Spain election 2026: what changes for foreigners

Two failed housing decrees, and the country goes to the polls on 29 November 2026. The 100% tax on non-EU home buyers died with parliament, the golden visa may come back, and the working routes into Spain are untouched. Here is what it means if you are moving to Spain or already live there.

Spain is heading for a snap election on 29 November 2026. The royal decree dissolving parliament (Real Decreto 806/2026 of 5 October) was published in Spain's official gazette on 6 October, and on that day every bill still in the pipeline died along with the Congress of Deputies and the Senate. Two of them matter directly to foreigners: a levy of up to 100% of the property price for buyers from outside the EU, and a law granting citizenship to people from the former Spanish Sahara.

In short: if you are moving on a digital nomad visa, studying, working or already living in Spain on a residence permit, nothing breaks. Investors, meanwhile, have a reason to follow Spanish politics with interest rather than dread for the first time in eighteen months.

Why Spain is holding a snap election

The trigger was housing - the country's everyday pain point, where rents in Madrid and Barcelona have long outpaced salaries. In late September 2026 Pedro Sánchez's government adopted two royal decree-laws (real decreto-ley - a government decree with the force of law that parliament must ratify within a month). They covered protection for vulnerable tenants against eviction and new rules for some rental contracts.

On 2 October 2026 Congress refused to ratify them: the People's Party (PP, centre-right), Vox (right) and Catalonia's Junts voted against. A decree-law that is not ratified is repealed immediately. Three days later Sánchez dissolved parliament, even though the regular election was not due until 2027.

The calendar now looks like this:

• 6 October 2026 - the dissolution decree takes effect;
• 13-27 November 2026 - the official campaign;
• 29 November 2026 - election day;
• 23 December 2026 - the new parliament's first sitting.

Then comes the slow part: forming a government. Polls from late September 2026 put the PP ahead at 31-32%, the Socialists (PSOE) around 27% and Vox around 18%. Nobody has a majority, so a new government is unlikely before early 2027. In 2023 it took almost four months - Spanish politics knows how to make a moment last.

What died with parliament

When the Cortes (Cortes Generales - Spain's two-chamber parliament) are dissolved, all unfinished bills lapse. The new parliament has to start from scratch if it wants to revisit them at all.

• The tax of up to 100% on home purchases by non-EU nationals. The Socialists tabled it in May 2025: buyers from outside the EU who do not live in Spain would have paid a levy of up to 100% of the property value. It sounded fearsome, but in eighteen months it was never debated in plenary. Now it is formally gone too. Foreign buyers pay the standard taxes: transfer tax (ITP - impuesto de transmisiones patrimoniales) of 6% to 10-11% on resale homes depending on the region, or 10% VAT on new builds.
• The Sahrawi citizenship law (for people from Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony). It could have given passports to around 80,000 people, passed Congress, then stalled in the Senate over PP amendments. Back to square one.

The government plans to re-adopt the housing decrees and have them ratified by the Permanent Deputation (Diputación Permanente - a 69-member committee that acts for parliament while it is dissolved). For foreign tenants, that means the rental rules will be reshuffled at least once more before the vote.

Will Spain's golden visa come back?

The golden visa (residence for a property purchase from €500,000) closed on 3 April 2025. It was the PP's own creation: the programme came in with Law 14/2013 on support for entrepreneurs under Mariano Rajoy's government. When parliament voted to abolish it in 2024, the PP and Vox voted against.

So investors are asking the obvious question: if the right wins, will the programme return? The honest answer: no party has made that promise in its official documents. Even a willing new government would need a new law, and that means months of work by a parliament that does not exist yet. Buying a flat in Valencia on the strength of a residence permit that does not exist is a bit like booking a table at a restaurant that is only thinking about opening.

If you need investment residence in Europe now, working options exist next door: the Greek golden visa from €250,000 to €800,000 depending on region and format, and Portugal's fund route. The full breakdown is in our review of Europe's golden visas in 2026 and in the residence by investment section.

What happens to residence permits, visas and pending applications

The key point: Spain's immigration rules do not rest on the bills that died on 6 October but on existing rules that dissolution does not touch.

• The immigration regulation (Reglamento de Extranjería, Royal Decree 1155/2024) has applied since 20 May 2025. It governs every type of residence permit, including arraigo (regularisation through years of living in the country). It stays in force.
• The digital nomad visa and startup residence sit in Law 28/2022 on startups. The law stands and applications are being accepted.
• The 2026 mass regularisation of migrants ran under a separate royal decree, with applications from 16 April to 30 June 2026. The one-year permits issued under it remain valid.
• Pending applications for residence, renewals and citizenship are handled by the same offices under the same rules. Until the election the government is a caretaker (en funciones): it cannot table new bills but keeps running day-to-day business.

In practice, your document file matters more than any poll. Pre-election turbulence changes headlines, not processing times at the immigration office (which can be nerve-racking enough without politics).

What to do if you are moving to Spain or already there

• Planning a move on a nomad visa or startup residence. Do not wait. If the rules change, it will not be before 2027, and new rules usually apply to future applicants, not to people who already hold status. Details are on our digital nomad visa and Spanish startup residence pages.
• Buying property. The 100% tax no longer hangs over the deal, but elections do not cool prices in the big cities. Our guide on where to buy property abroad helps compare markets.
• Already living in Spain on a permit. Renew on time and watch the rental rules: the housing decrees are being re-adopted.
• Running tax numbers. The regime for newcomers known as the Beckham law (24% on Spanish income up to €600,000 a year for six years instead of the progressive scale of up to 47%) is still in force. A new parliament could in theory revisit it, so arriving with your tax plan ready makes more sense now. See taxes in Spain and our comparison of European taxes.

Which routes into Spain work in 2026

Spanish citizenship: what to know

The standard path to a passport is ten years of legal residence. For nationals of Latin American countries by birth or descent it is just two years, and they keep their existing passport. That is why families planning a decade ahead often go through a second citizenship first, such as Argentina or Paraguay. One important detail: the shortcut works for citizens by birth, not by naturalisation - more in our article on dual citizenship.

If Spain feels too unpredictable

An election is no reason to give up on the country, but it is a good reason to have a plan B. People most often look at Portugal's nomad visa, Greece and the other options in our remote-worker visas section alongside Spain. And for anyone tired of depending on other countries' parliaments, there is a second passport: it does not vote and cannot be dissolved.

We have covered earlier Spanish shocks too, such as the Ceuta migration crisis in the summer of 2026.

Our Spain services

We handle the whole move to Spain, from choosing the route to the passport. The election cancels none of these tasks and sometimes makes them more urgent.

Plus the formalities where people get stuck most: the NIE foreigner number (número de identidad de extranjero - needed for any deal, bank account and tax), local registration, the TIE residence card, a bank account and company formation. All programmes are on our Spain page, and our guides to Madrid and Barcelona help you pick a city.

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