Investment Passports and European Residence

At a glance

• A visa-free passport covers short stays in the Schengen area. Living in Spain for more than 90 days requires a Spanish national visa or residence authorisation.
• Since 30 December 2025, operating an investor citizenship scheme has been an express ground for suspending visa-free travel under Regulation (EU) 2025/2441.
• Vanuatu lost visa-free access to the Schengen area in stages between 2022 and 2025 because of its investor citizenship schemes.
• The Commission's report of 19 December 2025 called for proper vetting "pending the discontinuation" of the five Caribbean schemes. It did not trigger or propose a suspension.
• Your Spanish application goes to the Spanish mission for the place where you legally live, whatever passport you hold.
• Your civil documents and criminal records follow the rules of the countries that issued them.

A passport is a travel document, not a place to live

The most common misunderstanding we meet is the belief that a visa-free passport lets you live in Spain. It does not. Visa-free status covers short stays such as visits, meetings and holidays. It does not authorise you to settle, and time spent as a visitor does not count as legal residence.

The Spanish Embassy in Seoul states the rule clearly, even though Korean nationals are themselves visa-exempt for short stays: third-country nationals "require a national visa when they are going to stay in Spain for more than 90 days … for work, study or establishing their residence". Only EU, EEA and Swiss nationals are exempt. A Caribbean or Vanuatu passport puts you in the same position as any other visa-exempt third-country national.

An investment passport therefore does not lower a financial threshold, remove a document or shorten a deadline. The file is built on your residence, your documents and your means.

One practical nuance: some authorisations under Ley 14/2013, including the one for international teleworkers, are filed in Spain with the Large Companies and Strategic Groups Unit (UGE-CE) rather than at a consulate, so a visa-exempt passport can matter in practice. The conditions for filing from inside Spain depend on the individual case, and we assess them before anyone books a flight.

What the EU has actually decided

Commentary on investment passports often mixes adopted law, court rulings, recommendations and press reports, which carry very different weight. These are the developments confirmed in official EU sources, with their dates.

• Vanuatu, 2022 to 2025. Vanuatu's visa waiver was partially suspended from 4 May 2022 and fully suspended from 4 February 2023. Regulation (EU) 2025/11, published on 14 January 2025, then moved Vanuatu to the list of countries whose nationals need a visa. The stated reason was its investor citizenship schemes.
• Court of Justice, 29 April 2025. In case C-181/23, Commission v Malta, the Court held that Malta's investor citizenship scheme breached EU law: a Member State cannot grant its nationality in exchange for predetermined payments or investments.
• Regulation (EU) 2025/2441, in force 30 December 2025. The revised visa suspension mechanism adds an express ground: operating an investor citizenship scheme that grants citizenship for pre-determined payments or investments without any genuine link.
• Commission report, 19 December 2025. The Eighth report under the mechanism, COM(2025) 792, counted about 107,000 passports issued under the schemes of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis and Saint Lucia. It recommended proper vetting "pending the discontinuation" of those schemes. No suspension was triggered or proposed.

As of our research date, 24 September 2026, we have found no EU decision suspending visa-free travel for any of the five Caribbean states. We set out the Caribbean position in more detail, including what has been reported since December 2025, in our guide for Caribbean passport holders and the EU decisions.

Why this matters even if nothing changes

We do not forecast EU decisions, and nobody can responsibly do so. The planning point does not depend on any forecast.

Your ability to travel on an investment passport rests on the visa-waiver status of the country that issued it, a matter between that country and the EU. Your ability to live in Spain rests on an authorisation Spain grants you under Spanish law, assessed on your own circumstances. The first is outside your control. The second is built on documents, means and presence that you can plan.

That is why we treat Spanish residence as a way to secure your status: a lawful European base, a renewable authorisation and, after five years, access to long-term residence.

Where you apply: residence decides, not passport

Spanish missions accept national visa applications from people who reside in their consular district. The non-lucrative residence pages of the missions we have checked state that the consular office is competent for applications from "las personas que residan en la demarcación consular", and ask for proof of residence there. The digital nomad pages require applicants to prove legal residence in the country where they apply.

In practice, this means:

• If you live in Dubai or Abu Dhabi, the Embassy of Spain in Abu Dhabi is competent for the whole of the UAE. Non-lucrative applications are lodged at the BLS visa application centre in Dubai.
• If you live in Riyadh or Jeddah, the Embassy of Spain in Riyadh is competent for Saudi Arabia, with BLS centres in both cities.
• If you live in Istanbul, the Consulate General in Istanbul receives non-lucrative and digital nomad applications through BLS.
• If you have never lived in the country of your investment passport, that passport does not open a route through that country.

