spain golden visa cost
Spain Golden Visa Cost 2026: What Replaced It
Every page still quoting a Spain golden visa cost is pricing something that stopped existing on 3 April 2025, when the investor route was struck out of Spanish law by a statute about court reform. That matters if you were budgeting around EUR 500,000 of Spanish property, because the routes that replaced it test your monthly income rather than your capital, and one of them makes you a Spanish tax resident by design. We read the repeal in the Boletín Oficial del Estado, took the money tests from the 2024 immigration regulation and the February 2026 minimum-wage decree, and priced what is left for a single applicant, a couple and a family of four.
Key takeaways
There is no Spain golden visa cost in 2026 because there is no Spain golden visa. The twenty-first final provision of Ley Orgánica 1/2025 left articles 63 to 67 of Ley 14/2013 with no content, with effect from 3 April 2025, and the consolidated text on the Boletín Oficial del Estado now prints each of those five articles as "(Sin contenido)".
While it was open the thresholds were EUR 500,000 in Spanish real estate per applicant, EUR 1,000,000 in shares of Spanish companies, in Spanish bank deposits or in funds constituted in Spain, or EUR 2,000,000 in Spanish public debt. The visa ran one year and the residence authorisation that followed ran three, raised from two by Ley 28/2022.
Existing holders keep what they hold. A transitional provision inserted into Ley 14/2013 says visas and authorisations valid on 3 April 2025 keep that validity for their term, and that renewal applications are decided under the rules in force when the initial authorisation was granted. Its heading names only investors who bought property; its operative text does not.
The replacement money tests are percentages, not fixed prices, which is why competing pages go stale. Non-lucrative residence asks for 400 per cent of the IPREM a month plus 100 per cent per dependant, or EUR 2,400 and EUR 600, at the IPREM of EUR 600 carried over from 2023. International teleworking asks for 200 per cent of the minimum wage, which at the 2026 figure of EUR 17,094 a year is EUR 34,188.
The cheap replacement carries a string the golden visa never had. Renewing a non-lucrative permit requires more than 183 days of real and effective residence in Spain in the calendar year, which is the Spanish tax-residence test. The investor route explicitly allowed renewal with absences of more than six months a year.
On this page
This guide runs from the repeal itself to the routes that are left, in the order the decision gets made. The renderer on this site does not emit heading anchors, so the list below is a map rather than a set of jump links.
- Spain golden visa cost in 2026: there is no price left to pay
- What the Spain golden visa cost while it was open
- Renewals: what existing golden visa holders pay now
- The Spanish residence routes that are still open
- The 2026 income tests in euros, for one person and for a family
- The 183-day catch the golden visa never had
- Spain against the golden visas that are still open
- What to get in writing before you commit
- Related guides on Domicila
Spain golden visa cost in 2026: there is no price left to pay
The honest answer to what a Spanish golden visa costs in 2026 is that the question no longer has an answer. The investor route was not suspended, paused or repriced. It was deleted from the statute book, and the vehicle was a law about courts.
Ley Orgánica 1/2025, of 2 January, is an overhaul of the Spanish justice service. Its twenty-first final provision does something that has nothing to do with courts: it leaves articles 63, 64, 65, 66 and 67 of Ley 14/2013 without content, with effect from 3 April 2025. Those five articles were the whole programme. They created the investor visa, set out how you proved the investment, stated what the visa entitled you to, created the residence authorisation that followed it and fixed how long that authorisation lasted.
| Date | What changed | Where it is written |
|---|---|---|
| 2 January 2025 | Ley Orgánica 1/2025 approved | BOE-A-2025-76 |
| 3 January 2025 | Published in the Boletín Oficial del Estado | Same reference |
| 3 April 2025 | Articles 63 to 67 of Ley 14/2013 left without content; no new investor applications | Disposición final vigesimoprimera, apartado 1 |
| 3 April 2025 | Applications already lodged continue under the old rules | Ley 14/2013, disposición transitoria primera |
| 20 May 2025 | New immigration regulation in force, with no investor category | Real Decreto 1155/2024 |
Keep those dates straight, because sales pages blur them. The law was approved on 2 January 2025 and published the next day, but it did not bite for three months. An application lodged up to 2 April 2025 is still processed under the old rules. Anything after that has nowhere to go, because there is no form, no fee and no official with the power to grant one.
