Record variety of Americans transfer to Spain

New Eurostat knowledge has make clear simply how fashionable Europe, and particularly Spain, is turning into with Americans transferring abroad. 

Just over 80,000 US residents had been issued a primary residence allow in EU nations in 2024, surpassing pre-pandemic ranges. 

The largest quantity was granted in Spain (15,638), adopted by France (13,062), the Netherlands (6,732), Germany (8,507) and Denmark (5,183).

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This is the very best variety of Americans turning into residents in Spain in a single 12 months. In 2023, 12,809 Americans bought their first Spanish residency allow, in 2022 it was 11,060, in 2021 it was 10,572, in 2020 it was 6,145 and in 2019 it was 9,603.

That signifies that, aside from 2020 and the influence of the Covid-19 pandemic on purposes, the variety of US nationals making use of for residency in Spain has been growing 12 months on 12 months.

The greatest rise was in 2024, when there have been 2,829 extra residency permits granted to estadounidenses (US nationals in Spanish) than the earlier 12 months.

Eurostat knowledge reveals that the variety of Americans who bought Spanish residency in 2024 was greater than double that of 9 years in the past in 2015 (7,383 first-time permits).

According to knowledge from Spain’s Immigration Observatory, as of June thirtieth 2025, there have been 48,713 US nationals residing in Spain.

Of these, there have been 31,321 Americans with residency authorisations, paperwork granting them residency in Spain as non-EU nationals, usually obtained via visas such because the non-lucrative visa or the digital nomad visa.

There had been additionally 16,637 US nationals with the inexperienced residency certificates, granted to residents with EU citizenship (on this case American twin nationals).

And final however not least, there have been 755 Americans with a Withdrawal Agreement Brexit TIE residency card, which generally can be US nationals who’re the household of Brits who had been residing in Spain earlier than the UK left the EU.

READ ALSO: Why life in Spain is healthier than within the US, in line with Americans

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Another official public physique, Spain’s National Statistics physique, has a barely greater variety of Americans residing in Spain in 2024 – 50,623 residents. 

However, they use completely different knowledge to rely the variety of foreigners (padrón or city corridor registrations reasonably than immigration knowledge) and so they haven’t up to date their stats for 2025.

What each official establishments agree on is that the variety of Americans transferring to Spain is on the up. 

READ ALSO: Trump, security and high quality of life – Why so many Americans are transferring to Spain

Earlier this 12 months, we reported on INE stats that confirmed that the variety of Americans residing in Spain soared by 10,000 from 2022 to 2024, a rise of 25 p.c in simply two years.

In February, a report by Spain’s College of Registrars confirmed that the speed of Spanish properties purchased by Americans (along with Mexicans) has elevated by a staggering 255 p.c since 2019. 

Donald Trump’s victory within the 2024 US presidential election could effectively have spurred extra Americans to start out a brand new life in Spain, though his return to the White House was solely confirmed in November 2024, and far of the above knowledge applies to earlier intervals.

What is more likely to have influenced the sooner price in American nationals transferring to Spain is the introduction of the Spanish Digital Nomad Visa, which has made it simpler for non-EU professionals of a working age to use for a residency allow to stay in Spain and work from right here.