Spain residence by investment

1. With a card of a Spanish resident, you can travel around the European Union absolutely freely, without any necessity to apply for a visa.
2. In Spain, you will enjoy a mild climate and proximity to the sea. In fact, it will feel like you live on a resort with high quality of comfort and safety.
3. An investor has a right to do a wide range of activities in Spain: they can set up a business, apply for a job, study or simply enjoy free time.
4. An entrepreneur will find an open and attractive economy, well-developed infrastructure, qualified workforce and governmental support of the business sector.
5. You will have access to a reliable banking system that is respected throughout the world as well as to cheap loans and extremely low interest rates on mortgages.
6. Your health and health of your family members will be protected by the Spanish healthcare system that is among the leading ones in Europe.
7. Your children will be able to get modern high-quality school education that is free of charge. And degrees earned at Spanish universities are recognised and highly respected all over the world.
8. Five years later, you can apply for permanent residency. Ten years of living in the country complying with certain conditions give you a right to be naturalised and to be granted a Spanish passport. 

• The main applicant should comply with a moderate number of requirements set by the immigration authorities in Spain. A foreign investor is not expected to take a test assessing their knowledge of the Spanish language, history, culture and traditions. They are not expected to prove their education or professional qualifications either.
• In accordance with the rules of the residency by investment programme, you need to apply for residency for your whole family. In your application form, you can include:
  • your spouse or partner;
  • your children under 18 years of age;
  • your children under 26 years of age if they are unmarried and financially dependent on the main applicant;
  • your children with mental or physical disabilities (no age restrictions are applied);
  • your parents.

• Most options of investing in the Spanish economy are safe for investors and some are very profitable if you decide to sell your assets and get the invested money back. A person taking part in this programme can select one out of three options requiring from €500,000 to €2,000,000 in investment.
• Your application will be considered within a short period of time. That allows you to obtain your residence card within 2 or 3 months under normal conditions; now, this period has been extended to 4 or 5 months because of the coronavirus pandemic.
• In Spain, unlike in other countries, the fact of acquiring a residence card does not mean that you must remain in the country all the time. A short visit to Spain will suffice.

If you are interested in other residency by investment programmes, you can find relevant information here.

How long is the expiry period for a Spanish visa and residency for investors?

There are two notions that are quite similar and thus are often mixed up – Golden Visa and residency for investors.

Spanish Golden Visa is granted to an investor for 365 days or for half a year if you have decided to invest in real property but your deal has not been formally established yet. Nevertheless, that is still a simple visa in your passport and not a residence card. When you hear about a fast procedure of obtaining residency by investment, it is about the Golden Visa. Another advantage of this type of visa is that you can get it in your home country, in a Spanish visa centre.

Within 6 or 12 months you and your family members will need to go to Spain and apply for residency. In Spain, investors are granted residency for 2 years and they can extend it for additional 5 years.

So if you are currently staying in Spain, you can immediately apply for a residence card. If you make investment staying in your home country, you have the following options:

• You can obtain the Golden Visa and go to Spain to apply for residency afterwards.
• You can apply for a short-term visa, go to Spain and apply for residency by investment. 

1. An applicant should be at least 18 years old.
2. An applicant should have evidence that they have enough legally sourced finances acquired outside the Spanish Kingdom to be used for investment.
3. The main applicant and their dependents that are of age are expected to provide a criminal record certificate for the last 5 years.They are also expected to have committed no violations of immigration laws.
4. A prospective investor and their family should be in good health. They are also expected to have a health insurance policy issued by a private or state-owned company authorised in Spain.

• It should create new jobs.
• It should be in social and economic interests of the region chosen for your business project.
• It should significantly contribute to scientific and technological innovations.

• 6 months in a row;
• 10 months in total during the five years prior to your application for permanent residency.

1. Before they apply for Spanish citizenship, they should live in Spain for the last 5 years as permanent residents.
2. They should provide documents proving they have been staying in the country legally.
3. They are expected to speak Spanish fluently.
4. They are also expected to know Spanish traditions, customs and the way of life.
5. They should not be indebted to tax authorities or any other regulatory body.
6. They are expected to have perfect reputation, i.e. they should have no convictions or violations of immigration laws on their record.
7. They should renounce the citizenship of their home country.