Acquiring legal residence in Spain: professional consultation

Are you planning to apply for a Spanish ‘golden visa’ (residence permit) in exchange for an investment? We highly recommend that you should prepare for this move with great care by acquiring a professional consultation from established experts. We have English-speaking partners in Spain and we can answer all the questions related to obtaining a Spanish legal residence permit and relocating to the country.

A large number of people who live outside the European Union look for an opportunity to acquire legal residence permits in Europe. The Spanish ‘golden visa’ that is issued to foreign investors is one of the most attractive such opportunities. The immigration program was launched in 2013 and since that time, the demand for Spanish golden visas has been growing.

There are several routes to Spanish residence and the most popular one is making an investment into real estate in the country. This is not surprising as the required investment amount is 500,000 euros in this case while a million euros or more has to be invested into Spanish stocks and bonds or a business venture in the country.

When considering Spain as a possible country to relocate to, you have to bear in mind that other European countries administer similar immigration programs. Greece, Portugal, Cyprus, and other national states may also be worth considering. Please remember that even though Spain is an attractive option, it is not the only one available.

Is a ‘golden visa’ to Spain going to be the best option for you personally? Relocating to a foreign country is a serious adventure and you have to prepare for it, without doubt. The availability of a great choice of countries where you can move to makes a professional consultation indispensable indeed. It will let you see all the nuances involved in buying property abroad, assess all the pluses and minuses that each immigration program has, understand the procedure of opening a foreign bank account, and so on.

InternationalWealth experts will be pleased to provide consultations to you on the issues related to obtaining a Spanish ‘golden visa’. We can help you with the following tasks:

• Complex assessment of all the advantages and disadvantages of acquiring legal residence in Spain;
• Selection of the real property in the country that is worth investing in;
• Detailed description of the procedure of acquiring Spanish residence by investment and the methods of doing it safely;
• Ways to improve your chances for success when applying for a Spanish golden visa and to solve other relevant tasks in the process.

The cost of the consultation starts at 400 EUR.

Golden visa, taxes, and real property in Spain: individual consultation and real-life cases

With the assistance of our Spanish-based partners, we will be happy to consult you on the following issues:

• Acquiring a Spanish residence permit by investment into real estate/ securities/ financial products/ business venture in the country;
• Tax planning in Spain;
• Property Purchase in Spain;
• Relocation to Spain.

We fully realize that there can be no universal solutions of issues as complicated as these ones and each individual situation is unique. We will base our consultations on your personal preferences and objectives. Below please find descriptions of some real-life cases when we were able to help our clients.  

Case 1: A house at the seaside

A client wanted to buy a house in Spain, somewhere at the coast in order to spend summer holidays there with his family. When asked if he wanted to rent his prospective property on a lease during off-season, the client hesitantly replied ‘No’. We suggested that he did not really need a golden visa given his goals. A Schengen visa is easy to acquire especially if you have property in Spain, so that was what we advised to the client.  

Case 2: Spanish residence by investment as an additional bonus

A client was prepared to invest more than 500,000 euros and buy a house in Spain. She was not considering the opportunity to acquire a legal residence permit in the country. When we told her that the Spanish ‘golden visa’ program had no requirements as to the minimum stay in the country for the holders, she decided to apply for legal residence in Spain just for the fun of it. She was going to spend the sum of money that exceeded the required investment amount anyway, so obtaining a residence permit at a negligible additional cost made good sense to her.

Case 3: A thoughtful approach to relocating to Spain

A client was serious about relocating to Spain and he was prepared to invest a million euros or more into a premium-class house in the country. However, he was reluctant to make a hasty decision and wanted to spend a year or so in Spain, explore the local real estate market, and generally get a feeling of living in the country. That meant that he had to legalize his stay in Spain before he applied for a ‘golden visa’.

With the help of our Spanish partners, we suggested ways of doing so to the client. Besides, we told him about the property taxes in the country that are levied on luxury property (wealth tax) and involved a tax expert who was able to show the client how to reduce the fiscal burden.

