There are nine Spanish Consulates in the USA.  The Consulates of Spain in the United States of America provide a number of legal and administrative services to both Spanish citizens and those intending to travel to or do business with Spain.  This includes processing long term visa applications such as the non-lucrative visa for retired people who want to live in Spain.

Below are details of each Spanish Consulate in the USA and the areas that they cover.

Spanish Consulate in Boston

31 St. James Avenue, Suite 905 Boston, MA 02116
cog.boston@maec.es
Jurisdiction: Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont

Spanish Consulate in Chicago

180 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 1500 Chicago, IL 60601
cog.chicago@maec.es
Jurisdiction: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Wisconsin

Spanish Consulate in Houston

1800 Bering Drive, Suite 750 Houston, TX 77057
cog.houston@maec.es
Jurisdiction: Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas

Spanish Consulate in Los Angeles

5055 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 860 Los Angeles, CA 90036
cog.losangeles@maec.es
Jurisdiction: California (counties: Imperial, Kern, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Barbara y Ventura), Arizona, Colorado, Utah

Spanish Consulate in Miami

2655 Le Jeune Road, Suite 203 Coral Gables, FL 33134
cog.miami@maec.es
Jurisdiction: Florida, South Carolina, Georgia

Spanish Consulate in New York

150 East 58th Street, 30th & 31st Floors New York, NY 10155
cog.nuevayork@maec.es
Jurisdiction: New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey

Spanish Consulate in San Francisco

1405 Sutter Street San Francisco, CA 94109
cog.sanfrancisco@maec.es
Jurisdiction: Alaska, Northern California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, US Pacific

Consular Section at the Spanish Embassy in Washington, DC

2375 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20037
cog.washington@maec.es
Jurisdiction: Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, District of Columbia, North Carolina

Spanish Consulate in San Juan, Puerto Rico

Edificio Mercantil Plaza, Piso 11 Oficina 1101 Avenida Ponce de León s/n Hato Rey – Puerto Rico 00918
Cog.SanJuandePuertoRico@maec.es
Jurisdiction: Puerto Rico, Islands of Culebra and Vieques, Virgin Islands

The Spanish Non-Lucrative Visa offers residency to third country nationals who have the financial means to support themselves without working.  The Non-Lucrative Visa residency scheme is therefore ideal if you are retired or have passive income, for example from a portfolio of properties or other investments.  The Non-Lucrative Visa is for people who intend to take up full-time residency in Spain.

What does the Spanish Non-Lucrative Visa Offer?

It has been on the cards for sometime and now it’s official.  Spain’s so called ‘Golden Visa’ for property purchases is to end.

Tuesday 9th April following an announcement by President Pedro Sanchez the previous day, the start of procedures to do away with the scheme was on the agenda at the weekly cabinet meeting of his ministers.

“We are going to start the procedure to eliminate the granting of the so-called golden visa , which allows access to the residence regime when more than half a million euros are invested in real estate. We are going to take the necessary measures to guarantee that housing is a right and not a mere speculative business,”

The residency by property investment scheme, offers a 3 year residency permit to foreigners from third countries who purchase a property for €500,000 or more.

The scheme, introduced in 2013 in the fallout of the housing market crash and financial crisis, was seen as a way to invigorate the real estate sector by attracting investment from foreigners, but has not been without criticism.  Not least for the lightweight background checks, and being viewed by other EU nations as a back door into the EU for individuals who would otherwise not gain access.

Chinese and Russian buyers are the most represented nationalities over the last 10 years, although this may well have changed since Brexit with the scheme proving popular amongst British buyers and owners of holiday homes in Spain.

In Spain, the scrutiny is more political, with those averse, claiming that it distorts, and has negative socio-economic affects.  In his announcement, it is this which Sanchez seems to indicate as the main driver, as he stated that nearly all approved ‘Golden Visas’ and residency permits for property investments were located in regional capitals such as Barcelona, Madrid, Malaga and Valencia, ‘cities where the housing market is stressed’.

Sanchez added “We do not want a speculative investment model with housing”, further commenting on the aim of his main policy to ‘guarantee access to affordable housing . . . and assure that no citizen has to spend more than 30% of their income towards having a suitable, quality home’.

While the overall perception may be one of property investment for a visa to get access to the EU, for many, in particular, Brits and other nationalities that enjoy visa free travel to Spain and the EU, the scheme is the key to spending more time enjoying a lifestyle in Spain and indeed making a permanent move.

In 2023, foreign buyers bought 15% of all homes sold in Spain with British buyers continuing to top the board as the nationality with the largest numbers buyers.

When Ireland, Portugal and Greece got rid of their ‘Golden Visa’ schemes, lack of affordable rental housing stock in its major cities was also cited as a main reason.

Others, including real estate experts have a different view and warn that ending the scheme could be harmful to the Spanish economy as the country will lose foreign investment into the property sector.

Whatever view taken, one thing now seems certain, the countdown has started and it is just a matter of time before Spain’s ‘Golden Visa’ for property investment comes to an end.

Until then, it remains an option for those who have €500k to invest in a property, and anyone looking to do so, needs to act now before it’s too late.

As Spanish visa and residency specialists, we assist people of all nationalities with their property purchases and obtaining their Golden Visa.

Need a Golden Visa?

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Andalucía has become one the top 3 regions in Spain with the least taxes.  On the 21st September 2021, the regional president, Juanma Moreno, announced the scrapping of Wealth Tax in Andalucía.

The tax has accounted for just 0.6% of income for the regional government (€95m annually), and Moreno believes the change will have a very positive impact on increasing revenue by attracting investment.

A large number of the highest wealth tax payers left Andalucía in 2020, resulting in a loss of income of estimated at around €18m (€3.5 million euros in wealth tax and €14 million in personal income tax).

The president is hoping that removing Wealth Tax will encourage people with high income who spend long periods in Andalucía, but are not tax resident, to make it the region their permanent home and pay tax there.

We first published this article in February last year.  At that time Brexit had finally just ‘been done’, and the transition period begun.  Through 2019 and 2020 unprecedented numbers of British nationals formally registered as resident in Spain to secure their residency rights under the Withdrawal Agreement.  The numbers of residency applications spiked in the last months of 2020.  Immigration reported receiving many thousands of last minute applications in December alone.

This year we’ve been receiving a lot of queries this year relating to Spanish residency and tax in Spain.  For many it seems, the main priority was getting residency with the consideration of tax, put to one side on in some cases completely overlooked.

So we’ve refreshed and republished this article, and it will hopefully provide answers to most general questions that you may have about tax in Spain, if you’ve recently taken up residency in Spain.