Spain's golden visa is closed: what to do in 2026

Status in 2026: the program is closed

Short answer: Spain's golden visa no longer exists. Organic Law 1/2025 of 2 January 2025 on measures to improve the efficiency of the public justice service (Ley Orgánica 1/2025) was published in the official gazette BOE on 3 January 2025. Its twenty-first final provision emptied articles 63-67 of Law 14/2013 on support for entrepreneurs, which held the entire investor program. The rule took effect three months after publication, on 3 April 2025. From that date no new investor visa or residence permit applications are accepted.

Every category is closed, not only real estate: buying property from €500,000, investing €1 million in shares of Spanish companies, investment funds or a bank deposit, buying €2 million of government bonds, and a business project recognized as being of general interest. Article 61 still lists investors, but the articles with the conditions are empty, so there is nothing to apply under.

Why it was closed. On 9 April 2024 the Spanish government announced the end of golden visas and tied the decision to the housing crisis. According to the government, 14,576 golden visas linked to real estate had been granted since 2013, and 94 out of every 100 golden visas were tied to property. The provinces of Barcelona, Madrid, Málaga, Alicante, the Balearic Islands and Valencia accounted for 90% of all permits. The authorities concluded that these purchases pushed up prices and fed speculation.

Foreigners can still buy property in Spain. The purchase simply no longer gives a right to residence. The closest replacement for a home purchase is the Greek golden visa, and other countries are in our residence by investment overview.

What the program looked like before it closed

These conditions no longer apply to new applicants, but renewals of old permits are still checked against them.

After amendments that took effect on 23 December 2022, the initial investor permit was issued for 3 years and then renewed for 5-year periods as long as the investment was kept. The law did not require living in Spain to renew, which is exactly why the program was valued as a plan B.

What happens to those who already have a permit or applied

The law closed the door to new investors but did not take status away from those already in the program. Two transitional provisions were added to Law 14/2013 for this.

Old permits have a limit that people often miss. Golden visa years turn into permanent residence and citizenship only if you actually lived in Spain. Long-term resident status requires 5 years of legal and continuous residence, with absences of no more than 6 months in a row and 10 months in total over 5 years. For citizenship the Civil Code requires residence that is legal, continuous and immediately before the application. If you visited Spain for a couple of weeks a year, those years do almost nothing for permanent residence or a passport.

Practical takeaway: renew early, keep a recent land registry extract and proof of no tax debts, and decide what will replace your basis before selling the property. If you plan to live in Spain, the old permit still works: the years count if you respect the absence limits.

Russian citizens: a separate caveat

For Russian citizens the golden visa was unavailable even before it closed. In March 2022, on the order of Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares, Spain temporarily suspended the issuance of visas and permits under Law 14/2013 to Russian citizens and their dependents in the investor, entrepreneur and business project representative categories. Highly qualified professionals and intra-company transfers were not affected.

No lifting of this suspension has been announced. The law on the later digital nomad visa does not exclude Russian citizens, and Murblz specialists check the current practice of the consulate and the dedicated migration unit before every entrepreneur or nomad application. If Russian is not your only citizenship, we check before filing whether the permit can be issued on your other passport. More on the Spain digital nomad visa page.

Non-lucrative residence falls under a different act, the Aliens Law 4/2000 and its regulation, with no nationality restrictions in the text. But source of funds checks, bank accounts and transfers from Russian banks remain a bottleneck worth building into the timeline.

What works in Spain instead of the golden visa

Spain no longer offers passive residence for money, and no new investor program has been announced. All remaining routes assume you really move: to live on passive income, work remotely for a foreign employer, start an innovative business or join a Spanish company.

The amounts for non-lucrative residence are tied to the IPREM index, which stands at €600 a month in 2026. The 2026 minimum wage was set by Royal Decree 126/2026 of 18 February 2026 at €1,221 a month in 14 payments a year, hence the threshold of about €2,849 a month for digital nomads. Both figures are revised, so check them with the consulate before applying.

You apply for non-lucrative residence at the Spanish consulate for your place of legal residence. The immigration office decides on the permit: Regulation 1155/2024 sets no specific deadline for it, so the general limit of up to 3 months applies, and silence means refusal. Once it is approved, the consulate issues the visa within a month. After entering Spain you request the TIE foreigner card in person within a month. The nomad visa and the entrepreneur permit are handled by the UGE unit, and people already legally in Spain can apply from inside the country.

