The greater the effort, the greater the resistance: The EU's "golden visas" confirm the laws of physics

More than a year ago, the European Commission announced tightening controls over investment immigration and suppressing residence permit and economic citizenship programs. Bloomberg decided to check how the measures taken by the European Commission worked and how they affected the development of the investment immigration sector. The results are not unexpected if you know the laws of physics.

Statistics

From 2011 to 2019, more than 132,000 people received residency status in Europe through investment immigration programs. But due to weak regulation of the programs and the predictable increase in real estate prices in Europe, calls for their closure have become louder. Only two countries have responded to this request: Ireland and the UK. The rest are not ready to completely close them, but are ready to make certain changes to the programs.

At the moment, it is known that Portugal is preparing to cancel the programs. True, the project is still under discussion (and heated discussions), which have been going on for six months now. Spain is also set on abolishing "golden visas," or at least raising the investment threshold. Greece has followed suit, raising the minimum investment from €250,000 to €500,000. Cyprus has also tightened the requirements for obtaining a residence permit through investment.

Our Telegram channel about various types of Greek residence permits, digital nomad programs, and the Greek Golden Visa: @digitalnomadgr