Will the financial requirements for Spain's non-lucrative visa change in 2025?
The non-lucrative visa (NLV) is one of the main visas non-EU nationals use to reside in Spain. It's often referred to as the retirement visa, as you're not allowed to work if you have it and have to prove you have sufficient financial means to take care of yourself through passive income or savings.
How much money you have to prove you have for the NLV is based on the IPREM. This is an index or threshold for government aid, whether it be unemployment, disability grants, school grants, certain subsidies for the purchase or rental of housing, legal aid, or energy subsidies.
The IPREM in 2024 was €600 per month, €7,200 per year.
NLV holders have to prove they have 400 percent of the annual IPREM for the first year, which amounts to €28,800.
For every family member included in the residency application, it's an extra 100 percent of the IPREM, which is an extra €7,200 for the year.
This means that a couple will need to prove savings or passive income of €36,000.
When it comes to renewing the NLV for two years rather than the initial one, you have to double those amounts.
That was the NLV's financial threshold in 2024, so how about in 2025?
As things stand, the financial requirement for Spain's non-lucrative visa is the same in 2025 as it was in 2024.
That's because the IPREM is only updated through Spain's General State Budget Law, and for that to happen the Spanish government has to get it through Congress.
So will Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez get the new Presupuestos Generales (State Budget) approved for 2025 and with it a possible change to the IPREM and the financial requirements for the NLV? It seems unlikely but it can't be ruled out.
Given the ruling Socialists' weak parliamentary position and their poor track record of passing new laws despite remaining in power, there's a high chance that the IPREM will stay the same this year.
In fact, at the end of December 2024 the Spanish Cabinet approved the extension of the 2023 State Budget for a second year in a row, meaning that for now the same applies for 2025.
That's not to say that it can't happen, but the Spanish premier would have to convince Catalan parties Junts and ERC to get the new State Budget voted in.
For PSOE's junior coalition party Sumar, if there's no progress made by spring, it'll be too late for the State Budget to be updated in 2025.
Politics aside, it's worth noting that the IPREM hasn't been updated that often since it was created in 2004, and has only increased by 30 percent since then.
There were slight increases to it in 2021 and 2022, but not since, hence why the financial requirement for the NLV isn't increasing every year as is the case with the financial threshold for the digital nomad visa, which is tied to the minimum wage (SMI), and this is going up far more often.
So to sum up, it seems very likely that non-lucrative visa applicants and those renewing it in 2025 will not see an increase in the visa's financial threshold.
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