Spain has canceled the golden visa program.

The program allowing non-European Union citizens to invest at least 500,000 euros in Spanish real estate and obtain residency for three years will soon be abolished due to concerns about housing availability, said Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.

Spain is the latest country to revise its "golden visa" program, which previously allowed non-European Union citizens to obtain residency rights in the country by investing in real estate with cash.

A program that allows non-EU citizens who invest at least 500,000 euros (about $541,250) in Spanish real estate to obtain a three-year residency will soon be abolished, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told reporters Monday.

The "golden visa" program started in 2013. Spain issued nearly 5,000 "golden visa" permits from 2013 to November 2022, which accounts for less than 0.1% of the 4.5 million homes sold during that period, according to data provided to Reuters.

Chinese investors made up the majority of investors during this period, followed by Russians, according to officials.

Since the share of foreign investors was relatively small, housing construction experts believe that the abolition of the program will not have a significant impact on affordable housing in the country.

"It's a distraction," said Max Holleran, a lecturer in social policy at the University of Melbourne who has written about Spain's program. "It's not really going to change housing prices much."

Holleran also believes that the changes to the program are a "political maneuver with a hint of xenophobia." The program was operational in 2022 after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and the European Commission called for the cancellation of "golden visa" programs due to concerns about easing sanctions for Russian citizens or Ukrainians accessing the EU.

In recent years, other European countries, including Portugal and Ireland, have largely halted or revised their "golden visa" programs.

"It has been clear for many years that this type of visa has not brought what our country and economy need," said Claire O'Neil, Australia's Home Affairs Minister, according to a BBC report in January.

In the United States, thanks to the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program, foreign investors who invest at least $1.05 million in a commercial enterprise and plan to create or preserve 10 permanent full-time jobs for American workers can apply for permanent residency for themselves, their spouses, and all unmarried children under 21. The first version of the EB-5 program was established in 1990 to stimulate the U.S. economy, according to the program's website.