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Greece is a Beautiful Place to Invest in your Future
Enjoy Golden Visa Opportunities - No Visit Required to Get This Visa
To choose Greece is to choose an exciting country, on the southeast coast of Europe, to invest and buy high-quality services and products. It is also the choice for a privileged, geographically strategic location, ideal for those seeking to supply the European market
or expand their businesses to other parts of the world.
As a member of the EU and the Eurozone, Greece offers access to high-growth and emerging regional markets, being an excellent gateway -without any trade barriers- to more than 140 million consumers in Southeast Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean.
Submission of the application through a proxy, without the obligation to previously enter Greece.
Non-EU citizens who have made an investment through the three options of the Greek Golden Visa program can apply for a residence permit through a proxy, without the obligation to previously visit Greece.
The Power of Attorney for the appointment of a proxy must be signed before a Greek Consular authority. The non-EU citizen must enter Greece in a period of 12 months from the date of the confirmation receipt of the application, in order to submit his biometric data.
What is Golden Visa?
How can I get it a Golden Visa (5 years Residence Permit) and Greek Citizenship?
250 000 Euros to start Golden Visa Program - Minimum 5 years Residence Permit
Relocate your Family to European Union
Begin your Greek Citizenship Naturalization Program
The Golden Visa FrameWork
Law 4251/2014 re: “Immigration and Social Integration Code and other provisions” (published on Gov. Gaz. A 80/1.4.2014) amended the former legal regime for the issuance of residence permits, abolishing L. 3386/2015 and introducing more advantageous legal provisions. Golden Visa is currently regulated by Art. 20 B of L. 4251/2014 as amended by L. 4332/2015, L. 4587/2018, L. 4589/2019, and L. 4635/2019. The above-mentioned Art. 20B stipulates in par. 1 (as cited below) the specific requirements upon their fulfillment a third-country national is entitled to issue Golden Visa.
Requirements
The requirements granting the eligibility of a third-country national to apply for a Golden Visa are stipulated under the Art. 20 B par. 1 pursuant to which “By decision of the Secretary-General of the Decentralized Administration a 5-year renewable residence permit shall be granted to a third-country national who:
(a) Has legally entered the country with any type of visa or legally resides in the country, even if the residence instrument in his possession does not permit change of residence purpose;
(b) Has the full ownership, possession of real estate property in Greece. In case of joint ownership of a property to the value of EUR 250 000, the right of residence shall only be granted if the owners of the property are spouses with indivisible shares in the property. In all other cases of joint ownership, the right of residence shall only be granted if the joint ownership rate of each joint owner equals to the value of EUR 250 000;
(c) Has the full ownership, possession of real estate property in Greece via a legal entity whose shares are fully owned by the applicant;
(d) Has made an agreement with a minimum term of ten years for the lease of hotel accommodation or furnished tourist residences in tourist accommodation complexes pursuant to Article 8(2) of Law 4002/2011 (Government Gazette, Series I, No 180);
(e) Has made a time-sharing agreement pursuant to the provisions of Law 1652/1986 regulating time sharing agreements and related matters (Government Gazette, Series I, No 167), as in force.”
Persons are entitled to reside permanently in Greece
The advantages of Golden Visa are not solely limited to the financial benefits entailing from the admittedly low required investment capital. Golden Visa grants to a third country national the right to reside in Greece accompanied by his/her family members.
Pursuant to Art. 20B par. 4 as it was recently amended by the Art. 31 par.6 & 40 of the L.4540/2018, the third country national, holder of a Golden Visa (hereinafter referred to as “sponsor”), may be accompanied by his/her family members to whom individual residence permits shall be issued following a relevant application, which shall expire together with the residence permit of the sponsor.
Family members shall mean:
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the spouse or the partner living in a civil partnership with the sponsor;
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the unmarried children of both spouse who are under 21 years old;
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the unmarried children of the sponsor or of the other spouse or partner provided that the custody is entrusted for the children of the sponsor to the latter and for the children of the other spouse or partner to the latter who are under 21 years old;
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the direct relatives in ascending line of the sponsor or the spouse/partner
It is worth noting that Golden Visa regime sets the upper age limit of the children to the age of 21 years old, whereas other kinds of residence permits, set the aforementioned limit to 18 years old.
Furthermore, another point worth being highlighted is the right of the parents of both of the spouses/partners to accompany the latter in Greece. This option was introduced for the first time by the Art. 8, par. 28 of the L. 4332/2015 entailing even more preferential treatment for Golden Visa holders.
Golden Visa Explained by Greek Government Authorities
Just check these statistics and more on the link below from the official source:
Residence permits to investors/real estate owners - Top 10 countries
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What they say about Golden Visa in Media
One of the best opportunities to Invest 250 000 Euro and get a Greek Residence Permit
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Lion’s share of Greek Golden Visa recipients are Chinese
from Ekathimerini
Since the introduction of the Golden Visa program - five out of seven recipients (%71) of the five-year residence permits have been Chinese, according to the latest figures from the Migration Policy.
To obtain a Golden Visa, a non-European Union citizen needs to invest a minimum of 250,000 euros in Greek real estate, or more in other assets.
