What are ‘golden visas’ and which EU countries still hand them out?

15.04.2024 - 15:25 / euronews.com

Getting the right to live and work in another country can be a long and difficult process. But that’s not always the case for those with money to spend.

Golden visas offer the opportunity for wealthy people to essentially ‘buy’ the right to residency - sometimes without even having to live in the country.

And their popularity in the European Union is growing as people look to move away from political decisions such as Brexit that may limit their rights.

With the unsettled political and social environment in the US in recent years, applications for golden visas from Americans were also projected to increase.

But golden visas are now gradually being phased out across Europe. Portugal amended its scheme in October, removing real estate investment as a basis for golden visa applications in the hope of reducing property speculation. 

In the same month, the Netherlands announced it will end its golden visa scheme in January 2024.

Spain has announced plans to follow suit. The country had already proposed toughening the requirements for its golden visa last year, and in December the government's junior coalition partner Sumar voiced support for scrapping the scheme. Now, it is removing the option of investing in real estate in return for a visa.

So what exactly are these golden visa schemes and why has the EU raised questions about their safety in recent years?

Residence by investment schemes, otherwise known as ‘golden visas’, offer people the chance to get a residency permit for a country by purchasing a house there or making a large investment or donation.

Any applicants must be over the age of 18, have a clean criminal record and have sufficient funds to make the required investment.

There are also golden passports, known officially as citizenship by investment programs, that allow foreigners to gain citizenship using the same means.

For countries in the EU, this also means gaining access to many of the benefits of being a resident of the bloc - including free movement between countries.

In 2022, the European Commission called on EU governments to stop selling citizenship to investors.

Though this is different to golden visas, which offer permanent residency rather than citizenship, the call came as part of a move to crack down on this combined multi-billion euro industry. In the wake of the Ukraine war, there were concerns that these schemes could be a security risk.

Brussels also called for countries to double-check whether people sanctioned due to the war were holding a golden passport or visa that they had issued.

In the past, the EU has also said that schemes of this kind are a risk to security, transparency and the values that underpin the European Union project.

In October 2022, the European Commission urged