Greece Golden Visa – The New Status Trend Among American Investors

The Greece Golden Visa has garnered significant attention from American High-Net-Worth Individuals (HNWIs) who seek to establish a solid Plan B in Europe, leverage the power of portfolio diversification, and capitalize on Greece’s impressive ROI capacity.

As inquiries from Americans looking to settle in Greece have grown 40% Y-o-Y between the springs of 2021 and 2022, US investors are increasingly leveraging the Greece Golden Visa as a means to gain both residency and hedge against potential political and economic turbulence by setting up a foothold in one of the world’s most fascinating countries.

Additionally, as Greece’s residency by investment program does not require any physical residency, US investors find the program’s investment options as a superior way to diversify their investment portfolios.

Whether US-based or global, HNW investors seeking alternative residency, portfolio diversification, or the highly-coveted EU Plan B, the Greece Golden Visa has an investment channel for everyone.

The Greek government introduced the Golden Visa program in 2013 as a financial lever to help offset the economic downward spiral and subsequent mounting debt the nation had been experiencing.

The program would prove remarkably popular, having approved nearly 10,000 investors during its ten-year reign.

The Golden Visa’s premise is relatively straightforward: third-country (non-EU) investors with a clean criminal record and qualifying liquid investment in Greece’s economy through an approved investment channel can obtain a five-year renewable residency permit.

The Golden Visa is renewable as long as investors maintain their investment in the country.

Golden Visa holders can switch their investments from one asset to another or to an entirely different channel under certain conditions – such as informing the government and continuing to meet the minimum investment threshold corresponding to their new asset.

Investors can add their spouse, dependent children below the age of 21, and dependent parents to the application – one of the few Golden Visa programs designed for extended families.

Considering that the average family size for Golden Visa applications was just above three people per application, adding the entire family proved a significant draw for the Golden Visa.

American Golden Visa applications, in particular, have an above-average family composition of 3.3 applicants, ranking US family-oriented investors Greece’s third most prominent group – highlighting the interest in the Golden Visa among American families looking for options abroad.

The Golden Visa does not require holders to reside in Greece to maintain their residence, as it is connected directly to their investment, making it a great contingency plan.

However, those choosing to live in Greece can apply for citizenship after seven years.

Like its Portuguese counterpart, the Greek Golden Visa began a massive change in its investment criteria during 2023 – a paradigm shift that continued through 2024.

In 2023, Greece doubled the minimum investment requirement for real estate from €250,000 to €500,000 in the country’s most popular areas.

Then, the EU announced significant travel and entry changes that would begin in late 2024 and early 2025 – ETIAS and EES – that will apply to all non-EU citizens and residents, thus making EU status far more desirable and lucrative.

In response to these measures, as well as others, Greece updated its top-rated residency program once again.

On 1 September 2024, the newly updated Greece Golden Visa program launched and introduced three [instead of two] investment zones, each with its own specific criteria.

The new investment minimums are €250,000, €500,000, and €800,000.

The minimum investment threshold for property remains steady at €250,000 [under specific conditions], allowing the Greek Golden Visa to retain the title as the most affordable EU program.

However, the program has tripled the minimum investment required for the country’s most popular and lucrative destinations – for example, Piraeus [Athens] increased from €250,000 to €800,000.

Before the changes, nearly half [41%] of all real estate-related Golden Visa applications were focused on properties in Athens, highlighting the centralization of investor interests.

Investors rushed to submit their applications before changes were officially implemented in 2023 and 2024, resulting in the most successful years of the Golden Visa, with the highest annual application numbers since its establishment.

For the first time since the COVID pandemic, Greece had accumulated a significant backlog of applications (nearly 40,000 pending) primarily made up of US and British investors.

The Greek government has taken measures to ensure it addresses both the backlog and new applications to maintain an average processing time of approximately six months.

While the real estate investment channel is the most popular among foreign investors – and genuinely the only realistic channel for investors to leverage – the Golden Visa offers an array of investment channels that gives American investors some flexibility.

The investment channels under Greece’s Golden Visa are:

• Purchasing real estate- starting from €250,000
• Investing in a mutual fund dedicated to Greek shares, corporate bonds, and government bonds – starting from €350,000
• Investing in an approved real estate fund – starting from €400,000
• A capital deposit in a Greek bank account – starting from €400,000
• Purchasing Greek government bonds with a minimum three-year maturity through a Greek credit institution – starting from €500,000
• Investing in corporate or government bonds traded on Greek-regulated markets or trading mechanisms – starting from €800,000
• Funding a Greek Startup – starting from €250,000

The variety of investment options in Greece opens the door for US HNWIs to obtain a residency permit in one of the EU’s most significant members and one of the world’s most fascinating places through an investment that resonates with their overall objectives.

However, as the investment must be held indefinitely to maintain residency, real estate is the only option that makes sense – as all other options essentially separate the investor from their wealth.

As US citizens have to deal with citizenship-based taxation, it is imperative to understand how non-real estate investments could be affected by future tax laws – as recently witnessed with the US Supreme Court case of Moore and unrealized gains.

The idea is to choose the investment with the best risk-to-profit margin according to each person’s preferences while being cognizant of the longevity of the Golden Visa’s validity.

US investors [and all investors generally] need to weigh the potential ROI with any potential tax, not simply contemporaneously, but long-term.

As well as embracing the fact that the investment must be held indefinitely, thus the usefulness of the investment itself, as the funds used to gain it are otherwise unavailable to the investor.

