Golden Visa, NIE and immigration: digitalising the practice

It is worth beginning with what many firms have not fully absorbed into their commercial message: Spain’s Golden Visa no longer exists. Organic Law 1/2025 repealed articles 63 to 67 of Law 14/2013 and ended, with effect from 3 April 2025, the residence-by-investment regime. It was not only the property route — the best-known one — that fell: all the investment modalities that underpinned the visa disappeared.

For a firm with international clients, this forces a change of message. You can no longer offer to obtain a Golden Visa. Anyone who does misinforms the client and exposes themselves to a liability problem.

What the repeal means

Ending the regime does not erase those who already obtained it. Holders of an authorisation already granted keep its validity and may renew under the transitional provisions. Likewise, applications filed before 3 April 2025 are processed under the previous rules. A firm carrying those matters still has work ahead: tracking renewals, deadlines and the requirements of the transitional regime.

For the new client seeking to reside in Spain, the path no longer runs through investment. The routes still in force are different, and worth knowing well:

• Entrepreneur visa, for projects of economic interest.
• Non-lucrative residence, for those who prove means without working.
• Digital nomad visa, for remote work.
• Arraigo, in its various forms, for situations already established in Spain.

The end of the Golden Visa does not reduce demand for immigration advice. It redirects it towards more painstaking, matter-by-matter work — precisely where a boutique firm adds the most value.

It is also worth reviewing the firm’s public communication. Websites, brochures and professional profiles that still advertise residence by investment convey outdated information and, at best, cost credibility. Updating that message to explain the repeal and set out the routes still in force is a simple way to stand apart from those who have not caught up.

The practice that endures: NIE and immigration

Beneath the media noise around the Golden Visa there has always been the real bulk of the practice: the NIE, residence and work authorisations, renewals, family reunifications, nationality. It is high-volume work, with many deadlines and much documentation, where the margin for error is narrow and contact with the client — often a foreigner who does not command Spanish — is constant.

That is the work worth digitalising well, because it is what sustains the bottom line over the long term. It rewards consistency rather than flair: a client whose renewal is filed on time, whose documents are in order and whose questions are answered promptly becomes a source of referrals. In immigration, reputation is built one uneventful case at a time, and the tooling that prevents the avoidable slip is worth more than any headline service.

How to digitalise the immigration practice

An immigration firm gains or loses efficiency on four concrete fronts. In each, the right software makes the difference.

Tracking applications and appointments. Each client is a matter with its status, its deadlines and its next appointment. Running it on a spreadsheet or from memory is the recipe for a missed deadline. A matter per case, with automatic history and computed deadlines, keeps control when dozens of cases run in parallel. Knowing at any moment which matter is awaiting an appointment, which has a renewal due, and which needs further documentation is the basis of an orderly practice.

KYC by nationality. Immigration works, by definition, with clients from many countries. Identification and due diligence are not the same for every nationality, and Law 10/2010 imposes obligations that leave no room for improvisation. Mandato’s compliance functions organise KYC according to the client’s nationality, incorporate sanctions screening, and keep the prevention file in order. They do not replace the professional’s judgement or make legal determinations, but they give the structure to leave no loose ends.

Deadline control. An immigration deadline that slips can cost the client their status in Spain. Automatic calculation of due dates inside the matter turns deadline control into something systematic rather than dependent on individual vigilance.

Client communication. The immigration client asks questions, worries, and often communicates by WhatsApp. Gathering Gmail, Outlook and WhatsApp Business in a single inbox anchored to the matter, as Mandato’s communications allow, keeps the conversation from scattering across personal phones and stray emails. Everything discussed with the client stays where it belongs: in their matter.

From fashion to solid practice

For years the Golden Visa was the eye-catching lure of immigration work in Spain. Its disappearance exposes what was always the heart of the craft: painstaking work with matters, deadlines and people. That work has not gone away; if anything, it will carry greater relative weight now that the easy route of investment has closed.

The firm that digitalises that practice well — orderly matters, rigorous KYC, deadlines under control and centralised communication — will be better prepared than the one still pining for a visa it can no longer offer. You can see how it all fits together on the immigration firms page and decide where to begin.