Golden Visa program shrinks
from Ekathimerini
The drop in Golden Visa issues in 2020, due to the pandemic, is evident from the revised official data, which showed only 938 new five-year residence permits had been issued for investors who brought a total of 234.5 million euros into the country last year.
In 2019 the Greek authorities had issued 3,503 permits to non-European Union nationals investing a total of €876 million in the local realty market. This means the drop in property investments aimed at securing a Golden Visa fell 73% annually.
The signs for 2021 are even worse: Up to early June, only 117 permits had been issued, representing investments of just €29.25 million.
Property market professionals associate the recovery of the Golden Visa program with the course of vaccinations and the pandemic in general, as well as with air travel restrictions, as they mostly concern non-EU countries of origin.
If there are no negative and unforeseeable developments in the second half of the year, there is optimism that there will be a gradual rebound of investments, especially from China, which has been the main source of funds in this program. However, if fears about the fourth wave of the pandemic prove correct, the expected rebound will have to be postponed for later – i.e., until at least the last quarter of the year.
Since the introduction of the Golden Visa program in mid-2014, the Greek authorities have issued 8,692 residence permits to non-EU citizens who invest at least €250,000 in local realty. This means that more than €2.17 billion has been invested in Greek property in those seven years through that program. Investment migration experts actually put that figure near €3 billion, as about half of the investors have spent far above the minimum requirement.
The program accounted last year for 27% of all foreign exchange inflows for property purchases. Bank of Greece figures showed those inflows at €875 million, far below the €1.45 billion in 2019, when more than half went to Golden Visa investments (approximately €874 million).
In January-March 2021, net foreign direct investments in property dropped 7.3% annually to €214 million.
New momentum likely for Golden Visas
from Ekathimerini
Greek property sector experts anticipate a jump in demand from investors from Britain over the next few months. This is thanks to people interested in obtaining a Greek residence permit or even a Greek passport so that they can move
freely between the UK and the European Union
after the completion of Brexit within a few months.
In this context, as officials from global citizenship and residence advisory firm Henley & Partners and investment immigration specialists Astons recently told Reuters, there has been a surge in interest in Greece and Cyprus in the last few weeks, estimated at 30% for the former and 50% for the latter. The Greek Golden Visa program may have a lower threshold, at 250,000 euros of property investment, against €300,000 for the Cypriot program, but the Greek citizenship requirements include that the investor has lived in Greece for at least seven years.
This interest is a very important development, as the Golden Visa program that has been practically frozen due to the pandemic could restart with even greater momentum than in the recent past, adding another major country of origin for its investor-beneficiaries. After all, property buyers from Britain have ranked among the most active in the Greek real estate market for several years now. They will now have an extra incentive to invest in Greece.
Property market professionals point out that this incentive could become even more attractive considering Greece now has a program inviting pensioners from other European countries to transfer their tax residence to this country. The regulation that already applies provides that any pensioner from a foreign country who takes their tax domicile to Greece will pay a flat income tax of just 7% of their pension for the first 10 years of their relocation.
Besides the requirement of a double taxation avoidance agreement between Greece and the country where the pension is issued, a vital condition for eligibility is for pensioners to stay in Greece for at least 183 days per year. They should also have been a tax resident of a country other than Greece over five of the last six years.
The deadline for applications for each financial year expires on March 31 each year, but for 2020 the deadline is on Wednesday, September 30.
Golden Visa program attracts investments of 2 billion euros
from Ekathimerini
Greece’s Golden Visa program has fetched some 2 billion euros into the country’s property market since the launch in 2014 of the scheme for the concession of five-year residence permits to non-European Union investors who spend at least 250,000 on local reality.
According to the latest official data from the Citizens’ Protection Ministry, by the end of 2019, a total of 6,304 residence permits had been issued in those five-and-a-half years. Although the threshold is at a quarter of a million euros, lawyers and estate agents confirm that the vast majority of buyers spend an average of 300,000-350,000 euros each.
Last year saw a 22 percent increase in new permits issued, which numbered 2,239, against 1,833 in 2018. Chinese buyers confirmed their dominance in 2019 as their share grew further than in previous years: Since mid-2014, when the program started, 70 percent of permits, or 4,371, have been issued to Chinese nationals. A year ago that rate had stood at around 60 percent, and sector experts believe this figure will grow again this year as an estimated 75-80 percent of transactions related to Golden Visas are conducted by Chinese investors.
Real estate professionals say the number of permits would have been even higher last year had it not been for the significant delays seen in a series of agencies in Attica, at least in the first half of 2019, regarding the processing of applications. The problems were contained somewhat, but did not disappear in the fall, before the situation reverted to normal in the last couple of months.
With the country on a growth trajectory now, it is clear that 2020 will be another year of expansion for the program, as expectations of a future rise in prices have attracted more investors. Market experts say these new investors bear different characteristics to the first generation of Golden Visa buyers, who targeted cheaper properties; the new buyers are eyeing investments with a growth character, as there are buildings that are being reconstructed to be sold to candidate buyers wishing to get a residence permit. That trend was seen in previous years too, but only for low-standard properties; now there are several new investments in more expensive areas such as the southern suburbs of Attica and the Cycladic islands.