MADRID (Reuters) – Spain will abolish the so-called “golden visa” program which grants residency rights to foreigners who make significant real estate investments in the country, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Monday.
Eliminating this program would make access to affordable housing “a right and no longer a speculative activity,” he said.
The Spanish Golden Visa is a three-year residence and work permit granted to non-EU investors and their families for the purchase of property in the country worth 500,000 euros or more.
“Today, 94 visas out of 100 are linked to real estate investment (…) in large cities where the market is very tight and where it is almost impossible to find decent housing for those who live and work there and pay their taxes there,” declared the head of the Spanish government.
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The government will launch the procedure for abolishing the scheme on Tuesday during the weekly meeting of the Council of Ministers, after examining a report presented by the Ministry of Housing, said Pedro Sanchez.
Golden visas for real estate investment were introduced in Spain in 2013 under the government of Mariano Rajoy.
Neighboring Portugal recently revamped its own “golden visa” regime and excluded property investment to tackle its own housing crisis.
The European Commission has long called for all of these programs to be scrapped, citing security risks.
(Reporting David Latona; French version Diana Mandiá, editing by Kate Entringer)
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