BIZ BUZZ: That golden ticket to Spain

A shining, shimmering Spain visa should not be out-of-reach for Filipinos, especially for those who have P30 million to spare.

We’ve all heard this before: Just buy from DoubleDragon Corp.’s Hotel101 Madrid and that so-called Golden Visa, a.k.a Spain Investor Visa, may be yours to keep.

There’s a caveat or two, however.

One must buy three units—equivalent to 500,000 euros (around P30 million), or the minimum amount acceptable for real estate investments—to be qualified to apply for this special residence permit, which, by the way, is only valid for a year, according to Spain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs website.

Why is that? Non-Europeans can only get this specific visa if they make a “substantial” investment in the Philippines’ former colonizer.

“It will be optional for the Hotel101 unit buyers if they want to apply for a golden visa with their purchase of the Hotel101 units,” DoubleDragon chair Edgar “Injap” Sia II said in a statement on Thursday, adding that investing in this development would spur economic activity in Spain.

But those two particular issues have not stopped investors from buying at least three units since the 680-room Hotel101 Madrid was launched in March.

This is because the golden visa can be renewed for two years at a time. It is also a crucial step before applying after two years for Spanish citizenship that will then mean visa-free access to EU countries.

Although the company did not disclose how many people got the visas as a result of their purchases, it said the first batch of visas had already been released, which means the Hotel101 purchase will indeed qualify for the Golden Visa.

So, got P30 million to spare? — MEG J. ADONIS

New high for SSS

The Social Security System (SSS) made an impressive feat in July, as it marked the highest increase yet in new members registered, thanks to more overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and self-employed joining.

On Thursday, SSS President and Chief Executive Rolando Macasaet said new SSS members increased by 165 percent to 2.4 million at end-July from 923,000 in the same period last year.

According to Macasaet, the agency usually averages around one million new members for an entire year.

“We observed a significant increase in new self-employed members, which surged by 273 percent—from 112,000 in 2023 to 419,000 in 2024.

Additionally, the number of new overseas Filipino workers members more than doubled, rising to 10,300 in 2024 from just over 5,000 last year,” SSS Executive Vice President for Branch Operations Sector Voltaire Agas added.

Macasaet said the SSS remained steadfast in broadening its membership base and covering all Filipinos in the workforce, whether here or abroad.

“In the first six months, we hit our year’s target of two million new members, a positive result of our massive membership and coverage drives throughout the country,” Macasaet said.

He expressed confidence that SSS would hit four million to five million new members by the end of 2024.

For the CEO, the record-high membership meant more Filipinos would have access to a comprehensive set of social security benefits that could help safeguard the financial well-being of their families, particularly during times of uncertainty.

Luzon had the highest number of new members with more than 882,000. This was followed by Metro Manila with over 693,000 new enrollees. Meanwhile, Mindanao and Visayas recorded 436,000 and 417,000 registrants, respectively.

Over 10,000 registrations came from international operations. — Mariedel Irish U. Catilogo