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The cancellation is being passed under the Law for the Efficiency of Justice, which has been approved in the Plenary Session of Congress and initial reports suggest it will finally be scrapped in January 2025.
Before this happens, however, it will still need being submitted to the Senate for possible amendments and then back to the Congress for final approval before it’s officially cancelled.
The controversial golden visa grants non-EU nationals residency in Spain when they buy property worth €500,000, as well investing €1 million in shares in Spanish companies, or €2 million in government bonds, or transferring €1 million to a Spanish bank account.
READ ALSO: What the end of all of Spain’s golden visas means for foreigners
It was back in April of this year when Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez first announced the government’s intention to cancel the visa.
Initially it only included the property option, but later it was confirmed that all investor options would be scrapped. In the final bill approval, however, this clause has been left out so we’ll have to wait and see what this means.
Since then, the government has been trying to find a legal way of cancelling the visa, which has been a lot harder than expected.
Various options were examined such as including it in Spain’s new land law and ‘slipping it in’ to another law, but ultimately these were either taken off the agenda or voted against by opposition parties PP and Vox.
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This time it was included in a bill on measures regarding the efficiency of the public service of Justice, which was approved in a presentation without the presence of the PP deputies, who suspended their meeting due to the tragedy caused by the recent floods.
READ ALSO: Is it too late now to apply for Spain’s golden visa?
The visa has been blamed partly for the severe housing crisis that the country is currently experiencing, giving properties to wealthy foreigners instead of locals.
The government’s junior coalition partner Sumar’s spokesperson Íñigo Errejón, now embroiled in his own sexual harassment scandal, previously stated that these visas are a privilege that must be scrapped “immediately” because they have an inflationary effect on the housing market.
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According to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda (MIVAU), since 2016, around 11,000 visas of these visas have been issued. And experts believe that its removal will have a limited impact on the residential market in Spain. Other sources put the number higher, at around 15,000.
Many believe the decision to cancel the option is simply a political move to try and placate public outcry against overtourism, gentrification and rising rents and house prices.