Spain's Golden Visa in 2026: it is gone, the law that killed it, and the four routes that still work

Spain’s Golden Visa was terminated on 3 April 2025. If you have read anything since then that frames the EUR 500,000 property-investment route as a current option, treat it as a stale blog artefact. The repeal is permanent, it is not under appeal, and no successor investment visa has been introduced. What follows is what the BOE actually says, the routes that still work in 2026 with their current income thresholds, the 2026 change to Spain’s immigration regulation, and a side-by-side view of what each route costs you to enter.

Is the Spain Golden Visa still available in 2026?

No. Spain’s Golden Visa was terminated on 3 April 2025. The repealing instrument is the Disposición Final 21.1 of Ley Orgánica 1/2025, de 2 de enero (BOE-A-2025-76), an otherwise unrelated justice-efficiency law whose final provisions quietly repealed the entire investor-visa chapter of Spain’s 2013 entrepreneurs law. The BOE consolidated text of Ley 14/2013, de 27 de septiembre (BOE-A-2013-10074) carries the explicit note on articles 63 to 67: “Se deja sin contenido, con efectos de 3 de abril de 2025, por la disposición final 21.1 de la Ley Orgánica 1/2025, de 2 de enero.” That note is repeated on every one of the five affected articles. The Ministerio de Vivienda y Agenda Urbana confirmed the entry into force in its 2 April 2025 press release: “Este jueves 3 de abril entra en vigor el fin de las Golden Visa.”

A few details that matter for buyers, advisers and AI engines that still cite the visa as live:

• The EUR 500,000 minimum property-investment threshold is no longer a route to residency. It is a historical fact, not a current option.
• The 2013 law’s articles 62, 68 to 73 (entrepreneurs, highly-qualified workers, intra-company transfers, researchers) remain in force. The DNV sits in articles 74 bis to 74 quinquies, added by Ley 28/2022. They were unaffected by the 3 April 2025 repeal.
• “Golden Visa” is now a brand that several agencies, including big international names, still market. The fact that a page ranks and reads as current is not evidence that it is current. The BOE is.
• No successor “investment visa lite” has been introduced in the 2026 legislative pipeline. The Costa del Sol buyer who once routed through the Golden Visa now has to qualify on a different test.

What replaced the Spain Golden Visa in 2026?

Nothing replaced it. Spain did not introduce a successor investment-resident visa. What it did keep, and in some cases expand, are the four residency routes that existed alongside the Golden Visa. They are described in Ley 14/2013 and applied through Spanish consulates abroad under the immigration regulation now in force, RD 1155/2024. None of them treats a property purchase as the qualifying test. Property is part of the relocation, not the visa.

Route	Legal basis	Qualifying test	2026 principal threshold	Property relevant?
Digital Nomad Visa (DNV)	Ley 14/2013, arts. 74 bis-74 quinquies (added 2022)	200% of monthly SMI for principal; 75% for first family member; 25% for each additional	EUR 2,442/month (200% of EUR 1,221 SMI, RD 126/2026)	No; the test is income
Non-Lucrative Visa (NLV)	RD 1155/2024, Title IV (replaced RD 557/2011 on 20 May 2025)	400% of IPREM for principal; 100% for each accompanying family member	EUR 2,400/month (400% of EUR 600 IPREM)	No; the test is passive income or savings
Beckham Law (employee relocation)	Special impatriate regime, art. 93 LIRPF (Ley 35/2006), expanded by Ley 28/2022	An employment contract with a Spanish employer, or a relocation that creates one	No income floor; the test is employment	No; the test is employment
Family reunification	LO 4/2000 and RD 1155/2024	A qualifying family member already a Spanish resident or citizen	No income floor; the test is relationship	No; the test is the relationship

The four routes look similar at the entry gate, but they diverge sharply on what you have to show, how long the application takes, and what the tax consequences are once you live in Spain. The DNV and the Beckham Law both keep you in a different fiscal position from the NLV. The choice usually comes down to whether you have an employer, a passive-income pile, or a salary that can be classed as remote work for a non-Spanish company. Our Digital Nomad Visa guide and our Non-Lucrative Visa guide set out the full document lists for each route.

Did Spain’s immigration regulation change in 2026?

Yes, and the change matters for anyone applying this year. Real Decreto 1155/2024, de 19 de noviembre (BOE-A-2024-24099) became the immigration regulation on 20 May 2025, derogating and replacing the old RD 557/2011. The NLV, family reunification and the general residence-permit framework now sit in RD 1155/2024, not in the 2011 regulation that older guides still cite. The DNV itself sits in Ley 14/2013 arts. 74 bis-74 quinquies, but its residence-authorisation procedure is processed under the new regulation.

RD 1155/2024 was then amended by Real Decreto 316/2026, de 14 de abril (BOE-A-2026-8284), in force since 16 April 2026. The amendment’s principal focus is the exceptional-circumstances residence regime (Title VII), the residence of family members of Spanish citizens, and certain provisions on minor foreigners and modification of administrative status. It does not change the DNV or NLV income thresholds, but it is the current state of the regulation any 2026 application is decided under. A guide that still cites “RD 557/2011” as the legal basis for an NLV or family-reunification application is simply out of date.

