Latest news with #Non-LucrativeVisa
Local Spain
2 days ago
- Politics
- Local Spain
EXCLUSIVE: Spain clarifies two key rules of the Non-Lucrative Visa
Spain's new Immigration Law, which seeks to make immigration procedures easier for foreigners wanting to live in the country, entered into force on May 20th. As well as addressing the legal uncertainty facing asylum seekers, and reorganising visa categories, it also aimed to improve resolution times and introduce changes to residency rights and procedures. Along with all these changes, the government has set out to clarify several points regarding the Non-Lucrative Visa (NLV), which had previously been points of confusion or discussion. The NLV is now the main visa option for many non-EU nationals who want to live in Spain together with the Digital Nomad Visa. NLV Residency Requirement for Renewal The new Royal Decree 1155/2024, effective from May 2025, now clearly says you need to have lived more than 183 days in Spain during the previous year to be able to renew your Non-Lucrative Visa. María del Castro, CEO of Spanish law firm CostaLuz Lawyers told The Local Spain that 'before this wasn't stated so clearly - people just assumed you needed to actually live in Spain'. But now Article 64 point f) of the Official State Gazette (BOE) states that you can only renew your NLV if you 'have actually and effectively resided in Spain for more than 183 days during the calendar year', thus establishing a "minimum physical presence" according to the Andalusia-based lawyer. Del Castro explained that in 2023 the Spanish Supreme Court ruled that since this 183-day rule wasn't in the main Organic Law, the government couldn't officially make it a strict requirement. In other words, judges declared "null the prior regulatory rule that allowed for the automatic cancellation of non-lucrative residence permits for absences longer than six months", Del Castro stated. 'So, there has been a bit of a legal tug-of-war between what the old rules said and what the Court has decided'. Now there's no room for interpretation. If you want to renew your Non-Lucrative Visa after the first year, then after two years and once again after two years, you have to have lived in Spain for more than 183 days a year. In essence, you have to be a tax resident if you want to renew your NLV and continue living in Spain, that's 100 percent clear now. According to Del Castro, the Immigration Law "explicitly establishes the requirement, thus overriding any prior interpretations or case law, including the Supreme Court's judgment, which was based on the previous framework". The 183-day rule exists because the Spanish government want NLV holders to be residents for fiscal purposes and pay their taxes in Spain. Depending on your personal circumstances, if you live here less than 183 days, you aren't considered to be a tax resident. In fact, the new regulation also states that at the time of renewal, compliance with tax and Social Security obligations during the permit's validity will be taken into account. NLV work prohibition clarified The Spanish government has also made it crystal clear in the legal text of its new Immigration Law that you can't work while on the NLV. You have to prove you have sufficient economic means through passive income such as rent from a property abroad, savings or a pension. It's always been the case that you can't work in Spain while on the NLV, but there have been many discussions online about this over the years, with many believing it simply meant that you just couldn't work in Spain. So now, there's no room for confusion. 'It's important to note that the prohibition to work is not just in Spain but worldwide', explains del Castro. This means that you can't work for a company or clients abroad while on the NLV either. If you want to be able to do that, you will need to apply for the Digital Nomad Visa or DNV instead. The NLV will not be applicable to you and you'd be breaking the rules.
