Residence permit in Spain

2024: Tax Residency Features for Golden Visa Holders

According to the rules for January 2024, financially, if you have been living in Spain for more than 6 months, for the Spanish Internal Revenue Service you are a tax resident of Spain, unless you can prove that the center of your economic activity and the main source of your income is outside of Spain. In this case, even if you have lived in Spain for more than 6 months, you still remain a tax resident outside of Spain.

Only if you have lived in Spain for more than 6 months and the center of your economic activity and the main source of your income are in Spain, you will be considered a tax resident of Spain.

If you are checked for tax residency at some point, tax officials will ask for a passport to see the entry and exit stamps and proof of the origin of your income, to check which country you came from, and if you say you live in another country, income tax is paid in it.

2023: 91,855 Russians are residents of Spain

Data released by the Ministry of Integration, Social Security and Migration reflects the total number of foreigners officially registered in Spain as of 21 December 2023. 74,324 Russians received various types of residence permits, and 17,531 received registration certificates (for example, relatives of EU citizens).

The largest concentration of Russians is in the provinces of Alicante and. Barcelona This is followed by Malaga,, Valencia Girona and. Madrid

Spain has shown the most significant growth in the EU, increasing the number of issued residence permits from 12.5 thousand in 2022 to 20.4 thousand in 2023.

2022: Spain briefly suspends and resumes "golden visas"

On March 16, 2022, it was announced that the Spanish authorities were suspending the issuance of a residence permit in the country in exchange for investment in the economy.

The decision was made against the background of Russia's special operation in Ukraine and the sanctions adopted by the EU countries against the Russian Federation.

Since 2013, about a thousand Russians have received "golden visas," mainly through the purchase of real estate. In 2021, Russians purchased 159 objects real estate- more than Americans or Chinese.

Earlier, Britain and Portugal refused to issue "golden visas."

Soon Spain resumed issuing "golden visas."

2020: Program Terms and Conditions

Foreign nationals can obtain a residence permit (Golden Residence Permit) in exchange for significant investment in the Spanish economy:

• Investment in the amount of at least EUR 2 million in the national debt of Spain.
• Acquisition of shares, stakes in Spanish companies and Spanish investment funds in the amount of at least EUR 1 million.
• Deposit of at least EUR 1 million with the Bank of Spain.
• Acquisition of property in Spain worth at least EUR 500,000.
• An institution of business that promotes job creation, the development of the country's economy or innovation.

At the first stage of applying under the Spanish investment program, a resident visa is provided for entry into the country (does not apply to Schengen visa holders). At the second stage, the applicant submits a request for a residence permit in Spain. The residence permit is usually issued for 2 years and then extended for 5 years. The investor is given a resident card with biometric data. The application for a residence permit is considered within 20 days from the date of its submission.

Investors are not required to stay in Spain. However, if the applicant wants to subsequently obtain permanent residence and Spanish citizenship, he must actually live in the country.

You can apply for permanent residence after 5 years of residence in the country. To do this, the applicant must prove that he has not left Spain for more than 10 months in the previous 5 years. After 10 years of residence in the country, you can apply for citizenship.

2019: Number of permits with a residence permit per 1,000 residents of Spain

Number of permits with a residence permit per 1000 inhabitants of the country in 2019

2016:714 Chinese and 685 Russians in three years

Within three years of the introduction of the golden visas mechanism in 2013, they attracted 2,236 people, mainly from China and Russia (about 60% of the total invested funds). By the end of 2016, 714 Chinese citizens and 685 Russian citizens received visas under this scheme.

The most used mechanism for obtaining a "golden visa" was the purchase of housing worth more than 500,000 euros. Spain received €2.16 billion in foreign investment, of which 72% came from obtaining a residence permit through the purchase of real estate, the newspaper El Pais reported. Other tools also included launching a business, purchasing government debt bonds and obtaining a residence permit for researchers or workers moving to Spain as part of a transfer within their company.

Of the 1.554 billion euros spent by foreigners on real estate to obtain "golden visas," 489 Chinese spent 702 million euros and 640 Russians - 501 million euros. The average check of the Chinese amounted to 696 thousand euros, of the Russians - 783 thousand^[1].

Of the total number of these deals, 893 properties were acquired in Barcelona, 348 in Malaga, 306 in Madrid and 151 in Alicante.