Case 4: Legal residence in Spain by investment into rental property

A client was ready to invest a million euros or so into real property in Spain but she wanted to have a place where she could stay with her family and in addition, a place that she could let on a lease to tourists. We were able to find her a nice house near Malaga and a rental cottage on Costa del Sol. We also provided consultations to her on tax issues related to renting out a piece of property in Spain.

Case 5: Legal residence in Spain for couples

We had clients who lived together but they were not officially married. Both of them wanted to become legal residents of Spain and move there, and continue living together. We suggested that if they got officially married before applying for golden visas, the minimum required amount of investment would be twice as low. Family applications for Spanish residence are acceptable but the applicants must bring a marriage certificate. So those clients became husband and wife and filed an application for Spanish residence afterwards.

Case 6: Legal residence in Spain for the whole family

A client wanted to obtain Spanish ‘golden visas’ for all members of his family. However, his elder son was 24 and he was married, which meant that he did not qualify as a dependent family member. Main applicant’s children above 18 years of age can be included in a family application for Spanish residence but only if they are unmarried.

We suggested that the client should obtain ‘golden visas’ form himself, his wife, and his younger children first, and then use the ‘family reunification’ opportunity to acquire the visas for his elder son and his family.  

Case 7: Legal residence in Spain by investment into a business venture

A foreign national will qualify for Spanish residence if he/ she invests at least a million euros into a business venture in the country. We have had several clients considering this route to Spanish residence and we have had to consult every one of them thoroughly. We probably should not say it but the administrative machine is rather slow in Spain and if you start a business in the country, it may well take time to progress.

Case 8: A Spanish ‘golden visa’ as a means of acquiring European citizenship

A client wanted to obtain a Spanish legal residence permit with the purpose of ultimately becoming a full citizen of the country. She did not know, however, that the Spanish laws do not allow dual citizenship. When we informed her about that, she decided to apply for a ‘golden visa’ to a different European country. (There are exceptions from this general rule but they did not apply to that particular client’s case.)

We would like to stress that again: we practice an individualized approach to every client. In the frameworks of our consultation, we will analyze your profile, your main objectives, your preferences, and so on and we will help you find an ideal route to obtaining foreign residence and citizenship. You are going to have a very clear picture of the processes and procedures involved in acquiring legal residence in Spain or some other country.

Initial consultation on acquiring legal residence in Spain by purchasing real estate there

At the initial stage, we will have to assess your chances of obtaining a Spanish legal residence permit by examining your resources as well as your background. We will need a short resume from you and information about your family members. In addition, we will have to make sure that you have no criminal past.

If you are eligible for a Spanish ‘golden visa’ and if you have sufficient financial resources to obtain it, we will provide detailed guidelines to applying for a ‘golden visa’. You will be able to choose the optimal route to foreign residence and acquaint yourself with the relevant legislation governing the process.

You can become a legal resident in Spain by investing into real property there, securities, a business venture or by making a fixed-term deposit with a Spanish bank. When you have made the choice, we will instruct you on how to compile the application document package. You will also have to apply for a ‘foreigner’s number’ (El número de extranjero) in Spain that is required to perform the following tasks:

• Open a bank account in Spain;
• Pay the taxes;
• Buy residential accommodations.

We will also tell you about the process of turning your legal residence permit into a European passport after some time.  

In-depth consultations on acquiring legal residence in Spain by purchasing real estate there

In the modern turbulent world, investing into real property abroad can be a wise decision or it can be a disaster. The real estate market has been on the rise in Spain even though the COVID-19 pandemic has slowed down the growth in prices. In any case, you cannot afford to approach this issue carelessly.

With our Spanish partners’ assistance, we will help you make the best choice of property that will make you qualified for Spanish residence and simultaneously prove a good investment. Please do not hesitate to contact us about the issue!

The prices for real property are growing in Spain but different foreign investors will have opposite opinions about the value of investing in it. Spain was greatly affected by the 2007/ 2008 financial crisis when real estate prices in some regions of the country dropped by nearly 50%. That means that anybody who had purchased property in Spain before that time actually lost half of their investment value. The prices have not returned to the pre-crisis level so far and naturally, unlucky investors have little trust in the Spanish real estate market now.

