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Moving to Spain involves much more than obtaining a Spanish residence visa and considering the tax implications.
Entrepreneurs, executives and international families relocating to Spain often arrive with foreign companies, investments, real estate, matrimonial arrangements, wills and other legal structures created under very different legal systems.
Some of those arrangements will continue to work perfectly well after the move. Others may have unexpected consequences once Spain becomes the family’s country of residence.
Anyone moving to Spain, should therefore consider the immigration, family, succession, property and commercial law implications before relocating.
Below are seven key legal issues to consider.
1. Which Visa Do You Need to Move to Spain?
For non-EU nationals, the first step is determining the appropriate Spanish visa or residence permit.
Spain offers several immigration routes, depending on the applicant’s professional and personal circumstances. The principal options include:
- the Spain Digital Nomad Visa, particularly relevant for professionals working remotely for foreign companies or clients;
- the Non-Lucrative Visa, aimed at individuals with sufficient financial resources who intend to reside in Spain without working;
- residence permits for highly qualified professionals;
- intra-company transfer permits for employees and executives transferred to Spain within an international group;
- the Entrepreneur Visa, for qualifying innovative or entrepreneurial projects; and
- residence and work permits for individuals intending to become self-employed in Spain.
Choosing the appropriate route requires considering the applicant’s nationality, professional activities, sources of income, family circumstances and intended activities after moving to Spain.
One significant change for investors is that buying property in Spain no longer provides access to a Golden Visa. Spain abolished its investor residence regime, including the real estate investment route, with effect from 3 April 2025.
Immigration and tax planning should also be coordinated from the outset. A Spanish residence permit and Spanish tax residence are different legal concepts. Obtaining a visa does not automatically make someone tax resident, although the circumstances of the relocation may ultimately result in Spanish tax residence.
2. What Happens to Your Matrimonial Property Regime After Moving to Spain?
Married couples relocating to Spain should determine which law governs ownership of their matrimonial assets.
This is particularly important for couples married in the UAE, Saudi Arabia or another foreign jurisdiction, spouses of different nationalities and families that have lived in several countries.
Moving to Spain does not necessarily mean that an existing matrimonial property regime is automatically replaced by a Spanish one.
However, identifying the applicable regime becomes particularly important when spouses buy property in Spain, obtain a mortgage, sell assets, make gifts between themselves, divorce or deal with an inheritance.
A couple may, for example, believe that an asset belongs exclusively to one spouse while the applicable matrimonial regime produces a different result.
Marriage certificates, prenuptial agreements and other matrimonial documents should therefore be reviewed before undertaking significant transactions in Spain.
3. Do You Need a Spanish Will When Moving to Spain?
Individuals relocating from the Middle East should review their wills and international estate planning.
Having a valid foreign will does not necessarily mean that the succession will operate in Spain exactly as expected.
This does not automatically require replacing the existing will. International families may, in appropriate circumstances, maintain separate wills covering assets located in different jurisdictions.
The important issue is ensuring that those documents work together.
An international estate plan should consider Spanish and foreign real estate, bank accounts, investment portfolios, shares in family companies and other significant assets. Particular care should be taken to ensure that a Spanish will does not inadvertently revoke or contradict an existing foreign will.
The applicable succession law should also be considered. For international families, nationality, habitual residence and any valid choice of applicable law can materially affect how an estate passes to the next generation.
For families with substantial international assets, succession planning before moving to Spain can therefore be particularly important.
4. Buying or Renting Property in Spain
Purchasing a home is often one of the first major transactions for families moving from abroad to Spain, particularly from the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
The Spanish property acquisition process may differ substantially from what buyers are accustomed to in the Gulf.
Before signing a reservation agreement or contrato de arras, buyers should conduct proper legal due diligence on the Spanish property.
Depending on the transaction, this normally includes reviewing:
- legal ownership and Land Registry information;
- existing mortgages, attachments and other charges;
- planning and licensing matters;
- debts owed to the owners’ community;
- occupation and tenancy issues; and
- the terms of the reservation, deposit and purchase agreements.
