What are the main immigration pathways to Spain?

Spain is an EU member state, so EU, EEA and Swiss citizens can live and work there freely without a permit. For non-EU (third-country) nationals, Spain combines its long-standing general immigration regime with a modern set of fast-track routes created by the Startups Law (Ley 14/2013, reformed by Ley 28/2022), many of them processed centrally by the UGE-CE within about 20 working days and from inside Spain.

The headline routes are the Digital Nomad Visa for remote workers serving mainly non-Spanish companies; the Highly Qualified Professional permit; the Entrepreneur route for innovative projects; the Intra-Company Transfer permit; and the EU Blue Card. For those who will not work, the Non-Lucrative Visa allows the financially self-sufficient to reside on passive income. Students use the student route, standard employees use the general-regime work permit (usually subject to a labour-market test), and family reunification and long-term residence (normally after five years) complete the picture.

One important change: Spain's residence-by-investment Golden Visa was abolished by Organic Law 1/2025 and closed to new applicants from 3 April 2025, mainly to address housing affordability. Existing holders may generally continue to renew, but the property-investment route is no longer open. Because thresholds and rules change frequently, confirm the current details on the official Spanish portals — and ACME can help you find the route that fits your circumstances.