Golden Visa eliminated in Spain: what happens now and 4 alternatives
If you want to live in Spain today by investing money, the short answer is: the Golden Visa doesn't exist anymore. Since April 3, 2025, no new applications are accepted, whether through property purchase, government bonds, shares, or a business project. If you were halfway through the process or saving up for 2026, this affects you directly.
Here's what's really changed, what happens if you already had yours approved, and the 4 real alternatives you can use today.
What exactly happened
Organic Law 1/2025, of January 2, put an expiration date on the Spanish Golden Visa. It came into force on April 3, 2025 and eliminated all the investment routes that granted residency: property purchases of €500,000, deposits or shares of €1 million, government bonds of €2 million, and business projects of general interest.
It wasn't a sudden decision. It had been part of the political debate for a year and a half: the Golden Visa was blamed for driving up housing prices in areas like Madrid, Barcelona, Málaga, or Alicante, where many local buyers couldn't compete with foreign investors.
The costliest mistake: thinking your already-granted visa gets cancelled on its own
Here's something a lot of people don't know, and it causes weeks of needless worry: already having the Golden Visa does NOT mean you lose it. The law isn't retroactive against people who already had one.
The real costly mistake is something else: paying agencies or intermediaries who in 2026 are still advertising "get your Spanish Golden Visa" as if the program were still open. If someone charges you to process a new Golden Visa today, or promises you a "special" route to get around the elimination, you're looking at fraud, or at the very least, outdated information that's going to cost you money and time.
What happens to Golden Visas already granted
It depends on which route you got it through:
- If you got it through a property purchase and your visa was valid as of April 3, 2025: you keep it for the entire period it was issued for, and you can renew it under the rules that existed when it was granted. In practice, this means the real estate investment is still your "door" for renewal, even though it can no longer be used to apply from scratch.
- If you got it through government bonds, shares/bank deposits, or a business project: you also keep the right to renew. The interpretive criteria from the Large Business Unit (UGE) of the Ministry of Inclusion, dated June 10, 2025, confirmed that all current authorizations are renewed regardless of the type of investment behind them (property, government bonds, shares, deposits, funds, or business project), under the rules in force when they were granted. The only restriction is that you can't convert a non-real-estate investment into a real-estate one; you can freely switch between non-real-estate routes without losing your right to renew. Even so, if your case is complex, it's worth reviewing it with an immigration lawyer before your renewal date.
The 4 real alternatives if you want to come to Spain in 2026
If you didn't have the Golden Visa yet and were planning to invest to get residency, these are the routes that are genuinely still open today:
| Alternative | Who it's for | Approximate financial requirement |
|---|---|---|
| Non-lucrative visa | Anyone living off income, savings, or investments who isn't going to work in Spain | Enough of your own financial means for you (and your family if you bring them), without working |
| Digital nomad visa | Anyone working remotely for companies or clients outside Spain | From €2,849 a month in provable income |
| Entrepreneur visa | Anyone setting up an innovative business project in Spain (Startups Law) | No fixed minimum, but the project must be assessed as innovative and economically impactful |
| Highly qualified professional / intra-company transfer | Executives and investors who hire themselves as the head of their own company in Spain | Depends on the role and the company; requires a real business structure, not just capital |
The key difference from the Golden Visa: none of these 4 routes give you residency just for having money sitting in an account or in a property. They all ask for something more — recurring income, an active project, or a real job. It's a shift in philosophy: Spain no longer sells residency for passive investment, it ties it to economic activity.
Watch out for this too
The most common trap in 2026 is confusing the digital nomad visa with "living off your investments." The digital nomad visa requires that your income comes from remote work for clients or companies outside Spain, not from dividends or rental income. If that's your situation, your route is the non-lucrative visa, not the digital nomad visa.
Another common slip-up: not budgeting for the process fees. Even though they don't depend on the investment amount, you'll still have to pay the NIE fee (€9.84) and the TIE fee, whether it's your first time (€16.08) or a renewal (€19.30). These are small amounts compared to the investment you were going to make, but they're part of the process and need to be filed correctly at each step.
Your next step
If your Golden Visa is already granted, mark its expiration date on your calendar and contact an immigration lawyer at least 3 months in advance to prepare the renewal under the rules for your specific route.
If you didn't have one yet, figure out which of the 4 alternatives fits your real situation right now: do you live off income (non-lucrative), work remotely (digital nomad), want to start something (entrepreneur), or are you going to run your own company here (qualified professional)? That answer tells you which file to start preparing this week, not next year.