The category did not quietly reappear elsewhere either. Real Decreto 1155/2024, the regulation that replaced the 2011 immigration rules and came into force on 20 May 2025, contains no investor residence category. The government's own investor and entrepreneur residence portal now lists entrepreneurs, highly qualified professionals, international teleworkers, researchers and intra-company transfers, and carries a notice explaining that the investor route is gone. So the rest of this page answers the two questions that still have answers: what existing holders pay to keep what they have, and what the alternatives actually cost.
What the Spain golden visa cost while it was open
The historic thresholds still matter, both for anyone arguing about a renewal and for anyone comparing what Spain asked against what Portugal and Greece ask now. They are readable in the version of article 63 that applied until 2 April 2025, as rewritten by Ley 25/2015.
| Investment route | Minimum | Article |
|---|---|---|
| Spanish real estate | EUR 500,000 per applicant | 63.2(b) |
| Shares in Spanish companies with real business activity | EUR 1,000,000 | 63.2(a)(2) |
| Deposits in Spanish financial institutions | EUR 1,000,000 | 63.2(a)(4) |
| Investment funds, closed-end funds or venture capital funds constituted in Spain | EUR 1,000,000 | 63.2(a)(3) |
| Spanish public debt | EUR 2,000,000 | 63.2(a)(1) |
| Business project of general interest | No figure; judged on job creation, socio-economic impact or innovation | 63.2(c) |
Two details rarely survive into the comparison pages. The first is that a couple married in community of property who invested less than double the threshold counted as a single investor, with the other spouse applying as a family member rather than as a second investor. The second is that the investment could be made through a company the applicant controlled, provided that company was not domiciled in a jurisdiction Spain treats as a tax haven.
The visa itself lasted one year. The residence authorisation that followed lasted three years from the start, an increase from two introduced by Ley 28/2022 in December 2022, and was renewed in blocks after that. Government charges were trivial beside the investment, which is why the honest comparison was never the fee but the capital you had to immobilise and the Spanish tax that came with holding it. Our golden visa cost comparison applies the same test to the programmes that are still selling.
Renewals: what existing golden visa holders pay now
Ley Orgánica 1/2025 did not strip anybody of a permit. It inserted two transitional provisions into Ley 14/2013, and between them they cover everyone who was already in the system on 3 April 2025.
| Provision | What it says | Who it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Disposición transitoria primera | Investors and their family members who lodged an application before the provision took effect may receive the visa or authorisation under the rules in force on the date they applied | Applications already in the pipeline |
| Disposición transitoria segunda | Visas and authorisations valid at that date keep their validity for the term they were issued for, and renewal applications are processed and decided under the rules in force when the initial authorisation was granted | Existing holders |
One wrinkle is worth a lawyer rather than an agent. The heading of the second provision reads "Renovaciones de visados y autorizaciones para inversores por adquisición de bienes inmuebles", which limits it to investors who bought real estate. Its operative text says "los visados y autorizaciones para inversores" with no such limit. A heading in a Spanish statute is not the rule, and the wider wording is the one that governs, but if your route was public debt or fund units rather than property it is a point to have argued on paper before you file.
What renewal actually demands is continuity rather than new money. Ley 14/2013 requires holders to maintain the conditions that gave them access to the permit throughout its validity, and to notify any change affecting those conditions to the large-enterprise unit within 30 days. The government's investor page adds that renewals are supported by a report from the ministry's commercial policy directorate confirming the investment is still held. Sell the flat, redeem the fund units or withdraw the deposit and the basis for the renewal goes with it.
So the running cost of a Spanish golden visa in 2026 is the cost of not selling: the capital stays where it is, the Spanish taxes attached to holding it keep accruing, and the permit keeps renewing on the old terms. There is no new government charge created by the repeal and no route back in if you exit the investment.
