full guide to Europe’s golden visas and the countries that have already banned them.

Spanish Senate blocks abolition of the Golden Visa

The Spanish Senate vetoed the ban in a hearing on 2 December, batting the bill back to Congress. While the Senate’s opposition will certainly delay the process, it cannot block it entirely, as Congress retains the power to override the veto.

Part of the disagreement over the ban is political: the Senate is controlled by the centre-right party, the Partido Popular (PP), while Congress is in the hands of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and his coalition government of the centre-left Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) and radical left-wing Unidas Podemos. Disagreements here are natural.

However, there was also concern over the way that the Spanish government had tried to push through the bill, known as the Judicial Efficiency Bill. At the heart of the bill are rules around expedited trials for cases of illegal squatting, with the Golden Visa ban tacked on as an extra.

According to the Official Gazette of the Spanish Parliament dated 2 December, the PP’s rationale for the veto revolved around the government’s failure to employ “proper legislative drafting techniques”. It argued that the simultaneous processing of two legislative projects affecting the same laws would create confusion, calling the bill “a hodgepodge of uncoordinated legislative amendments”.

Dr Jacinto Soler-Matutes, Senior Partner at Emergia Partners – a company focused on business development in emerging markets – told Investment Migration Insider that Congress could ratify the ban in any one of its forthcoming plenary sessions scheduled in December, with publication in the Official Gazette in early January. “We must count on the Spanish Golden Visa finally phasing out around April 1,” he added.

A flurry of Golden Visas applications since the ban was announced

As would be expected, applications for the Golden Visa programme have ramped up significantly since its abolition was first announced last April. But visa approvals are also on the up, with the rate moving from an average of 69 per month between January and March to 95 per month from April to October.

In total, 2024 has seen 780 Golden Visas granted up to the end of October, with 573 of those granted since the abolition announcement was made.

Aside from the ban announcement, general interest in the programme has spiked in recent years. Permits for investors remained under 1,000 per year from introduction in 2013 through to 2021. But in 2022, they surged to over 2,000, and surpassed 3,200 in 2023.

According to Catalan News, the highest number of Golden Visa approvals are for Chinese nationals, with more than 3,300 visas issued between 2013 and 2023. Russian nationals have been snapping them up too, with 3,100 issued over the 10 years. More than 1,000 UK citizens have successfully applied to the scheme.

Although China leads the pack in terms of absolute number of visas issued, the top country for investment is the USA. According to Eldiario, between 2018 and 2022, US investors contributed €1.6 billion to the Spanish economy through the programme, while Chinese investments totalled only €768 million.

What is Spain’s Golden Visa?

The Golden Visa programme in Spain allows non-residents to obtain citizenship through various investment measures. Specifically, applicants must invest either €500,000 in property, €2 million in Spanish government bonds, or €1 million in shares in Spanish companies.

While the scheme has been successful in generating investment in Spain, it’s not without its controversy. Affordable housing is a problem throughout Europe, but in Spain the situation is particularly acute. The Bank of Spain has said 600,000 new homes need to be built each year to satisfy demand, but current plans are for just 90,000 a year.

As property investment is the cheapest route to citizenship under the Golden Visa programme, critics argue that the scheme encourages foreigners to buy property, removing opportunities from the housing market for Spanish citizens and distorting rent. An estimated 94 per cent of Golden Visa applications come via the property route.

Those who successfully acquire citizenship through the programme are not required to live in Spain, and only have to be in the country for one day per year to maintain their status. Opponents of the scheme say this loophole means economic benefits are not being realised,

The European Commission called on EU governments to stop selling citizenship in this way in 2022. It flagged concerns with money laundering, tax evasion and security, which it said “would be incompatible with EU norms”.

Golden Visas ending everywhere

Amid concerns from the EU, nations are rapidly withdrawing their investment residency schemes. Ireland axed its Golden Visa scheme in February 2023; Portugal scrapped its real estate investment visa in 2023; and the Netherlands removed theirs in January 2024.

Albania was planning to introduce a Golden Visa in 2022, but the European Commission urged it to refrain. The country has since suspended its plans.

However, there are still opportunities for willing investors to buy their way into Europe. Malta retains a golden passport offering citizenship for 12-36 months for an investment just shy of €700,000. Italy and Greece still have schemes in place, and Hungary reopened its Guest Investor Programme in October 2024.

Golden Visas are no longer easy to get, but they do exist. Whether Spain’s will be staying much longer remains to be seen.