A Grand Tour of Spanish Visas

Family. On the Non-Lucrative and Digital Nomad routes your spouse or registered partner and dependent children apply with you, at the added income shown on the earlier pages. Once you have held residence for a year you may bring further relatives, including dependent parents, under family reunification, and those permits now renew for four years. Children born here to legal residents can acquire nationality after a year.

Students. A place at a recognised Spanish institution, funds of about €600 a month, insurance and a clean record. Students may work up to thirty hours a week and, under the 2025 regulation, the permit runs for the length of the course and can be switched to a work permit from inside Spain. For families with older children this is often the neatest way to give a son or daughter their own footing here.

The Golden Visa. From 2013 a €500,000 property purchase carried residency with no minimum stay. Spain abolished the route on 3 April 2025. Applications lodged before that date are honoured, and existing holders keep their rights and continue to renew, but no new application is possible and no property purchase, of any size, now grants residence on its own.

What that means in practice is smaller than the headlines suggested. Buyers who wanted a base for a few months a year still have the 90 in 180 allowance and never needed a visa. Buyers who want to live here full time have the Non-Lucrative and Digital Nomad routes, which ask for evidence of income rather than an investment. The property purchase itself is unchanged: non-residents buy, own, let and sell freely, with an NIE and a Spanish bank account.

Residency and tax residency are different things. A visa gives you the right to be here. Spending more than 183 days in a calendar year, or having your main economic interests here, makes you a Spanish tax resident whether or not you hold a permit, and taxes your worldwide income and, above the thresholds, worldwide wealth. Every full-time route on these pages crosses that line, and the Non-Lucrative renewal now expects it. Plan the year you arrive with an adviser, because timing the move to the second half of a year can matter a great deal.

The Beckham regime. Digital Nomad, Highly Qualified and employed arrivals who have not been Spanish tax resident in the previous five years may elect to be taxed as non-residents for six years: a flat 24% on Spanish employment income to €600,000, and most foreign income and assets outside Spanish scope. It suits salaried movers well and those living on investment income less well. Elect within six months of registering.

Wealth and inheritance. Andalucía relieves regional wealth tax and most family inheritance tax almost entirely, which is a large part of why the coast attracts the buyers it does. Spain’s national solidarity tax still reaches very large net estates, broadly above €3 million after allowances. Neither is a reason to avoid a visa; both are reasons to structure before you land.

Buying needs no visa. Non-residents purchase with an NIE, a Spanish bank account and, if they wish, a power of attorney signed at home. Costs are the same as for residents: 7% transfer tax on a resale, 10% VAT and 1.2% stamp duty on a new build, plus notary, registry and legal fees. Ownership does not help a visa application, but a home already bought is accepted as your address and shows commitment to a stay.

Letting it out. Non-resident owners who let a property pay Spanish income tax on the rent, quarterly, and file a small annual return even when it stands empty. A visa does not change that until you become tax resident, when rental income folds into your Spanish return instead.