Golden Visa Spain:
All you need to know

The Golden Visa enables Non-European Union citizens to attain qualified residency permits in return for investing in Spain.

Spain has been seeking since 2013 to attract talent and investors to the country, granting visas and residence authorizations to it. These permits, popularly called Golden Visa are aimed at investors, entrepreneurs or workers who carry out intra-corporate movements, highly qualified professionals and researchers, through an agile and fast procedure. 

Foreigners who intend to enter or reside, or who already reside, in Spain will be facilitated their entry and stay in Spanish territory for reasons of economic interest. The beneficiaries can be:

• Investors
• Entrepreneurs
• Highly qualified professionals
• Researchers
• Workers who carry out intra-company movements within the same company or group of companies.

The Golden Visa does not apply to citizens of the European Union and to those foreigners to whom the law of the European Union applies, as they already have the rights of free movement and residence.

The applicant must comply, as a basis, the following:

• Not be in Spain in an irregular situation.
• Be over 18 years or age
• Not having a criminal record in Spain and in the countries where you have resided in the last 5 years for crimes provided for in the Spanish legal system. This will be checked by the Spanish police.
• Not having been rejected in countries with which Spain has signed agreements.
• Have public insurance or private health insurance from an insurance company authorized to operate in Spain.
• Have sufficient financial resources for yourself and for the members of your family during your period of residence in Spain.
• Have paid the Golden Visa processing fee and present the corresponding application form.

If you have made a significant investment in Spain during the last year, or are willing to do it soon, you can benefit from the residence regime for investors.

In order to qualify for the Golden Visa you must invest at least a minimum amount in one of the different areas proposed. These are the different types of investment that a foreigner can make to obtain their residence visa:

• Invest at least € 2,000,000 in Spanish public debt securities.
• Invest, at least, € 1,000,000 in shares or social participations of Spanish companies.
• Invest at least € 1,000,000 in bank deposits in Spanish financial institutions.
• Buy real estate in Spain for at least € 500,000 for each applicant (most frequent option)
• Develop a business project in Spain that is of general interest and that meets at least one of the following conditions: that jobs are created; that an investment with a significant socio-economic impact be made in the area where the activity is to be carried out; relevant contribution to scientific or technological innovation.

A representative, appointed by the investor and duly accredited, may obtain the residence visa for investors to manage a project of general interest as long as the project meets the necessary conditions.

It is highly recommended that the person who processes your Golden Visa application is a Spanish lawyer with sufficient experience in these processes.

The authorized lawyer, in addition to filling out and sending the application with the official form, will advise you on your specific case, providing all the necessary information to make it a quick, transparent and successful procedure.

• Investors in real estate assets with a deposit contract: visa / authorization 6 months.
• Investor visa: 1 year.
• Initial authorization for investor: 2 years.
• Investor authorization renewal: 5 years. No effective residency is required for renewal.

Yes. At any time they may request, jointly or successively, the authorization or visa:

• Spouse or partner and deed.
• Minor or older children who are financially dependent on the owner.
• Ancestors in charge.

• The Golden Visa enables you and your family to work and reside throughout the national territory.
• In general cases, once submitted the application, resolutions are notified in: 
  – Visas: 10 days.
  – Authorizations: 20 days.
• The request for the residence authorization or its renewal at the Unidad de Grandes Empresas y Colectivos Estratégicos (UGE-CE) automatically extends the stay or residence of the applicant in Spain until the procedural resolution.

The Law does not establish the obligation of personal appearance of the applicant, so the applicant can do so through a duly accredited representative such as an expert lawyer in Golden Visa.

The Golden Visa expert lawyer will compile all the necessary information and the essential requirements, such as the declaration of the investment made. Once all the necessary documents have been collected, he will fill in the model established for each specific case. At this time, the fees must be paid and all the documentation and the application form will be presented to the corresponding Spanish institution in each case.

Once presented, the General Directorate of Spaniards Abroad and Consular and Migratory Affairs will request the mandatory report from the General Directorate of the Police, to confirm that the criminal record requirements are met and that they have not been rejected from another country.