The Greek Golden Visa is a residence-by-investment programme that grants five-year renewable residence permits to non-EU/EEA nationals who make a qualifying investment in Greece. It offers a wide range of investment routes — real estate, financial instruments, government bonds, bank deposits, and start-up equity — without requiring employment, a job offer, or any minimum physical presence in the country. Key benefits include visa-free travel within the Schengen Area (up to 90 days in any 180-day period in other member states), access to Greek healthcare and education, and a pathway to citizenship after seven years of tax residency. As of January 2026, roughly 28,589 active permits had been issued to main investors, and the pending-application backlog had fallen to about 10,613 (down from a mid-2025 peak above 49,000).
Up to three distinct investments may be combined to meet the minimum threshold for financial pathways.
This route issues a Type B.6 permit (1-year initial, renewable for 2-year periods), does not grant employment rights, and requires shares to be held for at least 5 years.
The permit is valid for 5 years and renews indefinitely for equal periods as long as the qualifying investment remains in place, with the same documentation as the initial application. There is no minimum stay requirement to keep the permit. As of early 2026, the five-year validity period printed on the card runs from the card issuance date rather than the application filing date.
Eligible family members receive permits with the same 5-year validity and renewal terms as the main investor:
The family member application fee is €150 per person (minors under 18 exempt) plus €16 for the card. Family permits are tied to the main investor's permit and do not grant labour market access.
Golden Visa holders may not work as employees in the Greek labour market — the permit is exclusively for investment purposes. Properties bought under the programme may not be used for short-term rentals (under 60 days), as business premises, or sub-leased; violations carry fines of €50,000 to €150,000.
The residence permit alone does not create tax residency. Individuals spending fewer than 183 days per year in Greece are generally taxed only on Greek-source income, while those spending 183+ days become tax residents on worldwide income. Greece's Non-Dom regime lets qualifying individuals pay a flat €100,000 per year on worldwide income (plus €20,000 per family member) instead of standard progressive rates, and a separate 7% flat tax on foreign pension income is available to retirees transferring tax residence.
Applications are filed electronically through the Ministry of Migration and Asylum portal or in person at the Department of Residence Permits for Investors. The applicant must appear once for biometric data collection; most other steps can be handled via power of attorney. Processing takes roughly 12–16 months as of early 2026, though some recent applications have cleared in under 30 days. A certificate of application receipt is issued on submission, allowing legal stay while a decision is pending. Fees: €2,000 for the main applicant, €150 per family member, and €16 per card (€2,500 non-refundable processing fee for the start-up pathway).
The current tiered real-estate thresholds (€800,000 / €400,000 by region, plus the €250,000 conversion and heritage routes) were set by Law 5100/2024 and remain in force; the transitional window for purchases under the old thresholds expired on 30 April 2025. A November 2025 ministerial decision standardised documentation for the €250,000 conversion and heritage pathways, unblocking thousands of pending applications, and Circular 1/2026 (April 2026) added anti-fraud measures and clarified that a commercial-to-residential conversion qualifies for the €250,000 route only if completed after 5 April 2024. Separately, Law 5275/2026 overhauled Greece's labour-migration framework (single combined residence-and-work permit, modernised visa categories, three-year EU Blue Card validity) but did NOT change any Golden Visa investment thresholds.
A further change is under discussion but not yet law: on 18 June 2026 the Ministry of Social Cohesion and Family opened a public consultation (closing 3 July 2026) on its National Housing Policy Strategy 2026–2035. Among its proposals is a new Golden Visa category that would let an investor acquire a portfolio of more than one property — rather than the current single-property model — on condition that the properties are placed exclusively in long-term rental, explicitly excluding short-term (Airbnb-type) letting, alongside tighter limits on converting dwellings into tourist accommodation. This is a proposal under public consultation, not enacted law: the qualifying routes and thresholds currently in force remain those of Law 5100/2024 and the financial-investment and start-up pathways, and the proposed portfolio category would require separate legislation before taking effect.