The Spanish residence routes that are still open
Spain did not close its doors, it closed one door. The residence programme for investors and entrepreneurs still exists and still runs through the Unidad de Grandes Empresas y Colectivos Estratégicos, which decides in 20 working days. What changed is that every remaining route tests what you do or what you earn, not what you can transfer.
| Route | What it tests | Initial term | Decided by |
|---|---|---|---|
| International teleworking (digital nomad) | Income from employers or clients outside Spain, plus a degree or three years of experience | Visa up to 1 year, then an authorisation up to 3 years | Consulate, or the large-enterprise unit from inside Spain |
| Entrepreneur | An innovative business or one of special economic interest to Spain, on a favourable ENISA report | 3 years, renewable for 2 | Large-enterprise unit |
| Highly qualified professional or EU Blue Card | A job offer at the required qualification level | Tied to the contract | Large-enterprise unit |
| Non-lucrative residence | Passive income or savings, and no work at all | 1 year, renewed for 2 | Consulate, then the local immigration office |
| Intra-company transfer, training and research | Employer or institution led | Varies | Large-enterprise unit |
The teleworking route is the closest thing Spain has to a replacement for the investor visa, in the sense that it is open to someone with no Spanish employer and no Spanish company. It is not a like-for-like swap. It bars you from working for Spanish companies beyond 20 per cent of your professional activity, it requires the relationship with the foreign company to have run at least three months, and it requires the company itself to have been trading for at least a year.
The entrepreneur route is the only remaining one where capital helps, and it is not a threshold. There is no minimum investment written anywhere in articles 69 and 70. What the file turns on is a preceptive report from ENISA, the state innovation agency, on whether the activity is innovative or of special economic interest. Money in the plan makes that report easier to win; it does not buy it.
The 2026 income tests in euros, for one person and for a family
Both of the self-funded routes state their money test as a percentage of an index rather than a number, which is exactly why so many comparison pages are wrong. Get the two indices right and the arithmetic is simple.
The IPREM is the Spanish public income indicator. Ley 31/2022 set it at EUR 20 a day, EUR 600 a month and EUR 7,200 a year for 2023, and because no later budget has been approved that figure has carried over into 2024, 2025 and 2026 unchanged. The minimum wage did move: Real Decreto 126/2026, of 18 February, fixed it at EUR 1,221 a month in 14 payments, EUR 17,094 a year, with effect from 1 January 2026.
| Household | Non-lucrative, 400% IPREM plus 100% each | International teleworking, 200% SMI plus 75% then 25% |
|---|---|---|
| One applicant | EUR 2,400 a month, EUR 28,800 a year | EUR 2,849 a month, EUR 34,188 a year |
| Couple | EUR 3,000 a month, EUR 36,000 a year | EUR 3,917 a month, EUR 47,009 a year |
| Couple and one child | EUR 3,600 a month, EUR 43,200 a year | EUR 4,274 a month, EUR 51,282 a year |
| Couple and two children | EUR 4,200 a month, EUR 50,400 a year | EUR 4,630 a month, EUR 55,556 a year |
The multiples come from the rules, not from an agent. Article 62 of the 2024 immigration regulation sets the non-lucrative test at 400 per cent of the IPREM monthly for the applicant and 100 per cent additionally for each dependent family member. The consular requirement sheets for the teleworking visa set it at 200 per cent of the gross minimum wage for the applicant, 75 per cent for the first accompanying family member and 25 per cent for each one after that.
Watch the year on any figure you are given, including from a consulate. The requirement sheet we read still illustrates the percentages with the 2023 minimum wage of EUR 15,120 a year, which understates the 2026 test by roughly EUR 4,000. The percentages are the rule; the euro figure attached to them is only as current as the decree behind it. Our digital nomad visa cost comparison does the same conversion for the other European remote-work visas, and the Greece digital nomad visa cost page covers the nearest competitor to Spain's.
The 183-day catch the golden visa never had
This is the part of the swap that changes people's tax lives, and almost nobody writes it down. The golden visa was famously undemanding about presence. A specific provision of Ley 14/2013 says renewal may go ahead even where the holder has been absent for more than six months in the year, for investor visas and authorisations and for employees of foreign companies based in Spain. You could hold Spanish residence and be a tax resident somewhere else.
