Spain Golden Visa Ended in 2025: What Replaced It in 2026

Spain’s golden visa, the residence visa for investors that included buying property, no longer exists for new applicants. Ley Orgánica 1/2025 removed it, and the change took effect on 3 April 2025. You cannot start a new application under it in 2026. People who already held a visa or permit, or had filed an application before that date, are covered by transitional rules.

What changed and when

The investor visa lived in articles 63 to 67 of Ley 14/2013, the entrepreneurs’ law. Final provision 21 of Ley Orgánica 1/2025, “de medidas en materia de eficiencia del Servicio Público de Justicia”, states: “Se dejan sin contenido los artículos 63, 64, 65, 66 y 67.” Those articles covered the investor visa, how to prove the investment, its effects, the residence authorization and its duration. In the consolidated BOE text each now reads “(Sin contenido)” with effect from 3 April 2025.

The law was published in the BOE on 3 January 2025 and, under its final provision 38, entered into force three months after publication. The date of publication and the three-month gap are why you will see both January and April 2025 in news coverage. The legal effect dates from 3 April 2025.

The law is a justice-efficiency law. The golden visa removal sits inside its final provisions, which amend several unrelated laws.

If you already have one

The same law adds two transitional provisions to Ley 14/2013:

Situation	What the law says
You filed an application before 3 April 2025	The visa or authorization can be granted under the rules in force on the filing date (transitional provision 1).
You hold a valid investor visa or permit	It keeps its validity for the time it was issued for (transitional provision 2).
You want to renew	The renewal is processed and decided under the rules in force when your first authorization was granted (transitional provision 2).

The second provision is titled as covering investors through the purchase of real estate. Holders keep their permit and their renewals follow the old rules. New investors cannot enter the route.

The transitional wording refers to the rules at the date of your first authorization, so the immigration office that handles your file is the place to confirm how it applies to you.

Transitional provision 1 refers to both investors and their family members, so a family member’s file filed before the cutoff follows the same rule as the investor’s. The two provisions say nothing about extending the route to anyone who had not filed or been authorized by 3 April 2025.

What you can use instead

No single route replaced it for people who want to buy property and get residence. These remain, with different logic: none of them is tied to property.

Route	Who it fits	Key terms
Non-lucrative visa	Retirees and people living off savings	€28,800 a year single; 1-year first permit, 2-year renewals; no work (RD 1155/2024, arts. 61–64)
Digital nomad visa	Remote workers for non-Spanish companies	€2,442 a month (€2,849 to be safe); visa up to 1 year, permit up to 3 years (Ley 14/2013, arts. 74 bis–74 quinquies)
Entrepreneur residence	People starting a business judged innovative or of special economic interest	3-year permit, renewal for 2 years, permanent residence at 5 years (Ley 14/2013, arts. 69–70)

Owning a home no longer gives residence rights, so the choice of visa depends on whether you will work. The comparison of the first two sets out the differences.

The entrepreneur route

Art. 70 defines an entrepreneurial activity as one that is innovative or of special economic interest for Spain and has a favorable report from ENISA. The unit that handles the application, UGE-CE, requests that report itself and ENISA has ten working days to issue it. The assessment looks at your professional profile, the business plan and its financing, and the value the project adds to the Spanish economy (art. 70.2). Applicants also meet the general requirements of art. 62. If you apply from abroad, you request the visa after the authorization is granted (art. 70.1).

This route is for a real business plan. It is not a replacement for a property investment.

Why the dates confuse people

Three dates circulate: 2 January 2025 (the date of the law), 3 January 2025 (BOE publication) and 3 April 2025 (entry into force). Only the last one matters for an application. A file lodged on or after 3 April 2025 has no investor route to go through, while one lodged before it follows the old rules.

Practical points for 2026

• Property purchases no longer lead to residence, so a 2026 offer that sells a property together with a “golden visa” has no legal basis in articles 63 to 67, which are empty.
• If you hold an old permit, keep the paperwork that shows the date and basis of your first authorization. Renewals follow the rules at that date.
• Tax is a separate question from residence. Living in Spain more than 183 days a year makes you a Spanish tax resident (IRPF art. 9). See Spanish tax residency and the Beckham Law guide.

This guide covers the law as of 7 October 2026. The consolidated BOE texts linked above are the check for any later change.