Spain's investor residence visa (the Golden Visa) — every route, not only property — was abolished by Ley Orgánica 1/2025 of 2 January (final provision 21), in force since 3 April 2025. Buying property gives no right of residence at any price. Applications filed before that date are decided under the old rules, and permits already granted keep their validity and can be renewed under them.
For Marbella, this changed something — but less than the headline suggests.
What the Golden Visa Was
Introduced by Law 14/2013, the Spanish Golden Visa granted a residence permit to non-EU citizens making a qualifying investment in Spain. The property route required €500,000 in unencumbered Spanish real estate. The visa granted residence (with rights to live, study and work in Spain), unlimited Schengen-area travel, and a path to citizenship after ten years.
It was politically contested almost from the beginning. Critics argued it inflated the urban housing market (Madrid and Barcelona in particular) without commensurate public benefit, and that it created a low-friction route for opaque capital.
Other European countries closed or tightened their equivalent programmes in the same years, and in 2024 the Spanish government announced its intent to follow. The abolition took effect on 3 April 2025.
Who Used It in Marbella
No public data breaks the programme's permits down by zone, by price level or by nationality, and Muse Selection was founded in Marbella in 2024 — it has no count of its own for the programme's earlier years.
In the desk's experience the residence-by-property mechanic was not the principal reason buyers at this level were buying. In the upper register the Golden Visa was a useful side-benefit, not a deciding factor; closer to the old €500,000 threshold it weighed more in the decision.
No public data measures the effect: Spain publishes no sales by buyer nationality or visa status at this price level. From the desk's own enquiries we see no change we can attribute to it.
The Three Routes That Remain, and One Tax Regime
The residence routes described on this site are the Non-Lucrative Visa, the Digital Nomad Visa and the Entrepreneur Visa. The Beckham regime is a tax option that can sit on top of a work-based route; it is not a route itself.
The Non-Lucrative Visa is the residence route for buyers with passive income. The applicant demonstrates approximately €28,800 per year of stable passive income for a single applicant, plus supplements for dependants (the exact figure indexes to IPREM, the public-income reference). The visa prohibits work in Spain — it is designed for the retired-and-investor profile. Renewable, with a path to long-term residence after five years.
The Digital Nomad Visa is the residence route for buyers with remote-work income from non-Spanish employers. Introduced by Ley 28/2022 of 21 December 2022, it requires remote-work income of at least 200% of the Spanish minimum wage, a clean criminal record, and a contract with a non-Spanish employer. A holder who meets the conditions can also opt for the Beckham regime described below.
The Beckham regime is a tax regime, not a visa: it gives no right of residence. Under Article 93 of Ley 35/2006, a person who moves to Spain for work and was not tax-resident there in the five preceding years can opt, for the year of arrival and the next five, to be taxed at 24% on work income up to €600,000 and 47% above. The option is filed on Modelo 149 within six months of the start of the activity shown in the Social Security registration (Article 116 of the income-tax Regulation, Real Decreto 439/2007).
The Entrepreneur Visa is the residence route for buyers prepared to establish an innovative business in Spain. The applicant submits a business plan to ENISA (Empresa Nacional de Innovación) for endorsement. Once endorsed, the visa is granted for two years, renewable. The route is more demanding than the others, but it remains genuinely available for principals with operational businesses they can locate in Spain.
What Changed Operationally
For the Marbella property advisory specifically, three changes have stuck.
First, the conversation order with buyers has reversed. Pre-April 2025: residence first, residence-eligible property second. Post-April 2025: residence by a non-property route, then a property purchase that does not need to clear the €500K Golden Visa threshold. The decoupling has been productive — buyers can now choose the property purely on residence quality rather than visa-eligibility threshold.
Second, the effect on demand cannot be measured. No public data measures the effect: Spain publishes no sales by buyer nationality or visa status at this price level. From the desk's own enquiries we see no change we can attribute to it.
Third, the reasons buyers give for choosing Marbella have not changed — the climate, the language, the schools, the air corridor to Northern Europe, the security profile, the established expatriate community. None of that depended on the Golden Visa.
What to Tell a Buyer Considering Marbella in 2026
The narrative of the previous decade — buy property, get residence, two birds, one stone — does not work in 2026. It needs to be replaced with a more accurate model.
If residence is the goal: the Non-Lucrative Visa, the Digital Nomad Visa or the Entrepreneur Visa, with property as a separate decision. The Beckham regime is a tax option that can sit on top of a work-based route; it is not a route itself.
If property is the goal: the residence question is uncoupled. Buyers from outside the EU can still purchase Marbella property without restriction; only the residence rights have changed.
If both are the goal: the routes can be combined. A Digital Nomad Visa applicant can purchase Marbella property in parallel, opt for the Beckham regime if the conditions are met, and live in the residence. This is the most common pattern we see in 2026 — and it is a cleaner structure than the property-led Golden Visa it replaced.
The desk introduces buyers to independent lawyers, tax advisers and banks; the buyer chooses, instructs and pays them directly. We do not give visa advice ourselves — that is the lawyer's work — but we make sure the lawyer is engaged early enough that property and residence decisions move in step.