Greece Golden Visa

Greece’s Golden Visa is the common name for a permanent residence permit for investors. In practice, it is a five-year renewable residence-by-investment route for third-country nationals, most often linked to real estate, but the current rules are more segmented than the old EUR 250,000 headline suggests.

The route can support family residence and Schengen mobility, but it does not create a right to work in Greece and it is not a direct citizenship purchase.

Start Here

Need	Best page
Check whether the current route fits	Main guide
Compare thresholds and risk points	Investment routes and due diligence
Plan online filing, documents, fees, biometrics, and renewal	Timeline and documents
Separate family, tax residence, and citizenship planning	Tax, family, and citizenship setup
Compare with remote-work residence	Greece Digital Nomad Visa

Programme Snapshot

Item	Current Rule
Official category	Permanent residence permit for investors / Golden Visa
Current legal framing	Article 100 of Law 5038/2023 for real-property Golden Visa category B.5, with Law 5100/2024 threshold changes
Main audience	Third-country nationals making eligible investment activity
Initial card	Residence permit valid for 5 years
Renewal	Renewable while the qualifying investment or lease remains in force
Standard high-demand property threshold	EUR 800,000 in Attica, Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini, and islands with population over 3,100
Standard other-area property threshold	EUR 400,000 in the rest of Greece
Special property threshold	EUR 250,000 for listed-building restoration and qualifying change-of-use cases
Timeshare route	Tourist-accommodation timeshare agreement for at least 5 years
Income test	No general income threshold on the official housing-policy summary
Age test	No age threshold on the official housing-policy summary
Filing	Digital application through the Ministry of Migration and Asylum electronic services
Fees shown in MITOS examples	EUR 2,000 residence-permit fee plus EUR 16 card-printing fee
Processing indication in MITOS examples	50 to 60 days for listed-building and timeshare examples; 50-day deadline shown for change-of-use example
Employment	Investor residence permits do not provide access to any form of employment
Family	Family residence is part of the investor-permit framework and must be documented separately
Tax residence	Separate from immigration status; 183 days or center-of-vital-interests facts can matter
Citizenship	Possible only through naturalisation law; low-stay Golden Visa holding alone is not a passport plan

Application Flow

1. Confirm third-country nationality and Schengen entry/visa position.
2. Choose the qualifying route: standard property, special property, timeshare, or another current investment category where available.
3. Run independent legal, property, tax, banking, AML, land-registry, and exit-risk due diligence.
4. Complete the investment or lease evidence in the required payment form.
5. Prepare passport, photographs, health insurance, fees, and route-specific certificates.
6. File digitally through the Ministry of Migration and Asylum electronic services, directly or through a properly empowered proxy.
7. Complete document examination and biometrics.
8. Receive the five-year investor residence permit if approved.
9. Maintain the qualifying investment or lease for renewal.
10. Separately plan tax residence, family residence, long-term residence, and naturalisation.

Good Fit

Greece Golden Visa is strongest for investors who want Schengen residence optionality, a real Greece property or restoration plan, family coverage, and a renewable residence card without making employment in Greece the core of the file.

Poor Fit

It is usually a poor fit for applicants who need Greek employment rights, want a simple citizenship-by-investment product, expect the old EUR 250,000 property rule to apply everywhere, or cannot tolerate property, construction, restoration, payment, land-registry, tax, and resale restrictions.