Golden visa in Greece

• The golden visa is the Code's residence permit for investment purposes (type B). The main routes are real estate (B.5, article 100), financial investments (B.4, article 99) and a company set up in Greece (B.2, article 97). It gives no right to any form of work.
• It is open to new applicants. The Ministry’s circular of September 2024 explains the replacement of the real estate article by Law 5100/2024, and the Ministry’s golden visa procedure pages, updated on 22 September 2026, still describe the permit as available.
• Purchases begun before 31 August 2024 could be finished under the earlier, lower thresholds under transition rules, with deadlines the Ministry’s circular put at the end of 2024 and 30 April 2025 for a replacement property. Those windows have closed, so new applicants face the current thresholds.
• Property owners may rent the property out, but property bought for the permit cannot be let short term through the sharing economy or sublet. Breaking this brings revocation or non-renewal of the permit and administrative fines, and a listed building cannot be sold before its restoration is finished. If the property is sold to another non-EU citizen during the permit, the buyer can receive a permit and the seller’s permit is revoked.
• We read the Migration Code in the Government Gazette issue of 1 April 2023 that the Ministry of Migration and Asylum publishes. The Code has been amended since, so confirm current rules with the Ministry.

Sources: Hellenic Republic. Checked 17 October 2026.

• The real estate minimum is about €800,000 in Attica, the Thessaloniki regional unit, the Mykonos and Thira (Santorini) regional units and islands with more than 3,100 residents at the last census, and about €400,000 in the rest of Greece. To be safe, have more than €810,000 or more than €410,000.
• A lower minimum of €250,000 applies to buying a property whose main spaces are changed into a home (including some industrial buildings out of use for five years) and to listed buildings that need restoration. To be safe, have more than €260,000. The conversion must be finished before you apply, and a listed building cannot be resold before its restoration is complete.
• In both regional tiers the investment must be one single property, with at least 120 square metres of main floor space if it is built or has a building permit. Co-owners must be spouses or partners; otherwise each owner’s own share must meet the minimum.
• The full price must be paid before you apply, by crossed bank cheque, credit transfer or card payment through a POS into an account at an institution in Greece. A spouse or relatives up to the second degree may pay, and the notary certifies the payment details.
• Financial options have minimums from €350,000 to €800,000: qualifying funds at the low end, then company capital, venture-capital funds, Greek government bonds of three years or more and a term deposit of a year or more, and listed shares and corporate bonds at the top. To be safe, have more than €360,000, €510,000 or €810,000 respectively. The money must be sent from abroad.
• A company set up in Greece needs an investment of about €500,000 that has positive effects on the economy. To be safe, have more than €510,000.

Sources: Hellenic Republic. Checked 17 October 2026.

• The notary who drew up the deeds certifies the parties, the property, how the price was paid and whether the seller used the property for a golden visa, and you file your property declaration (E9) if you bought by transfer.
• The Ministry's list for the listed-building variant adds a copy of the travel document with the entry visa or visa exemption, proof of land registry registration or a lawyer's certificate, a private insurance policy and one recent photograph. If you buy through a company you prove you own all its shares.

Sources: Hellenic Republic. Checked 17 October 2026.

• You can apply from inside Greece if you entered lawfully or live there lawfully, even if your current permit does not allow a change of purpose. The Ministry's page accepts a national visa or a visa-free or Schengen basis of stay and says to apply after entry and before the visa expires.
• The statute says the permit is issued within two months of the authority getting a complete file. The Ministry page for the listed-building variant estimates 50 to 60 days. An appeal against a refusal is made within two months, for €50, and decided within 30 days.

Sources: Hellenic Republic. Checked 17 October 2026.

• The permit fee is €2,000 for the B.1 to B.5 investor permits, and the Ministry lists a further €16 fee for the printed permit.

Sources: Hellenic Republic. Checked 17 October 2026.

• The first permit lasts five years and can be renewed for equal periods while you still own and hold the property, or the contracts are still in force, and the other conditions are met. Absences from Greece do not stop a renewal, and the articles set no minimum number of days to spend in Greece.
• The permit is revoked or not renewed if the conditions are no longer met. Family members' permits end on the same day as the investor's.
• Family members covered are the spouse or partner, unmarried common children under 21, the unmarried children of the investor or partner in their custody under 21, and the direct ascendants of the spouses or partners. Children who turn 21 receive an autonomous three-year permit.

Sources: Hellenic Republic. Checked 17 October 2026.

