THE Golden Visa scheme officially ends in Spain this week, removing yet another path to residency for Brits in the post-Brexit era.
The move comes 12 months after Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez first announced his decision to scrap the scheme, citing a need to reduce ‘speculation’ of the property market.
Sanchez has also threatened to implement a ‘100% tax’ on property purchases made by British and other foreign buyers, although he has failed to explain what that would entail.
The Golden Visa programme, first launched in 2013, allows people from outside the EU to become a resident in Spain if they spend €500,000 on real estate or certain business investments.
Estate agents questioned how much the scheme would free up homes for everyday Spaniards, given that the majority of families are not looking for homes worth half a million euros.
The Golden Visa will officially cease on Thursday after first being introduced by the conservative Partido Popular (PP) party in 2013.
The PP hoped it would inject some much-needed cash into the economy following the 2008 financial crash and ensuing collapse of the Spanish property market.
But critics feared it would allow black money to enter the country while letting questionable people ‘purchase’ residency.
After 11 years since being introduced, more than 14,500 residency permits were granted via Golden Visas, data from the national government shows.
And just six provinces in the country accounted for 90% of said permits; Barcelona, Madrid, Malaga, Alicante, the Balearic Islands and Valencia.
While it is true that applications surged among Brits in the years after Brexit, the overwhelming majority actually came from Chinese and Russian citizens – the latter of which saw a spike after the outbreak of the Ukraine war.