Local Spain
13-03-2025
- Business
- Local Spain
How Spain's new temporary contract rules make it hard for foreigners to rent
We recently wrote an article on why so many Americans are moving to Spain recently and some of the issues they face when they arrive here, and one of the most common challenges was finding a place to rent. Many other foreign nationals are also taking to Facebook groups to complain about the issue and ask for help finding somewhere to live. The problem has come about not only because of Spain's current housing crisis, in which many locals are also finding it near impossible to find access to affordable housing, but also because of one of the government's solutions to this issue. According to a recent report called 'Living in rented accommodation: insecurity guaranteed by law', published by the Barcelona Urban Research Institute (IDRA), nine out of 10 rentals in Madrid and Barcelona have temporary contracts. These are seasonal or short-term rentals, not as short as tourist rentals, but just under the amount of time to be classed as a permanent rental – typically between 32 days and 11 months. Rental contracts of over a year however are deemed long-term and by law can be extended up to five years. But if landlords don't want tenants to have the option of staying for five years and want to restrict other tenancy rights, they choose to make their rental a temporary one instead. This means that caseros (landlords) can sidestep the tenancy rights enshrined by Spain's Urban Leasing Law, and they can charge more money without being subject to rent caps and price controls, as temporary contracts are not covered by these recent reforms that apply to long-term contracts. In order to put more permanent homes back on the market, in late 2024 the Spanish government gave the green light to a law to regulate temporary and room rentals. This meant modifying the law to force landlords and tenants to 'justify the need for temporary rentals'. As a result, tenants and landlords now need to give a reason as to why they have a temporary let, and usually it falls on the tenant to do so. For example, this entails providing proof of enrolment letter from a university if you're doing a course, or showing you have a temporary job contract, or evidence that you're receiving temporary medical treatment in Spain. As a result, more and more estate agencies, particularly in bigger cities like Barcelona where there are so many temporary rentals, are asking for proof of why you need to rent for under a year. Foreigners arriving in Spain on residency authorisations such as the Non-Lucrative Visa or the Digital Nomad Visa are typically here for one year or more, so this doesn't qualify as a temporary reason. Therefore, they are being asked to provide proof for their need to rent temporarily but their situation - whether as retirees on the NLV or digital nomads on the DNV - does not qualify as an official justification to need a temporary contract. To be clear, the vast majority of these foreigners want to rent long-term. The only reason that they're looking at temporary rentals is because there are simply not enough permanent rentals being advertised. This is a huge stumbling block for many foreign residents who have recently moved to Spain and one that authorities appear to not be aware of. This catch-22, combined with the fact that many landlords refuse to take on tenants without a Spanish job contract, makes it extremely difficult to find a place to rent, particularly in big cities. Valencia newcomer Dayna Rubalcava told The Local Spain that 'Finding an apartment was a bit challenging—prices have gone up significantly in the past two years, and there isn't a lot of availability outside of holiday rentals'. American Eric Kenney, who also agreed moved to Valencia, agreed. "Finding a place to rent was our biggest challenge. A lot of places won't rent to people with foreign or investment incomes,' he said. Brett Formosa, who moved to Madrid from New York, also found a similar issue. 'Finding a place to live was challenging as real estate agents really didn't respond to us. We ended renting from a short-term rental company which had pros and cons'. Many other readers as well as users of foreigner Facebook groups have complained of the same problem. One user wrote on the Non-Lucrative Visa Facebook page: 'My partner and I moved to Barcelona under NLV, 2 weeks ago and since then we have been looking for a flat to rent day and night…. Around 99 percent of ads on Idealista are between 32 day - 11 months only. Because of this, they are legally obliged to justify that tenants are in Spain for a temporary reason (school or health treatment etc). As we are here with NLV, and cannot give any document proof, agencies do not even bother to arrange a viewing'. In order to solve the issue of the skyrocketing number of temporary rentals, the Spanish government has come up with another plan to force landlords to register all short-term lets and rooms. The new rule means that for a home to be able to be marketed on digital platforms, it must appear in a new registry – the Ventanilla Única Digital de Arrendamientos first and meet all the legal requirements to function as a seasonal rental. The regulation came into force on January 2nd 2025, but its effective application will not be until July 1st 2025, giving a transition period for companies and administrations to adapt appropriately to the new requirements. The Catalan government and left-wing regional party ERC are also in the process of negotiating an agreement which will regulate temporary rental contracts and room rentals in the northeastern region. This may mean that for the next few months, at least until these new measures are passed, the high number of temporary rentals will remain and it will still be difficult to find a place to rent for foreign newcomers in Spain.
