Interest in obtaining a golden visa in Spain has skyrocketed among foreign fortunes after Portugal and Ireland withdrew this controversial mechanism for granting residence in February in exchange for large investments.
The British firm Astons, one of the main international companies in the management of these permits, has detected the trend based on the requests received at its offices and the data from Google Trends. According to estimates, between March and April the search for a Spanish golden visa has increased by 67.5%, ahead of Greece's 34.1% and Malta's 28.9%, which together with Cyprus are the European countries that still maintain this incentive.
In Spain, the golden visa was launched in 2013, as part of the measures to attract investment to a country plunged into a deep economic crisis. It consists of granting residence to individuals who allocate more than 500,000 euros to real estate, plus 2 million euros to public debt or more than one million euros to company shares or Spanish bank deposits.
According to data from IMI Daily, there are currently some 7,500 golden visas active in Spain after processing in cumulative terms close to 12,600 in a decade. Last year, according to the latest data from the Spanish Government, 2,462 new permits were granted, the third highest number to date, only behind the 2,656 in 2019 and the 2,507 in 2021.
This practice has been highly criticized in several European countries, where golden visas are considered one of the factors that push up the price of housing in the most exclusive areas of city centers. In Spain, the president of Más País, Íñigo Errejón, has been very critical of these visas and has associated them with real estate speculation. Meanwhile, the Government has begun to study its modification, although it does not foresee changes imminently.
The Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, José Luis Escrivá, explained this Tuesday, after the Council of Ministers, that the Government "has been examining for some time" a change in golden visas, although this matter does not have "now". a very high position” in his agenda.
He did indicate that it is necessary to give this system "a spin" and that the visas were approved in a context "different from the current one, with incentives that probably have to be revisited." The European Parliament has criticized them and has asked the European Commission to limit them.
According to Astons, in 2021 Spain was the third country with the most gold visas in the world, only behind Panama and Australia, and ahead of the United States. "Although Spain is now the country in Europe with the most attractive golden visas, Cyprus, Greece and Malta are presented as the replacement if the country eliminates them," says the British firm. Spain has attracted 13.6% of the visas of the ten main world programs.