While Russians prefer properties on the Mediterranean, mostly in Malaga and Alicante, Chinese investors are opting for big cities, mainly Madrid and Barcelona.

2015: Only 490 people in 1.5 years received a residence permit through the purchase of real estate

As of May 2015, the law on entrepreneurship, which implies the issuance of a residence permit to foreign investors, has attracted 5,000 wealthy foreigners to the country since its entry into force, and with them investments worth 3 billion euros.

According to El Confidencial, 3120 residence permits were received by highly qualified emigrants who presented business plans for their investments in Spain. Another 530 permits were issued to investors (490 of them purchased real estate, 29 - shares, and another 12 took up activities that fell under the category of general interest). The rest of the residence permits were received by the relatives of the above persons.

According to the report of the Spanish Ministry of Economy, contrary to expectations, only 10% of the residence permit (490 people) received since September 2013 were related to the purchase of real estate. Russians and Chinese are in the lead here, having received 68.8% of the total number of visas in this category (34.5% in the case of Russian citizens and 34.3% in the case of Chinese citizens). They are followed by Ukrainians (2.9%), Egyptians (2.7%), as well as residents of Lebanon (2.2%) and Venezuela (2%).

2013: Adoption of the law: residence permit for purchase from 500 thousand euros

At the end of 2012, Secretary of State for Trade Jaime Garcia-Legas first spoke about the possibility of issuing a residence permit to those who purchase real estate in Spain more than 160 thousand euros. Then he noted that such a figure seems to him "balanced, and explained that the measure was developed primarily for the markets of China and Russia. A little later it was clarified that this amount is "indicative."

In April 2013, after a wave of criticism provoked by the idea of ​ ​ the Spanish government to issue a residence permit to all foreigners who purchase real estate worth more than 160 thousand euros, the country's authorities decided to tighten the conditions for obtaining it. After six months of amendments, the new regulation spelled out an amount almost three times higher than the previously indicated - 500 thousand euros.

The draft bill also provided for the possibility of issuing a residence permit to investors who will create at least two jobs and invest half a million euros. Investments will be considered not only real estate, but also financial assets, for example, stocks and bonds. Also, a residence permit can be issued to foreign researchers who study at the Spanish magistracy in order to subsequently create a new enterprise in the country.

The draft document, which can be approved before early summer 2013, allows investors to combine different types of investments and act on behalf of the firm. The original petition will be submitted at consulates and embassies, and the validity of the residence permit will be unlimited - provided that the investment is preserved. In addition, it will also apply to the spouse and children of the petitioner. The law will not have the opposite effect, as requested by representatives of the Russian side.

At the end of May 2013, the corresponding law was adopted. In accordance with the law:

• If real estate is sold for five years after its purchase, foreigners will be deprived of their residence permit.

• In addition to real estate investments, it will be possible to get a Spanish residence permit by buying public debt worth more than 2 million euros, creating jobs or innovations in the scientific and technological field.

• The residence permit will be received by entrepreneurs who will bring innovative business to Spain. Creating jobs will be especially valuable.

• Highly qualified specialists and foreigners who come to Spain as part of working, professional or qualification relations will be able to become residents of the country. The validity period of their residence permit will be equal to the validity period of the project.

Real estate agencies use the document as an additional argument. Similar phenomena are observed in China. Citizens of the country are actively interested in new standards.

In June 2013, Cinco Días, with the help of specialists, tried to figure out who would buy expensive housing in Spain along with the residence permit, and where exactly these houses are located.

According to 2012 data, notaries registered 544,554 home purchase transactions in Spain, of which 2.2% (12,016 transactions) were related to real estate more than 500 thousand euros. Of these 12,016 owners, only 2,366 people turned out to be foreigners.

Thus, they accounted for about 20% of operations of this kind. Simply put, every fifth expensive house is purchased by foreigners who do not live in Spain permanently. It is extremely difficult to find out which of them is not a citizen of the European Union and, accordingly, can take advantage of the new law. According to the General Council of Notaries, 12% of home purchase and sale transactions carried out by foreigners were accounted for by citizens of non-EU countries. In addition, another 11% was committed by Russians.

According to Carlos Smerdow, CEO of Foro Consultants, Russians and South Americans with high purchasing power will be able to benefit most from the new law. Chinese citizens also become potential clients, but they still account for a small number of operations, the expert notes.

See also

• Spanish citizenship
• Real estate in Spain
• Property prices in Spain

Notes