Spain · Buying and moving from the US
Americans can own a home in Spain as full owners, registered in their own names; the one restriction is a military permit that buyers from outside the EU need in a few defence zones. Living there takes a visa, and the golden visa for property buyers closed on 3 April 2025: the main routes now are the non-lucrative visa for people who will not work, which asks one person for €28,800 a year in 2026, and the digital nomad visa for remote workers. The IRS taxes citizens on worldwide income wherever they live, and Spain taxes you as a resident once you spend more than 183 days there in a year.
Looking at a home in Spain? Four quick questions, then Rory tells you plainly what your budget reaches and whether the timing works.
See what fits →Yes. Spanish law makes dealings between residents and non-residents free, subject to sector rules (Ley 19/2003, art. 1). For property the exception is the defence zones, where foreigners need prior military authorisation to buy (Ley 8/1975, art. 18; Real Decreto 689/1978, art. 37). A 1990 change exempted EU citizens, so the rule applies to Americans, while areas of national tourist interest are exempt (art. 38); your lawyer can check the address.
You may have read about a 100% tax on buyers from outside the EU. A bill registered in Congress in May 2025 would have charged buyers living outside the EU a tax equal to the full value of the property, unless they bought from a business charging IVA, such as a developer selling new homes. It lapsed on 6 October 2026, when parliament was dissolved for the general election of 29 November, and never became law.
Owning a home does not let you live in Spain; that takes one of the visas below.
Every buyer needs an NIE, the identity number Spain gives foreigners. Living in the US, you apply at the Spanish consulate for your state, in person or through a representative whose power of attorney expressly covers it. New York charges $12 in 2026, paid by USPS money order, asks for form EX-15, your passport and proof that you live in its district, and says the number normally arrives by email within five weeks. Applying in Spain instead is covered on our NIE page.
| Consulate | States and territories it covers |
|---|---|
| Boston | Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont |
| Chicago | Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin |
| Houston | Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas |
| Los Angeles | Southern California (11 counties), Arizona, Colorado, Utah |
| Miami | Florida, Georgia, South Carolina |
| New York | New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware |
| San Francisco | Northern California, Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming and the US Pacific islands |
| Washington, D.C. | District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina |
The Los Angeles and San Francisco lists both name Inyo County, so check your county with the consulate. Los Angeles, Chicago and Miami take visa applications through BLS International, a contractor; Boston and New York take them at the consulate.
For retirees the main route is the non-lucrative visa, for people who will live on their own means without working, remote work included. The test is 400% of IPREM, Spain's income index, which the Washington consulate gives as €600 a month in 2026: €28,800 a year for the main applicant, plus €7,200 for each family member. Health insurance must come from an insurer authorised in Spain and match the public system's cover, with no co-payments.
The criminal record certificate must come from the FBI, not state or local police, be under six months old, carry a Department of State apostille and come with an official Spanish translation; a medical certificate under the 2005 International Health Regulations is needed too. US citizens pay $140 for the visa and $13 for the residence permit in 2026. New York's legal decision period is three months, and once in Spain you have a month to apply for your TIE identity card.
Remote workers use the digital nomad visa, formally the international teleworker visa. It needs 200% of the minimum wage, which is €1,221 a month in 2026 (Real Decreto 126/2026): €2,442 a month, plus €916 for a first family member and €306 for each further one. You need a degree or three years' experience; employees must work for companies outside Spain, and the self-employed may take Spanish clients for up to 20% of their work. The visa lasts up to a year, while a permit requested inside Spain during your visa-free days lasts up to three (Washington consulate).
The golden visa has gone. Organic Law 1/2025 emptied the articles of Ley 14/2013 that gave residence to, among others, buyers of property worth €500,000 or more, from 3 April 2025, though existing permits keep their validity. Renewals and life after arrival are covered on our non-lucrative visa page, written for UK applicants.
Without a visa, a US passport allows 90 days in any 180, counted across every country in the EU's Entry/Exit System, which logs each crossing; our 90-day rule page has a counter. ETIAS, the €20 online authorisation US visitors will need, was still not running on 19 October 2026; the EU will give several months' notice of its start.
Tax residence is a separate test. Spending over 183 days of a calendar year in Spain, or having the main base of your economic interests there, makes you tax resident, and Spain presumes it when a spouse who is not legally separated and dependent minor children live there (Ley 35/2006, art. 9).
The US taxes citizens on worldwide income wherever they live, and reliefs such as the foreign tax credit are claimed on a US return; if you live abroad on the due date, filing is extended automatically to June 15 (IRS).
The 1990 US–Spain income tax treaty, amended by a protocol in force since 27 November 2019, divides the taxing rights. Its saving clause lets the US tax citizens as if the treaty had never come into effect, apart from listed reliefs (art. 1.3), so relief comes mainly as a US credit for Spanish tax (art. 24.2). For a citizen living in Spain, income taxed only because of citizenship is treated as arising in Spain where needed to avoid taxing it twice (art. 24.3).
| Income | Treaty rule | Article |
|---|---|---|
| Rent from a home in Spain | May be taxed in Spain, where the home is | 6 |
| Gain when you sell a home in Spain | May be taxed in Spain | 13.1 |
| Private pension for past employment | Taxable only where you are resident, subject to the saving clause | 20.1.a |
| US Social Security paid to a resident of Spain | May be taxed by the US | 20.1.b |
| Pension for US government service | Generally taxable only by the US | 21.2 |
While you live in the US, a Spanish home means filing Spain's non-resident return, Modelo 210. As a US resident you pay 24%, where EU and EEA residents pay 19%, and you cannot deduct letting expenses, while a home you do not let is taxed on a notional income set from its cadastral value (IRNR, arts. 24 and 25). A gain on sale is taxed at 19%, with 3% of the price held back by the buyer. Our Modelo 210 page has the deadlines.