About minimum stay. The previous regulation terminated temporary residence after more than 6 months outside Spain in a year, but in 2023 the Spanish Supreme Court declared that rule void. The current Regulation 1155/2024 added a different condition: to renew non-lucrative residence you must actually live in Spain for more than 183 days in the calendar year (article 64). There is no such direct rule for the nomad visa or the entrepreneur permit, but the safe approach is the same: do not be away for more than 6 months a year.

Taxes: the price of moving instead of the price of a visa

The golden visa let you hold a permit without becoming a Spanish tax resident. The remaining routes assume you live in the country, and anyone who spends more than 183 days a year in Spain becomes a tax resident and declares worldwide income. The top income tax rate on the combined scale is 47%, regional surcharges move it up or down, and Spain also has a wealth tax whose terms depend on the region.

A special regime for newcomers, known as the Beckham law, softens the blow. It lets you pay tax under non-resident rules: 24% on income up to €600,000 and 47% above that, in the year of arrival and the following 5 years, provided you were not a Spanish tax resident in the previous 5 years. It is available when you move for an employment contract, including employees on the digital nomad visa, when you become a company director, to entrepreneurs with an ENISA report and to some highly qualified professionals. You must opt in within 6 months of starting your activity. For non-lucrative residence the regime does not really apply, because it is tied to work or business in Spain.

Rates, deductions, wealth tax and the double tax treaty with Russia are covered on the page taxes in Spain.

Alternatives in nearby countries

If you need residence for an investment without moving, you have to look outside Spain. The picture in 2026:

A note for Russian citizens. Besides Spain, Portugal and Greece also froze golden visas for Russians in 2022, and in July 2023 Italy suspended investor visas for Russian and Belarusian citizens. Portugal resumed processing such applications in August 2024 after a series of court rulings, while in Greece the suspension remains in force. Russian citizens should read the table with their nationality in mind. With a second passport you can apply on it, and we check each country's conditions before filing. Without one, Hungary grants EU investor residence to Russian citizens.

An overview of all European programs is in the article golden visas in Europe in 2026, and the full list of countries is in the section residence permits.

Which route suits whom

• A retiree or someone with passive income who wants to live in Spain. Non-lucrative residence. Make sure the income is truly passive: a pension, dividends, rent. Remote work is not allowed on this status.
• A remote employee or freelancer with foreign clients. The digital nomad visa, plus the Beckham regime if you are employed.
• The founder of a tech or innovative project. Entrepreneur residence via ENISA. Russian citizens only after checking current practice.
• A specialist with an offer from a Spanish company. A highly qualified professional permit or an EU Blue Card. This route was not covered by the 2022 restrictions for Russian citizens.
• An investor who needs a plan B residence in the EU without moving. Not Spain, look at the countries in the table above.
• A citizen of a Latin American country, Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea or Portugal. Any legal residence in Spain with actual living there leads to citizenship after 2 years instead of 10, and you do not have to give up your passport.
• A family whose child was born in Spain. A person born in Spain can obtain citizenship after 1 year of legal residence, see Spanish citizenship by birth.

Path to permanent residence and Spanish citizenship in 2026

The naturalization rules in the Civil Code have not changed since 2021 and are the same whatever basis you live in the country on.

• Permanent residence, long-term resident status. After 5 years of legal and continuous residence. Absences of up to 6 months in a row and no more than 10 months in 5 years, with a total limit of 18 months for work-related absences.
• Citizenship. 10 years of residence that is legal, continuous and immediately before the application. 5 years for refugees, 2 years for nationals of Latin American countries, Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea, Portugal and for Sephardic Jews, 1 year for spouses of Spanish citizens, people born in Spain and some other cases.
• Exams. A DELE diploma at level A2 or higher and the CCSE test on the constitution, institutions and culture, both run by the Instituto Cervantes.
• Dual citizenship. On naturalization you must declare that you renounce your previous citizenship. Exceptions: Latin American countries, Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea, Portugal, Sephardic Jews and, since April 2022, France under a bilateral agreement.
• Processing time. The regulation allows one year for a decision, after which silence counts as a refusal that can be appealed to the Audiencia Nacional. In practice many cases take longer.

For Russian citizens this means that a Spanish passport, as a general rule, cannot be combined with a Russian one. All routes into the country are collected on the page Spain.

Timeline of changes 2022-2026

The uncomfortable truth: political risk in Spain did not disappear with the program. The proposal for a tax of up to 100% on home purchases by non-EU non-residents has not been formally withdrawn. And anyone selling Spanish residency for real estate in 2026 is selling either an outdated service or a deal that gives no status.

What holders of existing golden visas keep

How to choose a replacement for the golden visa: step by step

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