Spain abolished its golden visa in April 2025. The scheme that granted residency in exchange for a €500,000 property investment no longer exists, and much of the advice still online predates the change.
If a website or an agent is still selling “buy a home, get residency,” they are working from old information. Buying a property on the Costa del Sol does not, on its own, give you the right to live in Spain full-time.
What that means for a British buyer
For most of my clients this changes less than they expect. Owning a holiday or second home was never dependent on the golden visa. You can still buy freely, and spend time here under the visa-free rules (see the 90/180-day rule). What’s gone is only the fast track to residency by property purchase.
If your plan is to live in Spain, rather than visit, you now go through a proper visa route, and several remain very much open.
The routes that still work
- The Non-Lucrative Visa (NLV). For people who can support themselves without working in Spain: retirees and the financially independent. You show sufficient income or savings and private health cover. It’s long-established and popular with British buyers who are moving over properly. The 2026 income test, the insurance and where to apply are set out in Spain’s non-lucrative visa for UK citizens.
- The Digital Nomad Visa. For remote workers and the self-employed working for companies outside Spain. It came in relatively recently and suits a wave of younger buyers who can work from anywhere. The 2026 requirements, the income test and the tax option are in Spain’s digital nomad visa.
- Standard work and family routes. As for any non-EU country, employment, self-employment and family-reunification routes exist with their own conditions.
Owning here and living here are two different questions. Buy the home freely, and choose the visa route separately, with proper advice.
The honest caveat
Visa rules change, thresholds move, and the detail matters enormously. This is where you want a specialist immigration lawyer, not a property agent playing one. What I can do is make sure you understand the landscape before you commit to a purchase, and introduce you to the right independent professionals when you need them.
If your dream is a life on the coast rather than a fortnight of it, let’s talk it through. I’ll be straight with you about how the pieces fit.
This is general, dated guidance (2026), and immigration rules change. Always take advice from a qualified Spanish immigration lawyer for your own situation.
What this relates to
The same subject, for buyers abroad
Pages written for buyers in other countries, in their own language, covering what changes for them.
- United States: How long Americans can stay in Spain
- Netherlands: Verblijf en residentie in Spanje voor EU-burgers
- Germany: Länger bleiben: Anmeldung in Spanien und der deutsche Wohnsitz
- Poland: NIE, rejestracja i pobyt w Hiszpanii dla obywateli Polski
- Sweden: NIE-nummer och residencia för svenskar
- Norway: Opphold, NIE og registrering for nordmenn i Spania
