1.5 billion euros will be brought to the Greek budget by the Golden visa

The demand for the "Residence permit for investments" program has increased significantly recently. This is due to a number of changes that are expected in connection with the entry into force of the new migration law in early 2024.

At the moment, almost 16,000 potential program participants (including dependents and family members) are waiting for a decision on the issue. The number of cases exceeds 5,000. It costs an average of 300 thousand euros to apply for a "golden visa" in Greece. If all the submitted applications are approved, the country's budget will increase by one and a half billion.

What changes will take place in the program

The innovations relate to investment residence permits, as well as migration of officials. They are regulated by Law 5038/2023, which will enter into force on January 1 next year. Key points:

1. Online application for obtaining and extending a residence permit is being introduced
2. The residence permit extended in 2024 for top managers turns into a blue card or a special purpose residence permit. You can also apply for a Blue Card remotely.
3. The list of people for whom the opportunity to obtain a "golden visa" will be open is expanding. Now it will include:

• shareholders of Greek companies with a capital or share price of 500,000 euros;
• legitimate representatives of local and foreign companies, as well as board members and heads of local organizations, if they assets or turnover amount to 4 million euros or more.

Starting in August 2023, Greece will double (from 250,000 euros) the lower investment threshold for the investment residency program in some regions. You can apply for a "golden visa" according to the current rules by signing a purchase and sale agreement before the end of July this year.

Statistics on the results of the program

For the 6 months until May 2023, the number of monthly applications averaged 786. This exceeded the figure of the previous half-year by almost three times and significantly increased queues in a number of regions.

According to statistics, the most popular regions for investing are Athens with its suburbs and the island of Crete.

The top 5 most active participants of the program included:

• Chinese – 62%;
• Turks – 7%;
• Lebanese – 5%;
• Russians – 4%;
• Egyptians – 3%.

Currently, participation in the program is available only to those Russians who do not have a second citizenship.