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Spain

Non-lucrative visa (visado de residencia no lucrativa). Residence for people with enough passive income or savings to live in Spain without working there.

Free · The law behind every answer · Checked Sep 27, 2026

Non-lucrative visa (visado de residencia no lucrativa)

A one-year residence permit, renewable for two further two-year periods.

Who qualifies

You keep your U.S. citizenship.

1

Does it fit your family?

3 questions, from the program’s own rules.

Steady monthly income, from any source?

Not legal advice.

2

What it takes.

Income
Steady income each month, rising with each person who moves.
Just you$2,640
2 people$3,300
4 people$4,620
Time
1–3 months for the consulate decision.
Cost
About $700–1,500: visa fee, health insurance, and certified/apostilled financial documents.
The hard part
Showing recurring, documented passive income rather than a lump sum, at a level that has not risen with inflation since 2023.

Dollar figures are converted from the local currency at the rate the program’s research used; the official figure is in the local currency.

3

Citizens by 2040.

If your first permit is issued in 2027 and you keep living there, this is the road.

  1. 2027
    First residence permit

    1 year, renewable for 2 years at a time.

  2. 2028
    Renew the permit

    Filed before the old one lapses; renews for 2 years.

  3. 2030
    Renew the permit

    Filed before the old one lapses; renews for 2 years.

  4. 2032
    Permanent residence

    Five years of legal, continuous residence. Absences of up to 6 months at a time and 10 months in total do not break it (18 months total if for work). No language test. Half of any time on a student stay counts.

  5. 2037
    Apply for citizenship

    With a language test and a civics test.

  6. 2040
    Citizenship

    The decision usually takes 12–36 months.

Language
Spanish at A2, the DELE A2 exam run by the Instituto Cervantes. Nationals of Spanish-speaking countries are exempt.
Civics
The CCSE, an Instituto Cervantes multiple-choice test on the Constitution and Spanish society and culture. Everyone takes it, including Spanish speakers.
Time away
Residence must be legal, continuous and immediately before the application. The Civil Code sets no day count; a long break in residence or a lapse in permit can restart the clock.
Two passports
It depends on the rules at the time and on your home country.
  • Each renewal needs proof you actually lived in Spain more than 183 days of the year; long-term residence after five years.
  • Decision time: the legal limit is 12 months (silence then counts as a refusal), but lawyers report 1–3 years in practice; the upper end is not from an official figure.
  • The Civil Code gives no day count for absences on the citizenship clock; how the registry weighs long trips abroad is practice, not law.
  • Dual citizenship: everyone must declare they renounce their former nationality except nationals of Ibero-American countries, Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea, Portugal, and Sephardic Jews. A 2021 Spain–France treaty also lets French citizens keep theirs; not re-checked today.
  • Whether you can keep your current citizenship depends on the rules at the time and your home country.
The law behind these dates
4

Living there.

Time you must spend there
Must not be absent more than 6 months in any year to keep the permit and to count years toward permanent residence.
Tax
Makes you a Spanish tax resident once you exceed 183 days/year; the non-lucrative visa itself carries no special tax regime (the Beckham law applies only to employment/self-employment income, not passive income).

We never file a tax return. We tell you what applies and brief the professional who does.

5

Start today.

  1. Apply at the Spanish consulate for your address with proof of income and health insurance.Open exteriores.gob.es ↗
  2. Round up the papers.
    • Proof of steady income: at least $2,640 a month
    • Request your FBI Identity History Summary
    • Health insurance that meets the program’s rules
6

Or let us run it.

$900for your first year as a founding member. Then $399 a year, automatically.Standard first year: $1,200. Everyone renews at $399.One membership, the whole family. Accounts and activation included.

20 steps, from the first paper to the passport. You do 4 of them: send what we ask for, sign, and show up. We run the rest, and keep every permit renewed on time. Accounts and activation are included, whether you move now or keep the plan ready. Accounts depend on provider availability. Government, record and approved third-party charges are extra.

Run it for my family →
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ISSUED TO

YOUR FAMILY

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