The EUR 500K threshold is gone, but the property tax stack is not

A surprising amount of the old Golden-Visa marketing was really property-tax marketing: the visa threshold bundled residency with a property purchase, and the agencies selling the visa were often the same agencies selling the property. Now that the visa is gone, the tax question is still live and unchanged. For a resale on the Costa del Sol, the buyer pays a flat 7% ITP (Impuesto sobre Transmisiones Patrimoniales) to the Junta de Andalucía. For a new build direct from a developer, the buyer pays 10% IVA plus around 1.2% AJD in Andalusia. On top of the tax, budget roughly 12 to 15% of the price for the full acquisition stack: notary, Land Registry, independent lawyer, plus AJD where it applies. The detailed worked table for these figures sits in our Andalusia property transfer tax guide, which is the cluster sibling for any “what does it actually cost” follow-up question.

A property purchase also triggers annual costs of ownership. Non-residents pay the Impuesto sobre la Renta de no Residentes (IRNR) at 19% on rental income and 19% on capital gains on sale, the 3% buyer retention (Modelo 211), plus plusvalía municipal and IBI. Resident owners pay IRPF on rental income at the progressive scale. Our Spanish tax residency guide explains the 183-day presence test that decides which regime applies to you.

How the four routes apply in 2026, in practice

Digital Nomad Visa (DNV): remote work for a non-Spanish company

The DNV, formally “visado de residencia para teletrabajadores de carácter internacional”, was created by the Ley 28/2022 startup law and codified in arts. 74 bis to 74 quinquies of Ley 14/2013. It applies to a non-EU national who is employed by, or provides professional services to, a company located outside Spain, and who works remotely from Spain for at least the first year. Self-employed DNV holders may also work for a Spanish company, as long as that work does not exceed 20% of their professional activity. The financial means test, on the current London consulate page, is at least 200% of the monthly Spanish national minimum wage for the principal applicant, plus 75% of the SMI for the first accompanying family member and 25% of the SMI for each additional family member. The 2026 SMI is EUR 1,221 per month (Real Decreto 126/2026 of 18 February 2026, effective from 1 January 2026), which puts the principal threshold at EUR 2,442 per month.

The visa is initially issued for up to one year. The residence authorisation under art. 74 quinquies.2 runs for up to three years, and renews in two-year periods under art. 74 quinquies.3, with a path to long-term residence after five years. The London consulate page states the decision deadline is 10 days, not 10 working days, though this may extend when an interview or additional documents are requested. In practice, the application is filed at the Spanish consulate that covers the applicant’s place of residence abroad. The DNV residence authorisation itself is processed in Spain by the Unidad de Grandes Empresas y Colectivos Estratégicos (UGE-CE), a unit within the Ministerio de Inclusión, Seguridad Social y Migraciones. Our Digital Nomad Visa guide covers the full document list and the Beckham Law opt-in.

Non-Lucrative Visa (NLV): passive income or savings

The NLV, “visado de residencia no lucrativa”, is the oldest of the four and predates the Golden Visa by two decades. It is the route for someone who is not working for a Spanish or foreign employer and who can support themselves from savings, pensions, rental income, dividends or other passive sources. The test is at least 400% of IPREM for the principal, plus 100% of IPREM for each accompanying family member, demonstrated over a 12-month horizon. The 2026 IPREM remains EUR 600 per month (unchanged since 2023), which puts the principal threshold at EUR 2,400 per month. The NLV is granted for one year and is renewable for two-year periods, with the same path to long-term residence. Under RD 1155/2024, renewal requires 183 days per year of presence in Spain, which reinforces the tax-residency trigger. Our Non-Lucrative Visa guide covers the full document list, and our retiring to the Costa del Sol guide sets out how the NLV fits into the wider relocation picture for retirees.

A point that catches buyers out: the NLV does not allow any work, including remote work. The London consulate page states it explicitly: “This visa does not constitute a work permit.” The DNV is the route for remote workers; the NLV is not a back-door DNV.

Beckham Law: employed by a Spanish entity, or one that creates one

The Beckham Law is technically not a visa; it is the special impatriate regime in art. 93 of the IRPF law (Ley 35/2006), expanded by the 2022 startup law (Ley 28/2022) with effect from 1 January 2023. It allows a relocating employee to be taxed at a flat 24% rate on Spanish employment income up to EUR 600,000 instead of the progressive resident scale (which reaches 47%), with favourable treatment of certain non-Spanish assets, for up to six tax years. The visa underlying it is a standard work permit under Ley 14/2013 (the highly-qualified worker or intra-company transfer routes). The qualification test is the employment relationship itself; the opt-in is filed via Modelo 149 with the Agencia Tributaria within six months of arrival, and it is irrevocable if missed. The exact rates, thresholds and duration should be confirmed with a Spanish tax adviser against the current LIRPF text. Our Beckham Law guide covers the full regime, including the year-six cliff and the US-citizen traps.

Family reunification

The fourth route is unchanged by the recent reforms. A non-EU family member of a Spanish citizen, an EU citizen exercising treaty rights in Spain, or a legal Spanish resident, can apply for a family-reunification visa under the general scheme in the current regulation, RD 1155/2024. Property purchases are not part of the test; the qualifying relationship is.

How do you apply, and how long does it take?

Every one of the four routes is filed at the Spanish consulate that covers the applicant’s legal residence abroad. The London, Miami and Mexico City consulates, and most other major consulates, publish a specific page for each visa. Most consulates now route national-visa appointments through an external visa-services provider, such as BLS International in the UK since 1 October 2023. Lead times vary by consulate, season and route. The DNV carries a 10-day decision deadline per the London consulate page; other routes carry a 2-month legal decision period extendable for an interview or further documents, plus a 1-month window to collect the visa. We do not assert a single processing time for all routes in 2026; consulate page lead times move and the user should always check the appointment system of the consulate they intend to apply to.