Spain Ended the Golden Visa. Here's How Foreigners Still Relocate
By Dmitry Mateshin
The €500,000 residency-by-property route closed in April 2025. Buying here is still open — the residency question simply moved.
For over a decade, buying a property in Spain worth €500,000 or more came with a residency permit attached. That route is gone. Spain abolished its Golden Visa on 3 April 2025, and investment no longer buys residency here.
If your plan was built around that permit, this matters. But it is not the setback it first appears. You can still buy on the Costa del Sol, and you can still move to Spain — the two are now separate decisions, handled through separate routes. Here is what actually changed, and what remains open.
What was removed
Under Organic Law 1/2025, Spain closed all investment-linked residency routes — not only the €500,000 property option, but the government-bond and company-share thresholds too. As of April 2025, no new applications are accepted. Buying a home is still entirely open to foreigners; it simply no longer grants a residency permit on its own.
If you already hold one
Existing Golden Visa holders keep their rights. Permits can still be renewed under the framework that was in force when they were granted, and applications that were complete before 3 April 2025 continue to be processed under the old rules. If this is your situation, take specialist legal advice before any renewal — but you have not lost what you hold.
The routes that remain
Spain remains one of Europe's more accessible countries to relocate to. For most buyers on this coast, one of these four fits.
Non-Lucrative Visa — for those with sufficient passive income who do not intend to work in Spain. The classic route for retirees and the financially independent. You show means, not employment.
Digital Nomad Visa — for remote workers and freelancers earning from companies outside Spain, on a minimum income of roughly €2,850 a month. It allows you to live and work here legally, count the years toward permanent residency after five, and, if you qualify in time, benefit from the Beckham Law's flat tax regime.
Entrepreneur / Startup Visa — for founders building an innovative business in Spain, with a faster track for projects that create activity and jobs.
Family Reunification — the simplest path when a spouse, child or parent is already legally settled here.
None of these is an investment visa. They are lifestyle and activity based — tied to real presence in Spain rather than a sum transferred. For most people that is a lower bar than €500,000, not a higher one.
Where property fits now
Here is the part worth being clear about: buying no longer gets you the visa, but it still gets you the home. The reasons people wanted to be on this coast have not changed. Many who relocate on a Non-Lucrative or Digital Nomad Visa still buy — often once the permit is approved — to secure the place they actually want to live, sometimes with meaningful tax advantages depending on their situation.
So the sequence has simply changed. Before, the property led and the residency followed. Now they run in parallel: you choose the right residency route with a good immigration lawyer, and you choose the right home with someone who knows this coast.
At Vertex, the residency paperwork is not our work — we will point you to the specialists who do it well. What we do is the other half: finding the right home on this coast, priced on evidence, and making sure the purchase itself is clean. When the two run together, the move is far simpler than the end of the Golden Visa makes it sound.
This article is general information, not legal or immigration advice. Visa rules and thresholds change — always confirm your position with a qualified Spanish immigration lawyer before acting.
