Automatic residence rights for foreign homebuyers in Spain

FOREIGNERS who buy properties in Spain valued at 160,000 euros or more may automatically get residence cards in a new government initiative to encourage homebuyers from overseas.

They say the move is mainly aimed at Chinese and Russian nationals, but does not believe it will lead to a sudden rush for residence certificates to be approved.

And as yet, the threshold of 160,000 euros is merely a guideline which may change in the future with fluctuations in the market.

They say it is mainly so that when holiday home owners from outside the EU wish to travel to Spain to spend time in their properties, they will not have to apply for a visa every time they want to get into the country.

With well over a quarter of a million homes in Spain sitting empty and most Spanish people being unable to afford to buy them because of job loss or, where they are working, banks' new restrictions on offering mortgage finance, the only way to revive the housing market in the country is by attracting foreign buyers – of which there are plenty interested, the government says.

And now that the market has suffered such a dramatic fall with prices at a fraction of what they were five years ago, more and more buyers from abroad are seeing property in Spain as an investment.

Giving people residence rights automatically when they buy a home has already been introduced in Portugal and the Republic of Ireland.

At present, buying a property is no guarantee that the purchaser will be given residence in Spain.

They are obliged to have a NIE number, but are frequently only given a temporary residence card that does not allow them to work.