Greece Golden Visa is a residence permit by investment issued under the Greek state programme. The investor and their family get the status of residents in exchange for making investment into real estate, public securities, Greek business or making a bank deposit. A Golden Visa is a plastic card with an integrated chip, a photograph, and personal data.
The holders of a Greek Golden Visa do not have to live in Greece or pass a Greek language exam. Greek Golden Visa is extended once every five years as long as the investor maintains the property and still wants to be a resident.
The investor may obtain a Golden Visa by acquisition of a rental apartment, resort or commercial property, or a land plot with any purported use.
In the most popular areas of Greece among the investors, the minimum investment threshold is raised to 500,000 euro. These are the 28 municipalities of Athens, the 6 municipalities of Thessaloniki, the islands of Mykonos and Santorini. Only one property can be included in the application.
In other areas of Greece, there is no change: you can buy several properties worth a total of 250,000 euro and more.
In 2022, the Greek Golden Visa programme became the most attractive one in Europe. Latvia has announced the closure of a similar programme, Portugal has changed the conditions in favour of commercial properties, and the price of a residence permit in Spain is twice as high as in Greece. Moreover, prices in Greece are growing annually up to 11% per year and by 2024 have not reached the pre-crisis level of 2008.
The Greek programme boasts rather fast application processing and low rate of refusals. A lawyer acting under a power of attorney may close your transaction and apply for a Golden Visa. You will have to come in person at the end of the procedure to do the fingerprinting.
Country | Greece | Cyprus | Spain |
---|---|---|---|
Budget | €250,000 | €300,000 | €500,000 |
Formalities | 3—4 mos. | 6—9 mos. | 4—7 mos. |
Extension | Once every five years | Once every five years | First in one year and then once every two years |
Children of the investor | Up to 21 years | Up to 18 years | Dependants up to 26 years |
Parents of the investor | Without restrictions | Dependants from 65+ years |
We do our best to ensure good rental income for the investor and choose properties in popular locations with a good price‑to‑rent ratio.
Elena Milishenkova, Product Director
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Greek real estate prices are on the rise year on year.
Source: Tradingecomonics, Bank of Greece
The location depends on your goals. Choose your resort property in the location where you like to spend time: Athens Riviera, the islands or the Halkidiki peninsula. Real estate might not rise in price dramatically here but margin is not your main goal.
We recommend Athens for real estate rental business. 50% of the Greek population live in Athens — it's the heart of the country. Real estate prices here are constantly on the rise and investors enjoy steady demand all the year round. The investor might consider buying one or two buy‑to‑let apartments here and rent them out. A popular format is micro-apartments up to 30 square metres for tourists and students. Any part of Athens suits this purpose, and the choice would depend only on your expectations as to the tenant‑lessor relation structuring and the rent rate.
Athens is worth considering as the location for your own living. Northern Athens is for mountain‑lovers, and the southern districts are for those who prefer the sea. These are respectable clean, expensive districts with international schools for children located far away from migrants and tourists. In the city centre, there are high-end residential districts as well, however, they are often close to socially vulnerable districts and communities, so one must be careful.
The documents to be submitted depend on the official accepting them. We prepare a comprehensive set of documents to be ready for potential requests.
Tranio Legal, Greece
The investor’s children may extend their residence permits until they turn the age 21 and may not extend their resident status further on only on the grounds of their parent’s investment. There are several ways to extend residence for the investor’s children.
The investor may acquire another real property of at least 250,000 € in the name of the child. The additional investment should be made once the child turns 18 years. The principal investor shall then be the child, and the child’s residence permit validity shall not depend on her/his age.
The investor’s property holding may be restructured in favour and name of the child making the child the principal applicant. The investor and spouse shall not lose their residence permits and shall be viewed as parents of the principal applicant for the purposes of the golden visa programme.
Any case should be comprehensively discussed in advance with a competent lawyer to choose the best strategy.
You think of selection criteria. It largely depends on the specifics of your request when the property will be selected: the more complex your request is, the more time it might require.
A buyer can visit Greece to see the properties or request online viewings. A power of attorney is to be issued to the lawyer carrying out the transaction remotely.
Before concluding a preliminary agreement, the lawyer checks the seller's certificate of ownership, possible encumbrances or tax debts.
When the review has been completed, the lawyer drafts the master sale and purchase agreement. A few days before execution, the investor should transfer funds to the lawyer’s account to cover the taxes. The master sales and purchase agreement can be signed in person or via a lawyer. The investor must make transaction payments for 7‑10 days. Any account may be used to make payment.
After paying for the deal, the lawyer submits documents for a residence permit. The list of documents is individual for each applicant and is compiled by a lawyer. Within 2-3 business days after the documents’ submission, a temporary residence permit is issued for 1 year, allowing you to stay in Greece and cross the border.
For a temporary residence permit, it is necessary to arrive in Greece within 6 months (in coordination with the lawyer) for fingerprinting. This procedure is mandatory for all family members included in the application, except for children under 5 years old.
A few weeks after the fingerprinting procedure, the residence permit card will be ready. The lawyer can obtain it by proxy and send it to the applicant by the international courier mail service.
Tranio opened an office in Greece in 2017. We feel confident in the Athens market. We are proud of our integrity and reputation and work closely with trusted local companies: developers, real estate agencies and lawyers.
Tranio has own development projects in Athens. We buy entire residential buildings to make renovations and sell finished apartments with guarantees. We can furnish the apartment upon the investor’s request.
An experienced attorney from the Athens Bar Association assists Tranio clients with all legal and government-related transactions. In five years of collaboration, we have submitted over 150 applications for one or more individuals without receiving a single denial.
In all our practice, our clients have never been refused a Golden Visa in Greece. This is a well-established procedure; we issued more than 150 cards in 2021-2023.
Marina Filichkina, Head of Sales, Tranio