Spain’s Congress has approved the Law for the Efficiency of Public Justice Service on December 19, overturning the Senate’s earlier veto and ending the country’s golden visa program.
The vote marks the culmination of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s April 2024 initiative to end the program, which he had criticized for inflating property prices and potentially enabling foreign criminal activity.
María L. De Castro, General Director of CostaLuz Lawyers, challenges this rationale. “The Golden Visa was not detrimental to the Spanish economy or housing market—quite the opposite,” she argues, contradicting the government’s position.
The Senate’s Popular Party (PP) majority had temporarily halted the bill’s progress through a veto on December 2, 2024.
Congress, where the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) and its coalition partners maintain a majority, has exercised its constitutional authority to override the opposition with 177 votes in favor and 170 against.
Dr Jacinto Soler-Matutes of Emergia Partners expects Spain’s Official State Bulletin to publish the law “next week, on Monday or Tuesday,” which would trigger the program’s termination by “March 23-24, 2025.”
De Castro, however, indicates the program will end just 20 days after the Official State Bulletin publishes the law, diverging from the three-month implementation timeline Soler-Matutes mentioned.
The legislation includes protective measures for pending applications. Investors who submit their requests before the law’s publication in the Official State Bulletin will receive authorization under existing regulations.
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