• Investors can also seek permanent long-term resident status after five years of lawful, uninterrupted residence. It asks for income of at least a minimum-wage worker's yearly pay plus 10% for dependants, full health insurance and a language and history test; the investor permit articles ask for none of these.
• The article on who cannot use long-term status names study and training, protection, temporary stay and diplomatic permits, not investor permits. The sources do not say how an investor without a salary shows the income, so that is unknown.

Sources: Hellenic Republic. Checked 17 October 2026.

• You are a Greek tax resident if your permanent or main home, habitual abode or centre of vital interests is in Greece, or if you are there for more than 183 days in any 12 months. Because the permit sets no minimum stay, your days in Greece decide this. Residents are taxed on worldwide income.
• A flat tax of €100,000 a year on all foreign income is open to people who move their tax residence to Greece, were not Greek tax residents in seven of the previous eight years, and invest €500,000 in Greek property, businesses or securities within three years. It lasts up to 15 tax years, and each relative added costs €20,000 a year.
• The article waives the investment condition for people with an investment residence permit under article 16 of the older Law 4251/2014. Whether a type B permit under the Migration Code counts is not stated in the text we read, so it is unknown.

Sources: Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE), Hellenic Republic. Checked 17 October 2026.

• Digital nomad visa in Greece
• Retirement visa in Greece
• Work permit in Greece
• Family visa in Greece

