“SALE: Buy a House in Spain and Get Permanent Residency for Free!“
**UPDATE: Read the 5 July 2013 entry, “UPDATE: Spanish Residency with Home Purchase” for more information.**
I can hardly believe it myself. Today, Trade Ministry secretary Jaime GarcÃa-Legaz announced a plan to offer PERMANT RESIDENCY in Spain with the purchase of a home over 160,000 Euros. Wow! That’s not a bad price for all those foreigners pining to live and work legally in Spain.
Although the plan has yet to be approved, it is expected to happen in the coming weeks. Primer Minister Mariano Rajoy said just today, Monday, “We need to sell these homes“, referring to the more than 700,000 unsold homes following the 2008 real estate collapse, in order to help revive the construction industry.
Sadly, thousands of homeowners have been evicted, unable to pay their mortgages. Even more shocking is that some homeowners have committed suicide due to foreclosures – one, very publicly, a woman threw herself off her 2nd story balcony as police were at her door, attempting to serve her the eviction notice.
Shocking to Americans, in Spain when you lose your home due to foreclosure, although the bank takes possession of the property, the (former) owner must STILL pay the balance of the loan unless and until they die. And forget about getting any future home loans. You’re red-flagged forever.
So one person’s/country’s misfortune could become the good fortune for someone abroad – with 160,000€ to blow – wishing to make their dream a relatively-cheap-and-easy reality to live and work legally in Spain.
Gaining Spanish Residency also means losing your home-country residency, although you’d maintain your citizenship. No big deal there unless you plan to return to your home country in the near future. One idea may be to buy the property, live and work legally in Spain with the granted residency for a period of time, then sell the property and return “home”.
Sure, there are both pros and cons to living in Spain. The economy is terrible. Finding meaningful work at a living wage is nearly impossible these days. (even before collapse!) And the taxes are high and getting higher. But… the food is great and the wine is better. The people are warm and wonderful for the most part. The history is second to none. And The culture is both stimulating and (sometimes) frustrating for its differences to our own. All things considered, I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.
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I wonder what happens if the property gets repo’d again, do they rescind the residencia..?
Madridman continues to live the dream!
The policy has been proposed, but it is not certain that the government will implement it?
Yes, the man from Ohio has made his site famous. Well done MadridMan!
Hiya, Mark! Thanks for your comment and kind words. Yes, the policy has been proposed, but will take several months to implement it. THAT’S when we’ll find out all the nitty-gritty details.
I am interested to know more about permanent residency in Spain with Home Purchase. Are you able to provide me with more details.Please
Hi, John! I can’t provide you with more details yet as the proposal has not yet been finalized. When it is, I’ll let you all know. Thanks!
Hi, by obtaining residency do we get exemption from paying the non resident taxes for the property?
That’s a GREAT question, Lala valencia! The details have not yet revealed because the issue has yet to be approved. But I’d have to guess that since you can only have residency in one place at a time, you’d have yours in Spain, and so you WOULD have to pay Spanish residency taxes for the property. You can’t have it both ways!:) Either you have residency or you don’t. And I think that since the property’s in Spain and you’re the owner, you’d have to pay property tax whether or not you’re a resident.
Hi MadridMan, i Just wanna ask, is it confirmed yet? because i heard there’s already people starting to buy houses for 200,000$ in spain to gain a European Nationality.
Hi, Kazet101! Thanks for your message. As far as I can tell, the proposal is STILL being considered. Final decisions haven’t been made and no actions have taken place. I’ve also heard that the while the home purchase does provide residency, it doesn’t offer the legal right to work or have access to public health care – which kind of defeats the purpose, I think. What it does do, however, is to remove issue of a 3-month tourist visa, making it endless. Another fresh, new law for Spanish residents, foreign or otherwise, requires them to pay taxes on the amount over 50,000 Euros of all assets abroad. So if you’re living in Spain with Spanish residency but own a $200,000 home in the USA, you’d have to pay the Spanish government some kind of tax on the value of that house. It’s to keep people from “sheltering/hiding” these assets abroad, I guess. This new law alone my squelch the whole “Permanent Spanish Residency with Home Purchase” initiative.
Good blog with excellent information. Thank you.
Thanks, Mike! We’re still waiting for the final outcome to see all the nitty-gritty details. It seems, however, that while home ownership will offer Spanish residency, it will NOT come with the legal ability to work or access to nationalized health care. We’ll have to wait and see what happens.
Hi MadridMan,
I hope you have more information for us now since we are in June 2013 now. Also, do you have any idea if investors and extended families be allowed to work? It would be hard for most average investors to buy a property and get reidence permit with the ciew to settle in Spain and not be allowed to work?
I am very interested in buying a property for my family who are from Kabul but I am a british national myself and living in the UK so my question si whether this scheme is only for Chinese and Russian nationals?
Any step by step advice would be appreciated.
Hello, Emi! I was talking with my accountant the other day and it looks like the talks have “stalled” – and that the residency for property purchase may not happen afterall. One big problem is another new law – which HAS already been approved – which requires all Spanish residents, presumably those which may obtain residency with property purchase, to pay taxes on all assets held abroad, outside of Spain. This, alone, has already forced a number of foreigners with Spanish residency but citizenship elsewhere to leave Spain because they had property abroad and didn’t want to pay taxes on it in Spain. The Spanish government is looking for any way to make money because of the Economic Crisis and it seems the the residency-for-property-purchase won’t work afterall, and would not allow those property owners the work within Spain anyway. I’m very sorry.
Hello
I am very interested to buy a house in Spain to get a residency and I would like to receive from you the updated information in this regard
Thanking you very much
Please read the latest update, “UPDATE: Spanish Residency with Home Purchase“. Thank you and best of luck!
Hello
Is it possible to get a Spanish nationality for all my family if I buy more than one house in Spain
thanking you very much
Hello, Sondos! Thank you for your comment. Those details have not been mentioned yet so we’ll all have to wait and see. At the latest update, “UPDATE: Spanish Residency with Home Purchase“, the new law was to go active this month, July 2013, but it hasn’t yet.
the new law was passed today!
That’s great! What are the details?? Does residency offer the opportunity to work? Does residency offer the opportunity to have social security healthcare? Please, let us know the details and where can we find our more information??
very good article, I think the Spanish politicians do not know how that to get more money, which will be next?
We purchased a flat for 125.000 and have invested over 35.000 in upgrades. Is this considered the 160.000 needed for investment for permanent residence?
Hello, Ed! The number proposed for residency back in 2013 was 160,000 Euros. In 2014, that number was raised to 500,000 for permanent residency. I wrote about it in my blog entry entitled UPDATE: Spanish Residency with Home Purchase. Be sure to see an immigration attorney for details.