Your local residence permit is part of the file. The BLS checklist for non-lucrative applications in the UAE, for example, asks for copies of residence permits of the last five years, issued by the UAE or any other country.

Your documents still come from where your life happened

A new nationality does not change where you were born, married or lived. Civil documents are issued by the country where the event took place. Criminal record certificates are required from the countries where you have resided: for the non-lucrative visa, the last five years; for the digital nomad visa, the last two years plus a sworn declaration covering the previous five.

Each document follows the legalisation rules of the country that issued it:

• Apostille countries. Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain and Armenia are parties to the Hague Apostille Convention.
• Consular legalisation countries. The UAE, Kuwait, Iraq, Lebanon and Iran are not. Their documents are legalised first by the issuing country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and then by the Spanish mission with jurisdiction.

Many of our clients therefore carry two document chains. An Iranian-born holder of a Grenada passport who lives in Dubai needs Iranian-issued documents legalised through the Iranian route, and UAE documents legalised through the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Spanish Embassy in Abu Dhabi. The embassy's information sheet states that the UAE police certificate must be legalised by both the UAE Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We explain the Iranian side in our guide for Iranian nationals holding a Dominica passport.

Funds follow the same logic. The payment for an investment passport forms part of your financial history, so keep the records.

The two routes most investment-passport holders use

Non-Lucrative Visa suits people who live on savings, investments or passive income and do not intend to work in Spain. The authorisation does not permit work or professional activity.

• Means: 400% of IPREM per month for the main applicant. IPREM has remained at €600 a month since 2023, giving €2,400 a month or €28,800 a year, plus €600 a month (€7,200 a year) for each family member.
• Duration: one year initially, then renewals of two years each.
• Renewal requires more than 183 days of real and effective residence in Spain during the calendar year.
• Health insurance with an insurer authorised to operate in Spain. Many consulates also require cover without co-payments or waiting periods.

The digital nomad route suits people who work remotely for companies outside Spain, as employees or as self-employed professionals.

• Means: 200% of the minimum wage (SMI). With the 2026 SMI of €1,221 a month in 14 payments (RD 126/2026), we work to €2,849 a month (€34,188 a year) for the main applicant, plus €1,068 a month for the first family member and €356 a month for each additional one.
• At least three months' prior relationship with the employer or clients, a company active for at least one year, and a degree or at least three years of professional experience.
• The residence authorisation granted in Spain through the UGE-CE runs for three years and can be renewed for two.

Both thresholds are tied to official indicators and are confirmed on the filing date. Our comparison of the two routes goes through the decision in detail.

From a first permit to long-term residence

Durability comes from continuity. Each renewal builds towards long-term residence, which becomes available after five years of legal and continuous residence in Spain.

• Renewals are filed within the two months before expiry. They can still be filed up to three months after expiry, although late filing may be penalised.
• For long-term residence, absences of up to six months at a time are allowed, provided they do not exceed ten months in total over the five years.
• EU long-term residence, a separate status under Directive 2003/109/EC, has the same five-year and absence rules and gives access to residence in other Member States.

For holders who split their year between Spain and the Gulf, note that these are two different tests. Spending more than 183 days a year in Spain satisfies the non-lucrative renewal, but it can still leave you well above ten months of absences over five years. Planning the calendar from the first year is what protects the five-year count. Our renewal and TIE service is designed around that continuity.

Misconceptions we correct in almost every consultation

• "My passport lets me apply at any Spanish consulate." The mission is determined by where you legally reside.
• "My new nationality replaces my old documents." Documents are issued, and legalised, by the country where the event happened.
• "Visa-free status makes the file lighter." The thresholds, documents and deadlines are the same.
• "Time spent visiting Spain counts towards long-term residence." Only time as a legal resident counts.
• "The money I paid for the passport is irrelevant." It is a significant movement of funds and part of your financial trace.

How Parastoo Legal Group works with investment-passport holders

Parastoo Legal Group is a Madrid-based immigration and global mobility firm. We have handled many successful files for Dominica passport holders and for holders of other investment passports, most of whom live in the Gulf, Türkiye or their country of origin. We do not sell or arrange citizenship by investment, so our advice on these passports is independent.

Your case manager maps your residence, your documents of origin and your income, then confirms the competent mission and the legalisation chain for each document. With every file we send a short cover memo to the case officer, summarising the application and where each requirement is evidenced. Our non-lucrative and digital nomad service covers preparation and filing, the TIE appointment, opening a Spanish bank account, family members' applications and, if a file is refused, the administrative appeal (recurso de reposición).

Our team of 15 works in Persian, Arabic, Turkish, Spanish and English, and has obtained more than 400 approved residencies with a 93% approval rate. The first consultation, by video call or phone, is free.