Greece Increases Golden Visa Minimum Investment to €500,000 in Parts of Country
28 December 2022 | Schengen visa
Wealthy internationals planning to acquire residency in Greece through the Golden Visa program will have to spend more money when investing after the country decided to increase the minimum amount of investment for this program.
According to an amendment presented in Greece’s Parliament last week, in some parts of the Hellenic Republic, the minimum value of property required for Golden Visa issuance would be €500,000, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
Based on local media reports, the new changes will be applied to the North part of Greece, as well as the Central and South Sector of Athens in the Attica Region, the islands of Mykonos and Santorini, and also the Municipality of Thessaloniki.
The Residency by Investment scheme, also known as the Golden Visa scheme, permits internationals to acquire residency in Greece provided they make a specific amount of money investment and meet specific conditions.
Earlier this year, the Prime Minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, unfolded plans that Greece would increase the minimum amount of investment needed in order for the issuance of Golden visas to a total of €500,000 instead of €250,000.
Mitsotakis announced such changes while stressing that the program would be revamped. The PM added that the new amendments would be introduced in order to raise the affordability of real estate for citizens of Greece.
According to Greece’s PM, investors were snapping up properties in Greece, especially in Athens, and also driving Greeks out of their own neighbourhoods and increasing rents.
It has been emphasised that for the rest of the country, the minimum value of 250,000 euros will be eligible for an investor permanent residence permit, also known as the Golden Visa.
Nationals from third countries who hold a permanent residence permit for investors are eligible to renew it for an equal time period if they still have ownership of the property, and the period of their absence from the country makes no problems.
In addition, it was reported that nationals from third countries who hold property in Greece are allowed to lease it. At the same time, third-country nationals are eligible to complete contracts that are in progress in the territories where the new changes will be applied until December 31, 2023.
Greece’s Golden is among the most famous programs of this kind in Europe; however, it has often been criticised as being an open door to many unlawful affairs such as money laundering and corruption, while the European Commission is continuously calling on EU countries that run such schemes to terminate them as soon as possible.
Previously, a report provided by Ekathimerini noted that one-third of real estate transactions in the Hellenic Republic in the past years resulted from the purchases made for the acquisitions of a Golden Visa.