Once you are resident, Spanish income tax covers your income wherever it arises (Ley 35/2006, art. 2), and US accounts, securities or property worth more than €50,000 in any of those groups go on Modelo 720, due in the first three months of the following year (Real Decreto 1065/2007; Orden HAP/72/2013). Spanish inheritance tax reaches heirs of property in Spain even if they live abroad (Ley 29/1987, art. 7), and the US has no estate tax treaty with Spain (IRS).
Two US reports follow you abroad. An FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) is due online by April 15, extended automatically to October 15, if your foreign accounts together pass $10,000 at any time in the year. Form 8938, under FATCA, goes with your return once foreign financial assets exceed $200,000 at year end or $300,000 at any time for a single filer abroad ($400,000 and $600,000 filing jointly; less while you live in the US). A home held directly goes on neither. Spanish banks report US persons' accounts to the Agencia Tributaria on Modelo 290, under a 2013 agreement to exchange the data with the IRS.
This is information, not advice: we are an introducer, not a tax adviser, so confirm your position with an adviser who handles both countries before you buy or move.
A Spanish account is the practical way to pay for the home and its bills; CaixaBank's guide for buyers abroad asks for a passport, your tax identification number and proof of income to open one. The deed must record how and when the price was paid, whether by transfer, cheque or cash (Ley del Notariado, art. 24).
Cash of €10,000 or more must be declared on entering or leaving the EU (Regulation (EU) 2018/1672, art. 3), and more than $10,000 in currency or monetary instruments must be reported to US Customs and Border Protection on FinCEN Form 105 when it leaves or enters the US.
The dollar price moves too. In the ten years to September 2026 the ECB's monthly average ran from $0.98 to $1.23 per euro, so a €300,000 home would have cost between about $295,000 and $370,000; on 16 October 2026 the official rate was $1.1253. Borrowing is covered in Spanish mortgages for non-residents.
The non-lucrative visa requires health cover, public or private, from a company licensed to insure in Spain, with the same scope as the national health system and no co-payment or deductible (New York consulate). Medicare usually does not cover care outside the US: its exceptions are emergencies that begin in the US or while crossing Canada, or a foreign hospital nearer your US home, and some Medigap policies cover emergencies on trips (medicare.gov).
After a year's continuous residence, if you are on the padrón and have no other public cover, you can join the public system through the convenio especial. The 2013 decree set the monthly charge at €60 for under-65s and €157 for those aged 65 or over, and regions may charge more if they add services (Real Decreto 576/2013, arts. 3 and 6).
The purchase follows the usual path for a foreign buyer: NIE, Spanish account, a lawyer acting only for you, a private contract with a deposit, the deed before a notary, then registration. Our buying guide has the steps and the checks.
You need not fly over for each step. A Spanish consulate in the US can authorise a power of attorney for Spanish and foreign citizens, so that your lawyer can buy, sign or apply for your NIE for you; you sign in person, and the fee depends on the document's length (New York consulate).
Tax is the largest extra. A resale home pays transfer tax (ITP) at its region's rate, while a new home sold by its developer for the first time carries 10% IVA (Ley 37/1992, art. 91) plus stamp duty (AJD) at a regional rate (Real Decreto Legislativo 1/1993, arts. 11 and 31). Our buying costs page has each region's rates and a calculator, and property in Spain compares the coasts.
We are an introducer: we put buyers in touch with developers, who pay us if you buy. We are not lawyers, tax advisers or mortgage brokers, and nothing here is advice on your own situation.
Weighing up a home in Spain?
Rory speaks to every buyer before anyone is introduced: fifteen minutes, your budget and your timing, and a straight answer on whether it fits.
Talk to us about Spain →Yes. US citizens may buy Spanish property and hold the title themselves, whether or not they live in Spain. The one restriction is a military permit that buyers from outside the EU need in some defence zones, with areas of national tourist interest exempt. A 2025 bill to tax buyers resident outside the EU at 100% lapsed in October 2026 and never became law.
The non-lucrative visa, the route for people who will not work in Spain, asks the main applicant for income or savings of 400% of IPREM, Spain's income index: €2,400 a month, or €28,800 a year, in 2026, plus €7,200 a year for each family member. Pensions, savings or both can count, and you also need a Spanish-licensed health policy with no co-payments.
No. A Spanish home brings no residence rights, and the golden visa route for buyers of property worth €500,000 or more stopped taking applications on 3 April 2025. Beyond the visitor limit of 90 days in 180 you need a residence visa: the non-lucrative visa for retirees, or the digital nomad visa for people working remotely for companies abroad.
Both can tax you. The US taxes citizens on worldwide income wherever they live, and Spain taxes its residents on worldwide income, residence starting once you spend over 183 days of a calendar year there or meet its other tests. The treaty relieves double tax mainly through credits, but its saving clause keeps the US right to tax its citizens.
Generally not. Medicare usually does not cover health care outside the US; its exceptions are for emergencies that begin in the US or while crossing Canada, or where a foreign hospital is nearer your US home. People living in Spain rely on private cover or, once resident for a year, can buy into the public system through the convenio especial.
Last checked 2026-10-19. Rules and rates change; this is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Confirm your own position with an independent Spanish lawyer or tax adviser before you act.