Spain's real estate Golden Visa route ended in April 2025. If you are relocating to the Málaga region and assumed buying property would give you residency, here is what actually applies now.
We still get asked about the Golden Visa most weeks. It is a reasonable question, the scheme ran for over a decade and shaped how a whole generation of international buyers thought about Spain. It no longer exists as a route tied to property, and understanding what replaced it matters more than knowing what used to be true.
Organic Law 1/2025 ended the real estate investment route to Spanish residency.
No new Golden Visa applications tied to a real estate purchase are accepted.
The Non-Lucrative Visa and Digital Nomad Visa are the main routes now used by relocators.
Spain's Golden Visa programme, introduced in 2013, allowed non-EU nationals to obtain Spanish residency in exchange for a qualifying investment, most commonly a real estate purchase of €500,000 or more. Organic Law 1/2025 abolished the real estate route specifically, with the change taking effect on 3 April 2025. The government's stated reasoning centred on housing affordability pressure in certain Spanish markets, rather than anything specific to the Málaga region.
This is not a rumour, a proposal, or a policy still working through parliament, it is settled law and has been in force for well over a year at the time of writing. If an agent, developer, or online source is still marketing a "Golden Visa" as available for a Spanish property purchase, that information is out of date.
If you already hold a Golden Visa: existing holders are not stripped of their status. Renewal generally remains possible provided you maintain the qualifying investment, but the door is closed to new applicants using the property route. If this applies to you, confirm your specific renewal position with an immigration lawyer rather than relying on general guidance.
None of the current routes are tied to a property purchase, which is a meaningful shift in how you should sequence your decisions. Where the Golden Visa let buying come first and residency follow automatically, the current routes require you to qualify for residency on your income or activity, independent of whatever you decide to buy.
Designed for people who can support themselves in Spain without working locally, typically through pensions, investments, rental income, or savings. It requires demonstrating passive income or financial means above a government-set threshold, which is reviewed periodically and should be confirmed with a lawyer at the time you apply, plus private health insurance and a clean criminal record. It does not permit local employment, though remote work for a non-Spanish employer sits in a legal grey area that a specialist lawyer should advise on directly.
Introduced specifically for remote workers, this suits relocators who continue working for a foreign employer or running their own company registered outside Spain. It has its own minimum income threshold and documentation requirements, and unlike the Non-Lucrative Visa it does permit a limited amount of Spanish-sourced income alongside your main foreign income.
Aimed at those starting an "innovative" business in Spain that is expected to generate economic benefit, this route requires a business plan endorsed by Spain's official trade and investment body. It is a narrower fit for most relocating buyers than the Non-Lucrative or Digital Nomad routes, but it remains available and is worth a conversation with a lawyer if it fits your circumstances.
This is the point most people miss in the aftermath of the Golden Visa's abolition: buying property in Spain has never actually required any residency status, and nothing about that has changed. Non-residents can purchase, own, renovate, let, and eventually sell property in the Málaga region exactly as before. What changed is only the specific mechanism that let a property purchase itself unlock a residency permit.
In practice, this means the two decisions, buying a property and obtaining residency, are now fully separate and should be planned as such. Many of our clients are proceeding exactly as they would have before: buying the property they want in the Málaga region, using it as a second home or eventual full-time residence, and pursuing a Non-Lucrative or Digital Nomad Visa application in parallel, on its own timeline and its own merits, through an immigration lawyer rather than through us or through the property transaction itself.
If your original plan assumed a property purchase would carry a visa with it, you need a revised plan with two separate work streams running at the same time rather than one after the other. The property search, valuation, negotiation and purchase process is unaffected by any of this and proceeds exactly as it always has. The residency question needs its own specialist, engaged early enough that any income documentation, health insurance, or business paperwork is ready when you actually want to move.
We introduce clients to an independent immigration lawyer as a matter of course when residency is part of their plan, in the same way we introduce every client to an independent conveyancing lawyer for the purchase itself. Neither relationship earns us a referral fee, both exist because getting this wrong costs you months, not because it benefits us to make the introduction.
No. Spain abolished the real estate investment route to the Golden Visa through Organic Law 1/2025, effective 3 April 2025. No new applications based on property investment are accepted. Existing Golden Visa holders can generally still renew, provided they maintain their qualifying investment.
There is no single best alternative, it depends on your situation. The Non-Lucrative Visa suits those living off passive income or savings without working in Spain. The Digital Nomad Visa suits those continuing to work remotely for a non-Spanish employer or their own foreign company. Neither is tied to a property purchase.
Yes. Buying property in Spain has never required residency status, and that has not changed. You can purchase, own, and use a property in the Málaga region as a non-resident, and apply for a residency visa separately and on its own merits if and when you want to live there full time.
If your goal is residency, yes, an immigration lawyer who specialises in the Non-Lucrative or Digital Nomad Visa routes is essential, since the requirements, income thresholds and documentation differ meaningfully from the old Golden Visa process. If your goal is only to own a property without living there full time, this is not required.
We introduce every client to an independent immigration lawyer alongside your property search. Book a free call to talk through the full picture.