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VISAS

‘It’s just to win votes’ – Why Spain might not scrap golden visa scheme

An expert on golden visas claims Spain’s decision to get rid of its scheme was just a vote-winning measure that won’t have an impact on the housing crisis and that “real estate lobbies” in other countries have previously ensured the schemes continue.

Published: 5 August 2024 12:30 CEST
Updated: 10 August 2024 07:56 CEST
'It's just to win votes' - Why Spain might not scrap golden visa scheme
A woman rides past a Ferrari parked in the glitzy Puerto Banús area of Marbella, a favourite among wealthy foreigners in Spain. (Photo by Jorge Guerrero / AFP)

It’s been two weeks since the Spanish government said it would completely cancel the golden visa scheme, including for investment in Spain, after Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced last April that his administration would scrap the golden visa for non-EU nationals who buy Spanish property worth €500,000.

Spanish authorities also reportedly now know how they will ‘slip in’ the legislation that brings the golden visa cancellation into force, following months of incertitude over how they could legally do it.

But for sociologist at London’s School of Economics Kristin Surak, author of the book “The Golden Passport”, the golden visa cancellation is just to win votes that won’t actually come to fruition.

In an interview with Spanish daily El Confidencial, Surak said “it is the same thing that is being seen in Portugal. It is nothing more than a vote-winning measure and has such a small impact that it is of no interest beyond votes”. 

Portugal did initially suggest that it would get rid of its golden visa scheme but instead decided it would only scrap some of its investment options.

“It’s true that it (the golden visa) has become a symbol and that is why politicians mention it,” she added.

ANALYSIS: Is Spain’s decision to axe golden visa about housing or politics?

Both Spain and Portugal have seen their property prices and rents skyrocket in recent years and the surge of home purchases by foreigners and the proliferation of short-term holiday lets in residential buildings have been blamed to a lesser or greater extent in the two Iberian nations.

For Surak, if foreigners are in any way to blame for housing crises in Spain and Portugal, it’s Europeans themselves, not the non-EU nationals who are buying expensive properties to gain EU residency.

READ ALSO: Foreigners buy up homes in Spain in record numbers

“Not even the Chinese or the Russians are a significant enough number to move the market. But of course, no one is going to come out and say that we should ban these Europeans from buying houses in our country,” Surak told El Confidencial.

The only foreign nationals to buck this trend in Spain are Britons, non-EU nationals since Brexit, as they are the foreign population group who account for the most property purchases by non-Spaniards in Spain in 2023 (9.53 percent).

Surak’s book “The Golden Passport” is described as “the first comprehensive on-the-ground investigation of the global market for citizenship, examining the wealthy elites who buy passports, the states and brokers who sell them, and the normalisation of a once shadowy practice”. 

Although Spain’s golden visa gives residency rather than citizenship, it does give holders the option of applying for Spanish nationality after ten years.

“Let’s be honest,” she tells El Confidencial, “how many countries have actually stopped the programme? The United Kingdom and Ireland did so a few years ago, Portugal announced it but has not yet approved it, and the same goes for Spain. 

“They have been announcing it for some time because it makes a good electoral slogan, but they have not dared to do it”.

Asked if she specifically believed that Spain’s golden visa would not be cancelled, Surak admitted that “she didn’t see it clearly”, that “it sounds very good to say we’re not going to let rich people buy their citizenship” but that “7,000 people (golden visa holders), if you add applicants and family” are “very small numbers”.

For Surak, what’s prevented golden visas from being revoked in the past are “real estate lobbies” that have been profiting from these schemes and “want them to continue”.

“Migration policy is generally incoherent,” the author concludes.

“Each country has interest groups or bureaucrats who decide what they are going to do: we are going to do this for students, or we need this for professionals, or we need the Beckham Law, which you have there in Spain.

“Once they are in the laws, they are difficult to change”.

According to Henley & Partners, over 100 countries around the world across five continents offer golden visas.

READ ALSO: What the end of all of Spain’s golden visas means for foreigners

Member comments

  1. It’s about security as much as a speculative real estates market. Of course some BS analysis is coming from a Brit.

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VISAS

Does Spain check if you’re working on the non-lucrative visa?

The matter of remote working on a non-lucrative visa has always been a bit of a grey area depending on who you ask, but do Spanish authorities actually verify if a person has truly ceased working and what can happen if caught?

Published: 5 August 2024 15:53 CEST
Updated: 10 August 2024 07:55 CEST
Does Spain check if you're working on the non-lucrative visa?

The non-lucrative visa or NLV as it is often referred to, is an authorisation that allows non-EU foreigners to live in Spain without working or carrying out professional activities, by demonstrating that they have sufficient financial means for themselves and, if applicable, their family.

In Spanish it’s called a visado de residencia no lucrativa and is also sometimes referred to as a retirement visa, as this is the best option for retirees from non-EU countries who want to spend their golden years in Spain.

However, remote work has meant that tracking whether someone is actually work is a lot harder than it used to be, leading some foreigners to consider whether they could break or bend the rules without being found out. So is it possible?

In 2023, a Madrid court denied a Venezuelan national’s application for the non-lucrative visa because they, among other things, continued to advertise their professional services on sites like LinkedIn.

The application was first rejected by the Spanish consulate and then later confirmed by a Madrid court.

The unlucky Venezuelan national had his application rejected because he continued to advertise his professional services online, which, the court ruled, proved that his work activity is carried out remotely (teletrabajo in Spanish).

This lead to the presumption that he will continue to carry out this work activity in Spain by the same means – something against the NLV rules.

Spanish law doesn’t specifically mention remote working. Spain’s General Immigration Regime states that, while staying on the NLV:

  • You mustn’t work for a Spanish company
  • You mustn’t work for a Spanish employer
  • You can’t open your own business in Spain
  • Nor can you open a branch office in Spain

In terms of remote working specifically, the law doesn’t actually address it. That’s why there’s some legal uncertainty on this point, despite the Madrid court’s ruling.

Immigration law experts Balcells note that “some consulates may have accepted it while others haven’t, causing painful rejections to foreigners who after reading online that it is possible or following the advice of an expat friend have tried with poor results.”

It also seems that rejections along these grounds have become more common since the pandemic.

READ ALSO: What are the pros and cons of Spain’s non-lucrative visa?

“During the pandemic (from 2020 onward), the vast majority of consulates started to reject applications from foreigners who clearly stated they wanted to start working remotely,” Balcells writes.

“Or, even worse, if the consulate sees that remote work is what you have been doing for the past months/years, your application may even get rejected too.”

So that means that, in theory, if you’re a remote worker wanting to apply for the NLV and move to Spain (even if you aren’t intended to work while there) there’s a chance that your visa application could be rejected based on your working history.

According to some comments on NLV Facebook groups, providing proof of cessation of activities from the country where you last worked can be a way to prove to Spain that you are not working. You may well need to get this document formally translated and notarised.

There is no evidence to suggest that Spanish authorities check that non-lucrative visa holders are working once they have had their visas approved.

But the truth is that there is a now a visa available which is far more suited to non-EU remote workers – the digital nomad visa – so it’s not worth the risk of applying for the NLV if you do plan to work in Spain.

People applying for Spain’s digital nomad visa (DNV) in 2024 have to prove a monthly income of at least €2,646 a month, an average equal or above that amount for the past six months if the applicant is self-employed. At the current exchange rate, that is £2,268 a month or $2,853 a month. 

Fortunately, Spanish authorities told The Local Spain that it is possible to show proof of savings if your monthly income doesn’t reach this threshold and still have your DNV approved, if the shortfall isn’t too big that is.

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