Spanish Parliament Approves Investor Residency Law

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A bill granting qualified Spanish residency and Schengen-area access to non-EU investors has been passed by the Spanish parliament, and now just awaits signature by the King, and publication in the official gazette to become law.

The new law will enable non-EU nationals to get qualified Spanish residency permits in return for investing in real estate (and other assets), leading to permanent residency in Spain if certain conditions are fulfilled.

The threshold for real estate investments is €500,000, which can be spread over more than one property. The new law is also retroactive, so non-EU nationals who have already spent half a million Euros or more on Spanish real estate should also be able to get a residency permit, assuming their paperwork is in order.

Spanish residency, and the ability to travel freely in Europe, are expected to be major attractions for many non-EU investors from countries like Russia and China. It also helps that Spanish property prices have crashed into bargain territory.

But residency investors need to be on their guard and avoid losing sight of the most important concern, which is the quality of the investment. The Spanish property business being what it is, unscrupulous sales outfits will now start using the promise of a residency permit to peddle bad investments to ill-informed non-EU nationals.

The new law should be published in the official gazette in the next few days.

Mark Stucklin writes about Spanish property in his blog and in publications such as the Sunday Times. His labor of love is www.spanishpropertyinsight.com, a resource for buyers, vendors, and investors in Spanish property