Golden VISA

• Minimum investment of 250,000 euros for the purchase of real estate.
  • Investors guarantee the right to permanent residence but also citizenship. The application for nationality may be filed after seven years of residence permit.
  • All family members (spouse and children up to 21 years of age), their parents and their spouse's parents can obtain a residence permit. Even after their 21 years of age, children can receive an extension of their residence permit for three years.
  • Investors have the option of transferring their property to another foreign national along with the residence permit. In fact, there is no minimum time to keep the property in their possession before transferring it.
  • It is not necessary for the purchaser of the property or for the members of his / her family to stay in Greece in order to maintain their residence permits.
  • Holders of residence permits can travel freely to the other Schengen member states. They can travel directly from the countries that live without going through Greece.
  • If an investor wishes to purchase a property in Greece with a friend or relative of a second grade, etc., each of them must spend at least 250,000 euros in the same property in order to acquire the "Golden Visa" rights.

• What are foreign investors trying to catch?

"The changes that will be made to the Golden Visa granting regime are big and will change the whole situation . Not only for the market of foreigners who take them, but also more broadly for the Greek real estate market. All of this will practically apply from 01.10.2024 and for those who give a 10% advance until 30.09.2024 "the window" is extended until 30.04.2025". The "map" for the granting of a Golden Visa · The minimum investment limit will now be 400,000 throughout Greece · For Attica, Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini and the rest of the islands with a population of more than 3,100 inhabitants, the investment limit will be 800,000 euros. · Exceptions to the above are the investment in preserved property and the conversion of use of property, where the purchase limit remains at 250,000 euros. · The minimum area of the property that can be purchased for the purpose of obtaining the Golden Visa will be 120 square meters. · If the property purchased to obtain the Golden Visa is sold, then it will be revoked. The same will happen if this is used for short term rental (AirBnB).

The taxes that apply to a house holder are

• The taxes for owning a house (“ΕΝΦΙΑ”) which apply annually and are estimated around 1000 – 1300 euro per year for a house of a price around 250.000 euro
• The property transfer taxes (“ΦΜΑ”) which applies as one-off payment before buying a property (ca. 3% of the property’s fair value)
• No additional taxes for the Golden Visa

The fees to buy a house are

• The aforesaid property transfer taxes
• The attorney’s costs (ca. 1% of the property’s fair value
• The solicitor’s costs and contract’s registration fees (ca. 2% of the property fair value)

Residence permit

• 5 years duration (renewable – provided that you remain the owner of the property
• You don’t need to live in Greece or visitin
• Gain citizenship after 7 years (provided that you live unceasingly in Greece)

Sell the property

• You can sell the property (together with the residence permit) whenever you wan
• After gaining citizenship you can sell the property unconditionally.