Spain raised more than €2 billion from golden visas to wealthy foreigners

SPAIN has raked in more than €2 billion by selling so-called ‘golden visas’ to wealthy foreigners.

It comes after the government introduced legislation in 2013 that offered residency permits to investors and highly-qualified professionals.

Since then some 2,236 foreigners have bought a residency, bringing in €2.16 billion to Spain’s coffers.

Some 72% of the investment went into property, and Chinese and Russian millionaires made up 59.4% of the total of those who took advantage of the scheme.

A total of 714 Chinese nationals were granted visas after investing €716 million into property, financial assets and businesses, while Russia was close behind with 685 nationals investing €567 million.

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