The contrato de arras is particularly important. Buyers sometimes assume that it is merely a preliminary reservation document, when in reality it can create significant contractual rights and obligations.
Families renting their first home should likewise be aware that residential leases in Spain are extensively regulated. Statutory rules concerning duration, mandatory extensions, deposits, guarantees, rent and termination can limit what landlords and tenants are free to agree contractually.
5. What Happens to Your Foreign Company When You Move to Spain?
Entrepreneurs relocating to Spain frequently continue owning or managing companies in the Middle East or elsewhere.
The consequences extend beyond taxation.
Existing shareholder agreements, directorships, signing authorities, powers of attorney, financing arrangements and commercial contracts should be reviewed to determine whether the owner’s relocation creates corporate or governance issues.
Business owners should also consider how activities physically conducted in Spain will be structured.
Depending on the circumstances, the alternatives may include operating personally, incorporating a Spanish Sociedad Limitada (SL), establishing a Spanish branch or continuing to operate through the existing foreign company.
Continuing to own a foreign company after moving to Spain is perfectly possible. However, where its owner or directors begin managing that company from Spain, questions concerning effective management, corporate residence, permanent establishments and Spanish taxation may arise.
For entrepreneurs, reviewing the foreign company before relocating to Spain can therefore prevent significantly more complicated problems afterwards.
6. How Should Personal and Family Assets Be Structured in Spain?
Relocation is also an appropriate time to review how personal and business assets are owned.
International families may hold real estate personally, investments through companies, jointly owned assets between spouses, family holding companies or other structures.
Those arrangements should not be changed without first considering the Spanish legal and tax consequences.
Transfers between spouses, changes in ownership percentages, contributions of assets to companies and corporate reorganisations can have consequences for ownership rights, liability, succession and taxation.
For business owners, maintaining an appropriate separation between personal wealth and business liabilities can also become increasingly important after establishing commercial activities in Spain.
The objective is not necessarily to restructure everything before moving. Rather, it is to identify which existing arrangements continue to work effectively under Spanish law and which should be reconsidered.
7. How Do You Legalise UAE and Foreign Documents for Use in Spain?
A common practical problem when relocating from the UAE to Spain is discovering that a foreign document cannot immediately be used before a Spanish authority, notary, bank or registry.
Depending on the country of origin and type of document, marriage and birth certificates, criminal-record certificates, corporate documents, powers of attorney and court decisions may require an Apostille or another legalisation procedure.
Foreign-language documents may also require an official sworn translation into Spanish.
The precise formalities depend on the country where the document was issued and its intended use in Spain.
Identifying the necessary documents before leaving the UAE, Saudi Arabia or another country can avoid delays later, particularly during immigration applications, property transactions, company incorporations and notarial procedures.
Legal and Tax Planning Before Moving to Spain
Moving from the Middle East to Spain is ultimately a change of legal environment, not simply a change of physical residence.
Obtaining the appropriate Spanish visa is only the first step.
Foreign companies, matrimonial arrangements, property ownership, wills, contracts, powers of attorney and family structures that worked effectively while living in the Middle East may produce different consequences once Spain becomes the family’s new home.
The best time to identify those differences is generally before the relocation takes place.
Coordinating Spanish immigration, tax, corporate, property, family and succession planning allows entrepreneurs and international families to structure their move with greater certainty and address potential problems before they arise.
How We Can Help With a Relocation to Spain
Our team advises entrepreneurs, executives and international families moving from the Middle East and beyond to Spain.
We provide coordinated legal and tax advice covering the different stages of the relocation, including:
- Spanish visas and residence permits;
- pre-relocation tax planning;
- review of foreign companies;
- incorporation of Spanish companies and business structures;
- Spanish real estate acquisitions;
- matrimonial and family asset planning;
- Spanish and international wills and succession planning; and
- coordination and legalisation of foreign documentation.
A relocation involving several countries should not be analysed as a collection of separate immigration, tax and legal issues. The objective should be to structure the move as a whole, taking into account the individual, the family, the businesses and the assets involved.
