Spain prime minister Pedro Sánchez announced on Monday, the 8th of April, that Spain’s “golden visa” programme, which offers residency to third-country nationals who invest at least 500 000 euros in real estate, will be phased out. The programme, which was introduced in 2013, grants a special permit to live and work in Spain for three years without taking out a mortgage, reports Politico.
“We will start the process to abolish the so-called golden visa,” said Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez during a visit to the town of Dos Hermanos. He stressed the importance of ensuring that housing is a fundamental right and not a mere speculative business.
According to Politico, citing El País, 94 out of every 100 visas obtained through this programme
are linked to real estate investments in major cities such as Barcelona, Madrid, Malaga, Alicante, Valencia or Palma de Mallorca.
According to the Socialist leader, the programme has become a “speculative model” that has made it increasingly difficult for people who live and work in these areas and pay taxes every day to find suitable housing.
Sanchez argued that this is not the state his party wants to build, stressing that this model promotes inequality and leads to disaster.
The Spanish government will formally begin the process of scrapping the scheme at its weekly cabinet meeting on Tuesday after examining a report presented by the Housing Ministry, Sanchez told reporters.
The European Commission has called on member states to end “golden visa” programmes in 2022, given the security risks linked to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Commissioner Didier Reynders has stressed that “European values are not for sale”, underlining concerns about corruption and money laundering.
Several countries, including Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Greece and Malta, have since abolished or strengthened rules on similar programmes.
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