Significant Increase in Britons’ Interest for Spain
Significant Increase in Britons’ Interest for Spain & Portugal Golden Visa Programs
There has been marked a notable increase in the number of Britons seeking residency in Spain through the Golden Visa program, according to home builder Taylor Wimpey Espana.
The firm believes that an important role in this regard plays both Brexit as well as the situation caused by the Coronavirus and its new strains, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
“A Spanish Golden Visa provides not just residency in Spain but also access to the rest of the Schengen Zone. It’s something that Britons haven’t had to worry about previously, but Brexit has driven a notable rise in enquiries from families seeking to use a residential property purchase to maintain access to the Eurozone,” Taylor Wimpey Espana.
According to the company, the fact that working from home on a terrace in Spain has become more desirable due to the pandemic situation is likely to be pushing more families down to the Golden Visa program.
Besides the Spanish Golden Visa Program, Britons are also interested in Portugal’s golden visa scheme.
According to the director of the Portuguese Chamber of Commerce in the United Kingdom, Christina Hippisleystressed the increase in the number of UK citizens interested in the Golden Visa program comes due to the implications of spending time in Portugal following Brexit.
“People who used to spend four months straight in their homes are suddenly realizing they can’t anymore. (…) Many Brits who had never thought about it are looking at the golden visa option to have unrestricted access to Portugal,” she pointed out, as reported by Lusa.
The Golden Visa program permits third-country nationals to remain in Spain, provided they make an investment of at least €500,000 in Spanish real estate and meet specific requirements. By making such an investment, internationals may then be permitted to live and work in Spain in a legal way. In addition, they will also be eligible to move freely within the Schengen zone countries.
Despite the fact that the Golden Visa Program attracts a larger number of internationals, this program has often been considered an open the door to money laundering, corruption, and other unlawful affairs by the Commission of the European Union as well as many organizations who have often urged countries that run such schemes to terminate them.
In this regard, earlier this month, the Commission of the EU issued a recommendation outlining specific changes that the Member States who offer such schemes must impose in order to prevent persons involved in criminal affairs from benefiting from them.