Let us clear up the biggest myth first: buying a home in Spain does not give you the right to live here, and since April 2025 there is no version of that trade left at all. The better news is that the routes to actually move here are clearer than most people expect. Here is who each one suits.
The Golden Visa is gone
For years, spending half a million euros on Spanish property bought you residency through the “Golden Visa.” That programme was abolished on 3 April 2025. A property purchase now comes with no visa, no residence permit, and no shortcut to one. Anyone still selling Spanish homes on the promise of residency is describing something that no longer exists.
Owning a home can still support a residency application, as evidence that you have somewhere to live and the means to support yourself. It is simply no longer a route on its own.
If you hold an EU passport
This is the simple case. As an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen you can move to Spain freely. To stay longer than three months you register in person and receive a green residence certificate, which also carries your NIE. If you are not working or studying, you show that you have enough income to support yourself and comprehensive health cover. No visa, no consulate, no property required.
If you are from outside the EU
There is no single “move to Spain” visa, but there are a few well-worn routes. Two suit most people who are also buying a home here.
The non-lucrative visa
This is the classic route for people who can support themselves without working in Spain: retirees, the financially independent, families taking a few years out. You show passive income or savings of roughly four times the Spanish income benchmark, which currently works out around €2,400 a month for the main applicant, plus about €600 a month more for each family member. You take out full private health insurance, and you agree not to work, whether in person or online. You apply at the Spanish consulate at home. The permit runs for a year, then renews in two-year blocks, and leads to permanent residence after five years. (Those figures track a benchmark called the IPREM and can shift year to year.)
One recent change matters: to renew, you now have to spend more than 183 days a year genuinely living in Spain, which also makes you a Spanish tax resident. This is a route for people truly moving, not for keeping a bolthole.
The digital nomad visa
If you work remotely for companies outside Spain, this route was built for you. You show income of around €2,850 a month (that figure tracks the minimum wage, so it nudges up each year), prove the work is genuinely remote and mostly for non-Spanish clients, and bring either a degree or a few years of relevant experience. It can be applied for from abroad or from inside Spain, and it now carries the same expectation of real presence on renewal.
The other routes, briefly
There are also work permits, which need a Spanish job offer, with a faster track for highly qualified roles, and student stays for full-time study, which can later convert to residence. Each has its own conditions, and if one of these fits your situation we will point you to the right specialist.
Three things people get wrong
- “Buying property makes me a resident.” It does not, and has not since the Golden Visa ended.
- “I’ll just live here on the 90-day rule.” The 90-days-in-180 allowance is for tourism. It gives no right to settle, work, or stay beyond it. To live here, you need one of the routes above, arranged before you move.
- “I have an NIE, so I’m a resident.” The NIE is only a tax and identification number, given to non-residents too. Residency is a separate status. What the NIE actually is.
Where we fit
Sorting your NIE and helping you find your way through the residency process is something we handle in-house, as part of settling you in rather than an afterthought once the sale is done. We are not an immigration court, and the decision always rests with the authorities, so we will be straight about what a route needs and, for the more complicated cases, bring in a specialist who lives in this work. What we will not do is dangle residency to sell you a house. Those days are over, and honestly, the market is better for it.