• Visas in Greece
• Greece

1. Visas (Foreign Ministry): short stay and the Schengen area (as recorded by the Atlas Visa Map), Hellenic Republic, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Checked 27 May 2026. As recorded by the Atlas Visa Map: US passport holders visa-free, 90 days in any 180-day period in the Schengen area (map refreshed 13 May 2026, verified 27 May 2026).
2. Migration Code (Law 5038/2023), Government Gazette A 81 of 1 April 2023: text as first published, Hellenic Republic, Ministry of Migration and Asylum (publishes the Government Gazette issue). Checked 17 October 2026. Article 95 (investor permits: five years, renewable; absences do not block renewal; family members), article 97 (company with 500,000 euros, B.2), article 99 (financial investments from 350,000 to 800,000 euros, B.4), article 100 as first published (co-owners must be spouses or partners, payment methods, notary certificate, resale, no right to work, issue within two months), article 171 (fee of 2,000 euros for B.1 to B.5), articles 143 to 145 (long-term resident status). The real estate thresholds in article 100 were replaced in 2024, so they are taken from Circular 9, not from this file. This is the text as first published on 1 April 2023; later amendments are not in this file. Greek text.
3. Golden visa programme (investment in a listed real property): initial issuance, Hellenic Republic, National Registry of Administrative Public Services (mitos.gov.gr). Checked 17 October 2026. Opened 17 October 2026; the page shows a last update of 22 September 2026. Covers the EUR 250,000 listed-building variant of article 100: online application, a national visa or a visa-free or Schengen basis of stay, permit fee EUR 2,000 plus EUR 16 for the printed permit, 50 to 60 days estimated, five years, no right to work, appeal within two months for EUR 50.
4. US citizens abroad: filing requirements, Internal Revenue Service. Checked 15 October 2026. US citizens abroad file as they would at home.
5. US-Greece income tax convention of 1950 and protocol of 1953 (PDF), Internal Revenue Service. Checked 15 October 2026. Article XIV: each country may tax its own citizens as if the convention did not exist; Greece credits US tax on US-source income; private pensions from one country to a resident of the other are exempt in the source country; article XVIII exchanges information.
6. US international Social Security agreements, US Social Security Administration; Internet Archive copy. Checked 15 October 2026. Internet Archive capture of 4 October 2026, read on 15 October 2026. Ecuador is not on the list of agreements in force.
7. Greece travel advice and advisories, Government of Canada (travel.gc.ca). Checked 15 October 2026. Page last updated 5 October 2026: Greece is a Schengen country; Canadian citizens need no visa for up to 90 days in any 180-day period; a work visa is required.
8. Entry into force of the tax convention between Canada and the Hellenic Republic (notice), Department of Finance Canada. Checked 15 October 2026. Entered into force on 16 December 2010; applies to withholding on or after 1 January 2011 and to other taxes for taxation years beginning on or after 1 January 2011; archived notice.
9. Greece: pensions and benefits (Canada-Greece social security agreement), Government of Canada (Service Canada). Checked 15 October 2026. Agreement in force since 1 May 1983, replaced by a revised agreement in force since 1 December 1997; covers CPP and OAS, not the QPP; Greek schemes named.
10. Greece travel advice, Internet Archive copy of 12 October 2026, Smartraveller (Australian Government, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade). Checked 15 October 2026. Page updated 30 September 2026: Greece is in the Schengen area; Australian passport holders register biometrics under the EES; Schengen duration rules apply; no confirmed ETIAS date.
11. Income tax treaties: treaties in force (Australia), Australian Treasury. Checked 15 October 2026. Table last updated 24 March 2026: the only Greece entry is an Airline Profits Agreement signed 5 May 1977, in force from 7 April 1981; there is no double tax agreement with Greece.
12. Exchange of Notes between New Zealand and Greece concerning visas, 6 December 1961 (record and treaty text), New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (New Zealand Treaties Online). Checked 15 October 2026. In force since 6 January 1962, no termination. New Zealand citizens may enter Greece without a visa if they do not intend to stay longer than three months or take up gainful employment; those who wish to work or stay longer, once approved, get visas free of charge; the agreement does not exempt anyone from Greek law on entry, residence and employment.
13. List of Member States' bilateral visa waiver agreements with third countries allowing an extension of the period of stay (2019/C 130/07), European Commission (Official Journal of the European Union, C 130, 8 April 2019). Checked 15 October 2026. Greece's section lists New Zealand: entry into force 6.12.1961, authorised length of stay 90 days, ordinary passports. This is the April 2019 list; we found no newer one.
14. Double tax agreements (New Zealand tax treaties), Inland Revenue (New Zealand), Tax Policy. Checked 15 October 2026. 41 agreements in force, signed or under negotiation: Greece is on none of the lists.
15. Circular 9 (24 September 2024): real estate investment and the permanent investor permit (article 100 of the Migration Code as amended by Law 5100/2024), Hellenic Republic, Ministry of Migration and Asylum (General Secretariat for Migration Policy). Checked 17 October 2026. Minimum values of 800,000 euros (Attica, the Thessaloniki regional unit, the Mykonos and Thira regional units and islands over 3,100 residents, Evia included) and 400,000 euros elsewhere; one single property; at least 120 square metres of main space for built property or property with a building permit; 250,000 euros where main spaces are changed into a home and for listed buildings to be restored; ban on short-term sharing-economy letting and subletting, with revocation or non-renewal and administrative fines; transition rules for purchases started before 31 August 2024. Greek text.
16. Permanent golden visa (change of use): initial issuance, Hellenic Republic, National Registry of Administrative Public Services (mitos.gov.gr). Checked 17 October 2026. Page last updated 22 September 2026: 250,000 euro minimum for a property whose main spaces are changed into a home, single property, no 120 square metre limit, change of use completed after 5 April 2024; price paid in full by crossed cheque, credit transfer or card through a POS in Greece, by the buyer or a spouse or relative up to the second degree; permit fee 2,000 euros plus 16 euros for the printed permit; 50 days; no right to work.
17. Tax residence for natural persons (Income Tax Code, article 4), Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE). Checked 17 October 2026. Greek tax resident if the permanent or main home, habitual abode or centre of vital interests is in Greece, or if present in Greece more than 183 days in any twelve-month period; the 183-day test is not applied to people there only for tourism, medical, therapeutic or similar private reasons for no more than 365 days.
18. Taxation of non-Greek-sourced income obtained by Greek tax residents (as recorded by the Atlas Tax Map), Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE). Checked 30 May 2026. As recorded by the Atlas Tax Map: Greek tax residents are taxed on worldwide income (checked 30 May 2026).
19. Income taxation (Tax Guide), Hellenic Republic, Ministry of National Economy and Finance. Checked 17 October 2026. Greek tax residents are taxed on income arising in Greece and abroad; scale for employment, pension and business income from tax year 2026: 9%, 20%, 26%, 34%, 39% and 44%, with lower rates in the second and third bands for dependent children; the guide also notes that incentives exist for foreign tax residents who transfer their tax residence to Greece, under conditions (articles 5A, 5B and 5C of the Income Tax Code).
20. Tax incentives for attracting new tax residents under articles 5A, 5B and 5C of the Income Tax Code (guide of 12 November 2025), Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE). Checked 17 October 2026. 5A: not Greek tax resident in 7 of the previous 8 years, investment of at least 500,000 euros within three years, 100,000 euros a year for 15 years; 5B: pension from abroad, not Greek tax resident in 5 of the previous 6 years, move from a state with a tax administrative cooperation agreement, 7% on foreign income, 15 tax years; 5C: 50% exemption for 7 tax years on employment or business income earned in Greece, not Greek tax resident in 5 of the previous 6 years, stay at least two years.