Greece announces reform of the Golden Visa program — important changes in the validity period of permits

Greece is preparing major changes to its investment program Golden Visa, aimed at eliminating one of the most critical problems — the reverse date of the residence permit. The new draft law is scheduled to be presented as early as January 2026 and is designed to improve administrative processes, speed up the issuance of cards and eliminate delays that prevent investors from fully using their visas.

🧾What exactly will change

The main innovation of the reform is the method of calculating the validity period of the residence permit card:

• In the current system, the deadline starts from the date of submission of the application, even if the decision on it was made months later.
• The new bill proposes to take into account the date of the actual issuance of the card so that investors receive a full 5‑year period from the very beginning of the document.

This change is important for investors who have to wait for their cards to be issued for several months — sometimes more than a year — and as a result receive a document with a much shorter validity period than it should be.

📈 How will this affect investors

✔ The investment attractiveness of the program will remain high — the old time calculation rules did not take into account processing delays, which could reduce its effectiveness.

The new mechanism will not change the time required for citizenship. As before, the right to permanent residence requires 5 years of legal residence, and to obtain citizenship — 7 years, and these calculations are carried out from the moment of actual residence in the country, and not from the date of issue of the card.

The bill also provides for simplification of procedures for Golden Visa renewal and family repatriation, reducing the number of bureaucratic steps.

When the new law may come into force

Minister of Migration and Assimilation Thanos Pleuris announced the reform in Athens at a meeting with diplomats, noting that it is part of a broader immigration modernization. Taking into account the parliamentary majority of the New Democracy Party, the changes are likely to be adopted in 2026.