Spain Axes ‘Golden Visa’ Scheme to Curb Property Speculation

Following the UK, Portugal, and Ireland, Spain is to axe its “Golden Visa” scheme, a fast-tracked residency for foreign investors. At a cabinet meeting on April 9, Spanish ministers reached a consensus on scrapping the visa program. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez told reporters while visiting the Sevillian municipality of Dos Hermanas on April 8 that the move is to avoid speculative investment into housing, as a majority of visa recipients were concentrated in Madrid, Barcelona, and other tourist cities, putting the local housing market “under enormous pressure and where it is almost impossible for people who live and work in those places and pay their taxes each day to find affordable housing.”...