The non-lucrative permit does not work that way. Renewal requires having resided in Spain in a real and effective manner for more than 183 days in the calendar year, written into article 64 of the 2024 regulation as a requirement in its own right, alongside keeping the health insurance and having the children in school.
| Route | Minimum presence in Spain | Where it is written |
|---|---|---|
| Investor authorisation, until 3 April 2025 | None; renewal allowed despite absences over six months a year | Ley 14/2013, disposición adicional sexta |
| Non-lucrative renewal | More than 183 days in the calendar year | Real Decreto 1155/2024, article 64.2(f) |
| International teleworking renewal | No day count in the article; the conditions must be maintained | Ley 14/2013, article 74 quinquies |
More than 183 days in Spain in a calendar year is also the first test of Spanish tax residence, so the renewal condition and the tax trigger are the same number. Anyone moving from a golden visa mindset to a non-lucrative permit should treat Spanish worldwide taxation as the base case and take Spanish tax advice before the first renewal year, not after it. Nothing here is tax advice, and the personal allowances, regional wealth taxes and any special regime you might qualify for are all facts about you rather than about the visa.
Spain against the golden visas that are still open
If the point of the exercise was a European residence permit bought with capital, Spain is simply off the list and the shortlist is shorter than it was five years ago. Here is where the remaining programmes stand, with the figures each government publishes.
| Country | Open to new investors | Headline investment | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spain | No | — | Investor route deleted with effect from 3 April 2025 |
| Portugal | Yes | EUR 500,000 in qualifying funds | Real estate is excluded; AIMA charges each applicant separately, on the fee table in force since 1 March 2026 |
| Greece | Yes | EUR 250,000, EUR 400,000 or EUR 800,000 | Tier depends on location and on whether the property is a conversion or restoration, per the ministry circular of 24 September 2024 |
| Malta | Residence only | EUR 375,000 purchase or EUR 14,000 a year rent | Plus an administrative fee and a contribution; the citizenship route was struck down by the Court of Justice on 29 April 2025 |
| United Arab Emirates | Yes | AED 2,000,000 in property | Ten-year renewable residence, no income tax on individuals |
Portugal is the closest substitute in practice, because it is the other large EU programme with a real path to citizenship, but the shape of the deal has changed there too: property has been out since 2023, so the qualifying route is a fund subscription rather than an apartment. The Portugal golden visa cost page carries the current AIMA fee table, and Portugal golden visa funds covers what the fund route actually involves.
Greece is the cheaper entry and still allows property, which is what most people leaving the Spanish market are looking for, but the tiering introduced in 2024 means the EUR 250,000 figure applies to a narrow set of conversions and restorations rather than to an ordinary flat in Athens. For a view of the whole field rather than one country, golden visa countries lists what is open, and cheapest golden visa explains why the lowest advertised threshold is rarely the lowest real cost.
What to get in writing before you commit
If you are an existing holder, ask your lawyer for three things in writing: confirmation of the exact date your initial authorisation was granted, since that date fixes the rules your renewals are judged under; confirmation that the transitional provision applies to your investment route and not only to property, given the mismatch between its heading and its text; and a schedule of what evidence the commercial policy directorate will want that the investment is still held.
If you are starting from scratch, the first question is not which visa but how many days a year you intend to be in Spain. Under 183 and the non-lucrative route will not renew. Over 183 and you are a Spanish tax resident whichever permit you hold, so the tax question should be settled before the immigration one. Anyone quoting you a price for a Spanish golden visa in 2026 has told you everything you need to know about their sources.
Both remaining self-funded routes measure your income in euros while most applicants are paid in something else. Converting at a bank's retail rate rather than the mid-market rate is a real cost on income you have to evidence every year, so compare the spread before you set up the account the statements will come from.
Related guides on Domicila
If Spain is off the table, these are the comparisons that do the most work next:
- Golden visa cost comparison — Portugal, Greece, the UAE and Malta with the full fee tables
- Golden visa countries — which residency-by-investment programmes are still open
- Portugal golden visa cost — the closest substitute, with the current AIMA charges
- Cheapest golden visa — why the lowest advertised threshold is rarely the lowest real cost
- Citizenship by investment vs golden visa — what a passport buys that a residence permit does not
- Golden visa health insurance requirements — the cover these permits demand, and what will not qualify
Common questions
How much does the Spain golden visa cost in 2026?
It has no cost because it cannot be bought. The twenty-first final provision of Ley Orgánica 1/2025 left articles 63 to 67 of Ley 14/2013 without content with effect from 3 April 2025, and those articles were the entire investor visa and investor residence authorisation. The consolidated text published by the Boletín Oficial del Estado shows each of the five articles as having no content.
