Spain plans residency rights for non-EU overseas property buyers
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Spain is gearing up to offer automatic residency rights to property investors from outside the European Union who pay more than £130,000 for a house.
The Spanish Government hopes the move will bolster its ailing property and construction sectors, currently burdened with a massive over-supply of empty properties, and attract buyers from other second home investment options such as Cyprus and Dubai. But it is also targeting Russian, Chinese and even Australian investors.
The news came in an article published in The Times in which Spanish Trade Minister Jaime Garcia-Legaz said he had proposed the move to other ministries.
Currently Spain issues temporary visas to non-EU overseas nationals allowing them to stay to stay in the country for 90 days. The idea is that the new scheme, details of which are still to be announced, will give property investors automatic residency.
Cyprus operates a similar scheme for non-EU investors spending more than £24,000 on a property.
