Is Spain Still Worth It After the Golden Visa? (2026)
Yes — Spain is still absolutely worth it. What changed is the path, not the destination. In April 2025 Spain closed the property-for-residency route: buying a home no longer buys you a Spanish residence permit. But the golden visa was only ever one door, and it was never the reason Spain is one of the most desirable places on earth to live. Foreigners can still buy property here freely — that market never closed for a second — and there are still real, established residency routes for people who want to actually live in Spain rather than just park capital in it. If your dream was a home on the coast or an apartment in a great European city, that dream is fully intact. If your plan was specifically "write a check, get a residence permit," that specific plan is over, and it's worth understanding exactly what replaced it before you move.
What Actually Ended in April 2025
Let's be precise, because the headlines were sloppy. Spain ended the golden visa — the program that granted residency in exchange for a qualifying real estate investment. That, and only that, is what closed. It did not ban foreigners from owning property. It did not touch existing permits already granted. It did not make Spain "closed" to outsiders in any meaningful sense. The government's stated aim was housing affordability in the hottest cities, not a retreat from foreign residents. So if someone tells you "you can't move to Spain anymore," they're wrong — they've confused one investment-migration shortcut with the whole country. The shortcut is gone. The country is exactly where it was.
Buying Property Is Still Wide Open
Here's the part people miss: a foreigner can still buy a home in Spain freely, golden visa or not. No nationality requirement, no residency requirement to purchase, no cap on what you can own. What's uncoupled now is the automatic residence permit that used to ride along with the purchase. You get an NIE (a foreigner tax number), you transact, you own — the mechanics of buying a Spanish home haven't changed. What changed is that ownership and immigration status are now two separate conversations, and you need to plan both deliberately instead of assuming one hands you the other.
The Residency Routes That Remain
Two paths do the real work for most people who want to live here. The non-lucrative visa (visado no lucrativo) is for those with sufficient passive income or savings who don't need to work locally — retirees, the financially independent, people living off investments abroad. It lets you reside in Spain provided you can support yourself without taking a Spanish job, and it renews on a defined cadence toward long-term residency. The digital nomad visa is for remote workers and freelancers earning from outside Spain — it was built precisely for the location-independent generation and comes with its own income thresholds and a favorable tax treatment worth exploring. Neither requires buying property, which means you choose your home on its merits, not to unlock a permit. That's actually healthier. And crucially: weigh resident taxes before you commit. Becoming a Spanish tax resident changes how your worldwide income and assets are treated, and it's the single most under-planned part of a move here. Model it with a cross-border advisor first.
Why Spain, To Actually Live
Strip away the visa mechanics and the case for Spain is overwhelming. The climate — long, warm, generous. Public healthcare consistently ranked among the world's best, with a strong private layer alongside it. A culture built around eating well, walking, and being outside with other people. Thousands of kilometers of coastline, and cities that each offer a completely different life. Madrid — dense, elegant, all energy and world-class everything. Barcelona — design, sea, and singular architecture. Valencia — beach-city balance, calmer, increasingly the sweet spot for value and quality of life. Málaga and the Costa del Sol — the sun-belt, an established international community, and coastline for those who want the sea at the center of daily life. There is a version of Spain for almost anyone.
FAQ
Can I still get residency by buying property in Spain in 2026? No. The golden visa (property-for-residency) ended in April 2025. Buying no longer grants a permit. But you can still buy freely, and you can obtain residency through other routes like the non-lucrative visa or the digital nomad visa.
Can foreigners still buy property in Spain after the golden visa ended? Yes, completely. There's no nationality or residency requirement to purchase. You get an NIE and transact normally. Only the automatic residence permit that used to come with the purchase is gone.
What's the difference between the non-lucrative and digital nomad visa? The non-lucrative visa is for people living on passive income or savings who won't work in Spain — often retirees or the financially independent. The digital nomad visa is for remote workers and freelancers earning from outside Spain, and carries its own income rules and tax treatment.
Will moving to Spain change my taxes? Very likely. Becoming a Spanish tax resident affects how your worldwide income and assets are treated. It's the most important thing to plan before you move — model it with a cross-border advisor first, not after.
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Spain didn't get smaller when the golden visa closed — the map just needs reading more carefully. That's Kev's work as an international advisor: separating the property decision from the residency decision, matching you to the right visa route, pressure-testing the tax picture before you commit, and pointing you toward the city — Madrid, Valencia, Málaga — that actually fits the life you want. When you're ready to look at Spain the right way, Kev Living is the advisor to write to. Reach out — we answer in your language, at your pace.