Non-Lucrative Visa
If your dream is to enjoy a better quality of life in Tenerife or elsewhere in Spain without working, the Non-Lucrative Visa could be the ideal option for you.
This visa is designed for people who are retired, semi-retired, financially independent, or receive a regular passive income, such as a pension, rental income, investments or company dividends.
What does this mean for you?
If you have enough income to support yourself without working, this visa allows you to make Spain your home and enjoy the lifestyle you’ve been planning for, whether that’s all year round or part of the year.
Before you get started, there are a few important things you need to know. We’d rather you understand the process from the beginning than discover something later that could affect your plans.
What does “Non-Lucrative” actually mean?
Quite simply, this visa is for people who can support themselves without working.
You cannot be employed, self-employed, or actively work in your own business, whether in Spain or any other country.
However, you can receive a passive income. This includes things such as:
- Your pension.
- Rental income from property.
- Dividends from a company in which you are a shareholder but do not actively work.
- Income from investments or other financial assets.
If your income comes from these sources, rather than from working, this could be the right visa for you.
Before you get started with the Non-Lucrative Visa, it is important we bring you up to speed on a couple of legal changes that apply to this visa. Legislation was updated in November 2024 (effective May 2025) and it affects this residency’s renewals.
Let’s start with years one to five.
Your first residence permit is granted for one year. At the end of that year, you can renew it for a further two years. After three years, you can renew it again, giving you a total of five years of residency.
To qualify for each of these renewals, you must spend a minimum of 183 days in Spain during each residency year (not each calendar year).
This is one of the most important rules of the Non-Lucrative Visa and something you need to understand before deciding whether this is the right option for you.
We’ll explain what happens after those first five years in just a moment. But first, a little note for those who would take the first year to settle in Spain and then wish to work. Once your residency‘s 1st renewal is approved, you can modify your residency type, and change it to a residency that allows you to work.
What happens after five years?
This depends on how you have used your residency during those first five years.
- If you have spent around 183 days per residency year in Spain, you can continue by applying for a further period of temporary residency.
- If you have genuinely made Spain your home, you may qualify for long-term residency.
What’s the difference?
To qualify for long-term residency after five years, you must have maintained continuous legal residence in Spain as your main residence.
What does this mean in practice?
You need to be careful about the amount of time you spend outside Spain during those first five years. As a general rule, your absences should not exceed 10 months in total over the five-year period, and you should not be outside Spain for more than six consecutive months on any one trip.
Long-term residency offers much greater security. Unlike temporary residency, it allows you to continue living in Spain without following the same temporary renewal cycle.
For many British nationals, it is similar to what they think of as permanent residence under the Withdrawal Agreement, although it is a different legal status.
So let’s break that down.
If you’re looking to enjoy the next five years and then decide what you’d like to do after that, you only need to spend a minimum of 183 days per year in Spain in order to renew your Non-Lucrative Visa consistently.
However, if your intention is to live in the Canary Islands long-term, then you need to bear in mind that the first five years are closely tied to the amount of time you spend outside Spain. During those first five years, you must not spend more than 300 days outside Spanish territory.
Now, let’s get into the nitty-gritty…
Before you begin your Non-Lucrative Visa application, it’s important to understand that there will be a financial investment involved.
As a general guide, you should expect to invest around £2,000 to £2,500 per person. This includes not only the visa application itself, but also the various third-party costs involved throughout the process.
Our role is to guide you every step of the way, helping to ensure everything is prepared correctly from the outset.
To obtain your first year’s residency, you will need to demonstrate that you have sufficient financial means to support yourself.
- Single applicant: €30,072.00
- Family beneficiary member €7,518.00
- Couple: €37,590.00
However, there’s one point that many people don’t realise.
You are not applying for just one year of residency, so it’s important to understand the financial requirements for your first renewal before you begin.
After your first year, your residency is renewed for a further two years. At that stage, you will again need to demonstrate that you have sufficient financial means for the full two-year renewal period.
If your income comes from pensions, this is usually quite straightforward, as your pension naturally covers that period.
If, however, you are relying on savings or investments, it’s worth planning ahead before you submit your initial application as you will be showing double the original figure.
And finally, one last point to bear in mind before you book a call with us…
As part of your application, you will need to provide a police certificate confirming that you have no serious run-ins with the law.
If there is anything in your past that you think may be relevant, please tell us from the outset. This allows us to assess your individual circumstances and advise you honestly on whether the issue can be overcome or whether it is likely to affect your application.
The same applies to any other circumstance that could prevent a successful application. We’d much rather identify any potential issues before you invest your time and money than discover them further down the line.
If everything you’ve read so far sounds like the right fit for you, we’d be happy to arrange a 10-minute, no-obligation telephone call.
By now, you may have jotted down a few questions while reading through this page. This call is your opportunity to ask them. Send us a Whatsapp message or an e-mail requesting a call.
As you can appreciate, we don’t go into the detailed documentation, application strategy and full preparation process during this call, as that forms part of our professional service. Once you become a client, we’ll guide you through every step of the application from start to finish.