Spanish Government Grants Over 11,000 Golden Visa Authorizations and Nearly 20,000 Family Reunification Authorizations

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I’m informed that the Spanish government has granted a total of 11,464 individual authorisations since the golden visa was introduced, in addition to 19,805 authorisations for family reunification.

Last year, countries including Ireland, Portugal and Greece cancelled their version of the ‘golden visa’ scheme as critics highlighted a lack of affordable rental housing stock in its major cities. All putting a spin on the EU obliging them to do so as it was permitting too many ‘undesirables’ to get EU rights.

However, housing experts have warned that a cancellation of the scheme could damage the Spanish economy by discouraging crucial investment.
Foreign buyers accounted for 15% of all homes bought in Spain last year, an all-time high – Brits topped the home-buying charts with 8,173 purchases in 2023, closely followed by Germans and the French. However, the Germans and French, like many of the other buyers, are already EU citizens and so don’t need any Golden or other Visa scheme.

And where does that investment go. If they are buying a resale property owned by a non-Spanish, the money will probably leave Spain. If it’s a new property, the money goes to the developer, who may be non-Spanish, the financier, who again may be non-Spanish, but at last to the building contractor and workers, who will be contributing to the Spanish and hopefully local economy. Some though arrive from other parts of Spain or other countries within or outside the EU so more of the money ‘escapes’.