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Greece

Residency

Real Estate

Greece Golden Visa: Residency by Investment

The Greece Golden Visa program offers non-EU citizens a pathway to residency through investment, allowing for visa-free travel across the Schengen Area and the potential for Greek citizenship.

Live in Skopelos with a Greece Golden Visa

Discover the Greece Golden Visa program and get connected with my team of professionals who can help you start your Greece Golden Visa program application.

Why obtain the Greece Golden Visa?

  • Travel freely across the entire Schengen area – once you have residency in Greece you can journey freely to other countries in the Schengen community.
  • Become eligible for Greek citizenship – time spent living in Greece as a tax resident can progress to Greek citizenship provided certain requirements are met.
  • Buy affordable island real estate – The Greek Islands have a tremendous amount of low-priced real estate suitable for both lifestyle and investment.
  • Pleasant Mediterranean climate – Greece offers idyllic summers and mild winters.

Who can apply for the Greece Golden Visa?

The program is open to all non-European citizens over the age of 18 with clean criminal history and valid medical insurance.

golden visa research in greece

Yours truly doing on-the-ground research in beautiful Greece

Requirements for the Greece Golden Visa by real estate investment.

One way to qualify for the Golden Visa in Greece is to make an investment in real estate. The minimum investment amount depends on where in the country you choose to invest.

  • 800,000€ minimum in a single property with a minimum size of 120m2. This is the highest threshold which applies only in Administrative Region of Attica (Athens), Thessaloniki, Mykonos and Santorini, and islands with over 3100 inhabitants.
  • 400,000€ in a single property of at least 120m2 for all other regions of the country.

You can invest at a lower threshold of 250,000€ anywhere in Greece if your property falls into these categories:

  • Properties converted from commercial to residential. Conversion must be complete before application begins.
  • Properties that are historically significant, provided you commit to completing a full restoration within 5 years of receiving your Golden Visa.

The Greece Golden Visa through real estate is granted for a 5-year duration, after which it can be easily extended if the holder still owns the property. If you sell the property, you no longer will have residency rights.

Important to note that properties used to obtain a Golden Visa in Greece cannot be rented on the short-term market such as Airbnb.

Requirements for Greece Golden Visa by other investments

  • 800,000€ – minimum purchase of Greek shares or corporate bonds which are traded on regulated markets in Greece or multilateral trading facility.
  • 500,000€ – minimum purchase of Greek government bonds with at least a 3-year maturity.
  • 250,000€ – minimum value of lease of a hotel or other tourist establishment for at least 10 years.
  • 250,000€ – minimum investment in a Greek startup of Greek startup fund
  • 350,000€ – minimum investment in a real estate investment fund. It can be based anywhere in the EU as long as it invests exclusively in Greek property.
  • 350,000€ – minimum investment in a mutual fund. It can be based anywhere in the EU provided it exclusively purchases Greek shares, government bonds, and corporate bonds.

Documents required to apply for Greece Golden Visa

All documents must be apostilled and translated into Greek. The documents can be submitted remotely by signing a power of attorney with your Greek representation. You will however be required to visit Greece at least once to provide your biometric data to the immigration authorities. This means you can get your Greece Golden Visa by just going to a Greek embassy. If you invest remotely, it means you don’t have to actually travel to Greece to process the Golden Visa.

 

  • Valid passport with at least two blank visa pages
  • Certificate of family status including all family members who will apply
  • Birth certificate proving city of birth, in the event it is not described in your passport
  • Sales contracts, deeds or other transaction certificates related to the investment purchase. These are normally prepared by lawyers and agents handling your case such as Laszlo and Hany below
  • Proof of payment of government fees
  • Health insurance contract covering all applicants, satisfying the requirements of Greek immigration authorities
  • 4 biometric passport photos of each applicant

Converting Greece Golden Visa to Citizenship

To obtain citizenship with the Greek Golden Visa, you must satisfy the following requirements:

 

  1. Spend 7 years in Greece as a tax resident
  2. Complete a Greek language exam

Greece Golden Visa and Tax Residency

Getting a Golden Visa in Greece does NOT equate getting automatic tax residency in Greece. One has to trigger tax residency by either spending half the year in Greece, or by having the center of one’s interests in Greece.

Generally speaking tax in Greece are very high.

However there are various tax incentives in place for newcomers. The two main tax incentives for Golden Visa investors are:

  • 7% flat tax on foreign income for pensioners coming from countries that have a double tax treaty with Greece. Valid for 15 years.
  • €100,000 flat tax on foreign earned income. €20,000 flat tax for each dependent family member. Valid for 15 years.

How to obtain the Greece Golden Visa?

We work with two experts depending on where you are from, as each service provider can better serve specific clients and their needs.

Laszlo and his team specializes in helping Westerners, Eastern Europeans and East Asians.

Hany and his team specialize in helping Middle Easterners, South Asians, and Africans as the document collection process is often a bit different.

Feel free to contact whoever is a better fit for you.

Contact Laszlo to Get your Greece Golden Visa

Best for Westerners, Eastern Europeans and East Asians.

Request A Call

Contact Hany to Get your Greece Golden Visa

Best for Middle Easterners, South Asians, and Africans  

Request A Call

Other ways to get Golden Visas and Citizenships by Investment: