Greece · Residency by investment
Golden Visa (Residence Permit for Investment Activity)
Article 64 of Law 5100/2024 repriced the programme, amending the Migration Code (Law 5038/2023). Transactions from 1 September 2024 fall fully under the new tiers. Every transitional deadline that once let buyers lock in the old EUR 250,000 threshold has now expired. Law 5275/2026 (Gazette FEK A' 17, 6 February 2026) restructured Greece's entire immigration framework and tightened Golden Visa procedure. It did not, however, change the investment thresholds.
The single most misunderstood point is that the EUR 250,000 tier still exists, but it is now a construction project, not a purchase. You must complete the change of use or the restoration before you can even file. That turns a passive property trade into an active development risk with an immigration deadline attached. Meanwhile, the EUR 350,000 fund route is the cheapest genuine entry to the programme, and almost nobody sells it, because it pays no property commission.
Qualifying routes
This covers Attica, the Regional Unit of Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini/Thira, and islands with a population over 3,100. It requires a single property with a minimum 120 sqm main living area.
This covers all other areas. It requires a single property with a minimum 120 sqm main living area.
The change of use must be completed before the application is filed. There is no 120 sqm rule here, but the property cannot serve as a business headquarters or branch.
The restoration obligation attaches to the investor.
Article 44 of Law 5162/2024.
This requires a minimum three-year residual maturity.
This must be with a Greek credit institution, for a minimum one-year term, with a standing renewal order.
This is the cheapest non-real-estate route.
The facts
- Minimum investment
- €250k
- Total landed cost
- Zone A: a EUR 800k property, plus roughly 3.09% property transfer tax (or 24% VAT on qualifying new builds), plus legal fees at ~1–2%, a government fee of EUR 2,000 per main applicant and EUR 150 per dependant card. All in, that runs to roughly EUR 850–880k. Zone B: EUR 400k plus the same proportional costs. The EUR 350k fund route avoids property transfer tax entirely and is materially cheaper to enter and exit.
- Route type
- Residency by investment
- Timeline
- 3–12 months (Law 5275/2026 sets a 90-day statutory processing obligation. Well-prepared files typically run 3–6 months. A reported backlog of roughly 50,000 pending cases means some outliers still stretch to 12 months.)
- Physical presence
- None. There is no minimum stay to obtain or renew the permit. But see watchOuts, because zero presence forecloses citizenship.
- Family
- Spouse or partnerChildren under 21Children 21–24 (as separate applicants under conditions)Parents of the investor and of the spouse
- Permanent residency
- The permit is renewable every five years indefinitely, as long as the investment is held. Long-term resident status requires actual residence.
- Citizenship
- Citizenship requires 7 years of genuine physical residence, plus a Greek language and integration examination. Golden Visa years spent outside Greece do not count.
- Language test
- Greek, at B1 level, tested through the Panhellenic integration examination (language, history, geography, culture, institutions).
- Dual citizenship
- Permitted
- Requirements
- Third-country national over 18.Qualifying investment fully paid before application.A single property is required for the real estate routes. The EUR 800k and EUR 400k tiers require a minimum of 120 sqm.The investment must be maintained for the life of the permit.The qualifying property cannot be let short-term or through sharing-economy platforms, and it cannot be sublet.A clean criminal record and health insurance are required.Family documentation is required, along with certified proof of dependency. Health insurance must be submitted for each family member upfront, under Law 5275/2026.
- Short-term rental is prohibited. A Golden Visa property cannot be let on Airbnb, Booking.com or any sharing-economy platform. It cannot be sublet either. Anything under 60 days counts as short-term. A breach triggers permit revocation plus an administrative fine reported at EUR 50,000. That means the yield model many agents pitch, buying a property, renting it on Airbnb, and using it for residence, is illegal.
- The 120 sqm minimum main living area applies to the EUR 800k and EUR 400k residential tiers. It is a hard filter. It rules out most of the small Athens apartments historically sold to golden visa buyers.
- One property only. The old strategy of assembling several cheap units to reach the threshold no longer works.
- The EUR 250k conversion route requires the change of use to be completed before the application is submitted. The converted property cannot serve as a business headquarters or branch office.
- The whole purchase price must be paid before the application is submitted. There is no staged-payment path.
- Zero presence means zero citizenship. The seven-year naturalisation clock requires real residence. Clients who buy on the idea of a guaranteed path to an EU passport are being mis-sold.
- The Zone A definition captures every island with more than 3,100 inhabitants. That includes most of the islands anyone actually wants. So the promise of EUR 400k for a Greek island is usually wrong.
- A reported ~50,000-case backlog coexists with the new 90-day statutory deadline. Treat the deadline as aspirational.
- Becoming Greek tax resident, which happens after 183 days, without electing Article 5A exposes worldwide income to a 44% top rate.