Getting a Spanish Visa

[Sunflowergirl1]

Can anyone advise who has knowledge of this. My friend was due to move to Spain before the end of the transition period and couldn't do so. She is now facing having to get a visa. I am convinced she is incorrect in her understanding

She is looking at a "non-lucrative" visa. Means she can't work except outside Spain (so she could work remotely). It states a minimum income which works out circa 26000 euro. She think she can do this as showing drawing on capital which I don't think she can as it isn't income. The other is that she has a criminal caution from years ago...a separate issue but she got it from slotting her ex after he hit her and she accepted a caution which she shouldn't have done. But she has to provide a criminal conviction certificate and it seems to read it has to be clean so I think that also excludes her.

Anyone any knowledge....certainly loss of free movement has a big impact now!

Could she invest it in an annuity?

No not enough....to generate over 26000 euro pa needs a huge lump sum.

I’m in the early stages of looking into this myself, so I went back and checked the current document on the London Embassy website.

www.exteriores.gob.es/Consulados/LONDRES/en/Consulado/Documents/RES%20ES-EN.pdf

The non-lucrative visa is primarily intended for people who are retiring to Spain or living off investment income, etc.

In that document, it isn’t very clear as to whether you can count spending your capital as your source of funds - it implies not, but then it does say that you need to be able to show you have the money only for the one-year term of the visa. I don’t think you could say for sure, based on that document, whether they’d accept capital. If they do and she spends the money, she might run into difficulties later on when she renews her visa.

I’m told that Spanish bureaucracy is notoriously complicated and many people in Spain hire a ‘gestor’ to assist them with it.

Thanks for that @TravellingFleet ....yes I think the renewal is likely the problem.

There is a great group on Facebook -Expats in Spain. There is a huge wealth of information about relocating to Spain post Brexit and obtaining the different visas. It also provides information requirements on taxes including declarations of income and capital gains taxes etc. Well worth your friend joining.

Il mention it thanks.