On the other hand, the growth of real property value has been stable over the recent years and if the tendency is to continue, purchasing some real estate right now, when the prices are not at their peak looks like an attractive option. In any case, it will certainly be a good idea to do some market research before buying property in Spain.

We will be delighted to assist you with the legal issues involved in the property purchase process. We will also consult you on the taxes levied on the property owned and rented out in Spain. There are dozens and dozens of cities and towns in the country and the choice of real property for sale is huge. This is exactly why you need a consultation from professionals who live in Spain and have hands-on experience in the matter.

They will help you assess the return-on-investment potential of every piece of property that appeals to you. They will frankly tell you how much income you can count on if you buy the house or apartment and let it on a lease. They are also very knowledgeable about the tax-related legislation in Spain. This is an important aspect to consider, as taxes in Spain are rather high. 

Our consultations will let you dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s. Our Spanish partners will also be happy to recommend the most promising regions in the country if you are looking to purchase rental property there. For instance Barcelona, Valencia, and Costa del Sol are highly popular with tourists while there are some rural areas in Spain rarely ever visited by foreigners.

You will also learn about some ‘secret’ opportunities available in the Spanish real estate market. For example, when someone is unable to pay the mortgage that they took when buying the cottage, the bank comes into possession of the cottage and naturally, it wants to get rid of it as soon as possible. To stimulate the buyer the bank sells the cottage at a discounted price. Our Spanish partners know where to look for some lucrative offers!

Besides, you can invest in low-risk real estate that is unlikely to ever drop in value. For instance, some office buildings are rented by the Spanish Government and investing in this sort of property would be secure indeed. There are also a few developers in Spain that have earned great reputation over the years so you may want to consider one of their development projects.

Our Spanish-based partners will provide full support to you in choosing the piece of property to buy, in registering the deal, in selecting the bank where you can apply for a mortgage, and in taking the mortgage at a low interest.

Please apply for our consultations on acquiring legal residence in Spain by investing into real estate in the country. We will help you make the best choice that will allow sustaining and growing your wealth.

Consultations on relocating to Spain after acquiring legal residence there by investment into real estate

When you have a Spanish ‘golden visa’, you do not have to move to the country nor even visit it! However, there are some good reasons to use this opportunity and relocate to Spain.  

If you are ready to make Spain your new home, we will be happy to advise you on all the benefits and drawbacks that such a move can have. We will tell you everything about the cost of living in Spain, retirees’ life there, education, medicine, transport, infrastructure, and so on and so forth. We love Spain and we know a lot about the country!

Beyond consultations: acquire legal residence in Spain with our professional assistance

When advising you on the issues related to acquiring a Spanish ‘golden visa’, we are not going to try to convince you that Spain is the best option. Everything will depend on your personal situation and your preferences. However, if in the course of our conversations you come to believe that the Spanish permiso de residencia is exactly the kind of ID that you are after, we will gladly take you by the hand and lead you through all the stages of the application process.

We will tell you what documents are required to apply for a Spanish ‘golden visa’, what forms you have to fill out, and how exactly you should do it. We will help you choose the real property to buy and inform you about all the tax-related issues. We will show you how to acquire El número de extranjero and the residence card proper. We will assist you in organizing the relocation process if you wish.

Immigration agent services come at a price but our prices are quite competitive. What is more important, however, is that we can help you avoid potential mistakes and save your nervous cells. After all, applying for legal residence in a foreign country means going through a bureaucratic procedure and bureaucracy is not the most pleasant thing in this world. Please let us do the ‘dirty job’ for you!

Our experts have vast experience in helping people acquire foreign residence and citizenship and we have a great number of happy clients. You are most welcome to join the group! However, the first step on the way to Spanish residence should be applying for a fee-based consultation with us. Please contact us by email, a messenger or the live chat and we will get back to you promptly.

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