What did the Spanish golden visa cost before it closed?
The qualifying investments were EUR 500,000 in Spanish real estate per applicant, EUR 1,000,000 in shares of Spanish companies with real business activity, EUR 1,000,000 in deposits at Spanish financial institutions, EUR 1,000,000 in funds constituted in Spain, or EUR 2,000,000 in Spanish public debt. A business project of general interest also qualified, with no figure attached. Those thresholds sat in article 63 of Ley 14/2013 as rewritten by Ley 25/2015.
Can I still renew a Spanish golden visa I already hold?
Yes. A transitional provision inserted into Ley 14/2013 by the repealing law says visas and authorisations valid on 3 April 2025 keep their validity for the term they were issued for, and that renewal applications are processed and decided under the rules in force when the initial authorisation was granted. You must still hold the investment and keep meeting the conditions that gave you the permit.
Does the transitional provision cover investors who did not buy property?
Its operative text refers to visas and authorisations for investors generally, with no restriction by route. Its heading, however, names renewals for investors by acquisition of real estate. The wider operative wording is the one that governs in Spanish law, but the mismatch is real, so an investor whose route was public debt, shares or fund units should have the point confirmed in writing before filing a renewal.
What is the closest replacement for the Spanish golden visa?
There is no capital-based replacement. The routes still open under the investor and entrepreneur programme are international teleworking, entrepreneurship on a favourable ENISA report, highly qualified employment, intra-company transfer, training and research. Outside that programme the non-lucrative residence permit is the usual choice for someone living on savings or passive income. None of them accepts an investment in place of the qualifying condition.
How much income do the Spanish alternatives require in 2026?
Non-lucrative residence requires 400 per cent of the IPREM monthly for the applicant and 100 per cent additionally per dependent family member, which is EUR 2,400 and EUR 600 a month at the IPREM of EUR 600 that has applied since 2023. The international teleworking route requires 200 per cent of the minimum wage for the applicant, 75 per cent for the first family member and 25 per cent for each further one, which at the 2026 minimum wage of EUR 17,094 a year is EUR 34,188, EUR 12,821 and EUR 4,274.
Will a Spanish residence permit make me a Spanish tax resident?
The permit does not, but the days do. Spain treats more than 183 days of presence in a calendar year as the primary test of tax residence, and renewing a non-lucrative permit requires more than 183 days of real and effective residence in the calendar year, so that route points at Spanish tax residence by design. The old investor authorisation was explicitly renewable despite absences of more than six months a year. Take Spanish tax advice on your own facts before you move.
Why do some sites still advertise a Spain golden visa application?
Because the pages have not been updated, or because the firm is collecting enquiries it intends to route into a different programme. The repealing law was published on 3 January 2025 and took effect on 3 April 2025, and the immigration regulation that came into force on 20 May 2025 contains no investor category. Any page offering to file a new Spanish investor application is describing a procedure that no Spanish authority can complete.
Official sources to verify
- Ley Orgánica 1/2025, de 2 de enero, de medidas en materia de eficiencia del Servicio Público de Justicia (texto consolidado)Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado, Spain
- Ley 14/2013, de apoyo a los emprendedores y su internacionalización (texto consolidado, artículos 63 a 67 sin contenido)Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado, Spain
- Real Decreto 1155/2024, Reglamento de la Ley Orgánica 4/2000 (residencia no lucrativa, artículos 61 a 64)Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado, Spain
- Real Decreto 126/2026, de 18 de febrero, por el que se fija el salario mínimo interprofesional para 2026Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado, Spain
- Ley 31/2022, de Presupuestos Generales del Estado para 2023 — disposición adicional nonagésima (IPREM)Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado, Spain
- Programa de Residencia para Inversores y Emprendedores — InversoresMinisterio de Economía, Comercio y Empresa, Spain
- Visado de residencia de teletrabajo de carácter internacional — requisitosConsulado General de España en Santiago de Chile
- Circular on the permanent investor residence permit (B.5), 24 September 2024Hellenic Ministry of Migration and Asylum
- Golden visaThe Official Portal of the UAE Government (u.ae)
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