Spain golden visa: what is left after its end in April 2025
The short answer is that it no longer exists. The Golden Visa by property purchase —the investor residence visa you obtained by buying a €500,000 property— was abolished on 3 April 2025 by Organic Law 1/2025.
The official consular services catalog still keeps «National Visas - Investor visa» in its dropdown, and choosing it returns no consular service found for those criteria. That contradiction is what keeps the searches coming.
What actually happened
The scheme came from Law 14/2013 on support for entrepreneurs. The 2025 reform removed the strand based on acquiring real estate, which is the one almost everyone used, and the one that drew criticism within the European Union.
Anyone who already held the authorization before that date keeps their rights and renewals under the rules that applied to them. What disappeared is the new entry door.
What is left for investors
Law 14/2013 keeps other routes that do not depend on buying a flat: the entrepreneur visa, with a business project of general interest reported on favorably by the administration; the highly qualified professional visa; the intra-company transfer visa; and the researcher visa.
They carry different requirements and different files: none is a stripped-down Golden Visa, and people who come looking for one usually find another fits them better.
The realistic alternative for most people
If you wanted the Golden Visa in order to live in Spain without working there, today's practicable route is the non-lucrative residence visa: it asks for 400 % of the IPREM, health insurance and an apostilled FBI criminal record, and does not allow you to work.
And if you keep working remotely, the teleworking visa. Neither requires buying anything.
Careful with what is still online
Firms and aggregators still advertise the Spanish Golden Visa as if it existed. Before paying for advice, check the article's date and cross-check with the consulate's website: there the option sits in the menu and the page comes back empty.
If a firm offers you the Spanish Golden Visa by buying property today, check the date on the ad.Details verified on 8 September 2026.
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