There are already several countries that want to put an end to the golden visa program, as is the case of Portugal. In Spain, the Government also wants to tighten the criteria for granting residence permits to foreigners who buy houses in the country. And there is even the possibility of putting an end to the golden visa program in Spain for good.

According to a report by idealista, different opinions have emerged about the future of the golden visa programme, which today allows granting residence permits to foreigners who invest at least 500 thousand euros in real estate. In Spain, golden visas are granted for a period of three years, renewable for another two years, according to Law 14/2013.

In Spain, 94 percent of the golden visas granted originated in residential investment, which has raised questions at a time when the real estate sector is facing increasing pressure given the high prices of houses and the current economic context marked by inflation and rising interest rates, which makes access to housing more difficult.

The goal of the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, led by José Luis Escrivá, is to raise the minimum investment required to obtain golden visas from 500,000 euros to 1 million euros. The alternative is to end the golden visa program permanently, in exchange for residential investment, writes El País.

This is a measure that is being negotiated together with Más País, a party led by Íñigo Errejón, which claims that gold visas "brutally" increase the price of housing in many areas of the country in an "artificial" way. “It seems to us that this is morally harmful and places Spain as a colony that attracts black money”, said the leader of Más País, who had already submitted a bill to that effect, which was, however, rejected by the Congress of Deputies.