To better place each investment option in context, let’s take a closer look at each one:

Greek Golden Visa real estate

The most popular investment option under the Golden Visa is genuinely the only investment that makes sense for global HNWIs.

The entire Greek real estate market is available – from Greece’s cosmopolitan hubs to the Greek islands to the country’s less developed rural regions.

However, where the property is located paired with specific factors about the property can alter the required investment criteria and whether or not the property is even eligible for the Golden Visa program.

As previously mentioned, the Greece residency program has three investment zones:

€250,000 investment zone

The most accessible zone comes with some pros and cons.

1. Price must be at least €250,000
2. Property can be any size
3. Can only be rented on the long-term market
4. Located anywhere in Greece
5. The property must be either:

• A commercial-to-residential renovation
• A restoration of a Listed Building

6. Renovations must be finished before the Golden Visa application can be submitted
7. Restorations must be finished within the first 5 years of Golden Visa approval or residency is terminated

€500,000 investment zone

1. Property price must be at least €500,000
2. At least 120 sq. m. in size
3. Only rented on the long-term market
4. New or existing inventory
5. Located anywhere not included in the €800,000 zone, including:

• Halkidiki (or Chalkidiki)

€800,000 investment zone

1. Property price must be at least €800,000
2. Must be at least 120 sq. m. in size
3. Only rented on the long-term market
4. New or existing inventory
5. Located in Greece’s most popular areas, including:

• Attica / Athens
• Thessaloniki
• Mykonos
• Santorini
• Crete

The commercial renovation option allows US investors to take advantage of housing market booms in strategic locations without the added cost for developers to acquire vacant land – such as Piraeus, a ground-floor property market in the EU.

The city of Halkidiki (or Chalkidiki), next to Thessaloniki, is a prime location for the mid-range investor who may want a residency for long-term personal reasons with short-term income goals – such as a retirement plan that can pay for itself.

The location is also an excellent choice for pure ROI-focused investments.

Halkidiki is a bustling city on the Aegean with massive real estate opportunities. The town provides year-round infrastructure for long-term rentals [better ROI than Thessaloniki] or for expats to reside in, and it is an area primed for arbitrage investing.

The city is set to become a favorite investment destination under the Golden Visa.

The island of Crete houses two of Greece’s largest cities – Heraklion and Chania – and is an excellent option in the €800,000 zone.

The Bank of Greece highlighted the dynamic nature of the housing market on the island, as property prices grew at an impressive Y-o-Y rate of 7.2 in 2020 – making Crete a prime candidate for investors looking for long-term arbitrage gains.

For island lovers, Paros is an excellent alternative to Mykonos and Santorini, as it offers the same level of Aegean enchantment with a more authentic ambiance and less touristy vibe. It also has an average rental yield of 7.1% – an impressive rate for property ROI.

As Golden Visa properties can no longer be used as vacation or short-term rentals [AirBnB or VRBO], the annual ROI profile of a particular market is critical to the long-term profitability of any investment.

But, for many investors, long-term rentals are the best option, as it maximizes ROI by eliminating a tremendous amount of operational costs for the property owner, such as:

• Utilities
• Turn-over between reservations
• Platform taxes
• Platform fees
• Tourism fees and licensing
• Currency conversions

The point is that Greece’s massive housing market will continue offering investors abundant profitable real estate investment opportunities.

Investors can rent the property themselves or through a property management service [such as Astons] and capitalize on the market by allowing the investment to pay for itself.

Golden Visa investment funds

Much like Portugal’s Golden Visa, Greece has an investment fund option.

Unlike Portugal, Greece has two types of funds, and the investment must be maintained indefinitely. Under the Portugal Golden Visa, the equity fund investment can be liquidated after 5 years without losing residency.

Under the first category, Greece requires applicants to invest in funds focusing solely on property development.

American investors are the driving force behind the equity fund in the Portuguese Golden Visa but are not a significant investment group for the Greek fund.

The second option focuses on funds that invest exclusively in shares, corporate bonds, or Greek government bonds. The plethora of assets available to these bonds offers greater flexibility in terms of ROI and risk, and they are pure investment mechanisms.

It is important to note that the investment must be maintained under the Golden Visa rules to keep residency. Liquidating the investment will result in a loss of Greek residency.

Government bonds

Government bonds are popular because they are safe in exchange for providing lower ROIs.

The government bonds option may be the best choice for investors who understand they cannot access the money for potentially decades [unless the investor were to move to Greece and acquire citizenship], so they want it to be as safe as possible.

Shares and bonds

Investing in corporate shares or bonds traded on Greek-regulated markets is another prospect for US investors looking to diversify their wealth portfolio and are fine with having no access to the money for the long term.

Traded corporate and government bonds

With a price point of €800,000, comparing this option to a property investment in Mykonos or along the Athens Riviera places it in the best context.

Which is why it has never been popular among Golden Visa applicants historically – a trend not expected to change under the updated program.

Funding a Greek startup

In early September 2024, after the updated Greek Golden Visa became effective, Greece’s Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, announced that the program had not finished evolving.

PM Mitsotakis stated that a new investment channel was on the horizon that would allow Golden Visa applicants to channel their funding into the burgeoning Greek startup ecosystem.

As the investment channel is not yet official, little about specifics are known; however, the basic framework appears to be:

• Minimum investment of €250,000
• Eligible startups should be in the tech sector

It is expected that eligible startups will have criteria for employment, transparency, national interest, and achievable fiscal goals, but thus far, nothing further has been announced.

There are a multitude of additional advantages that come with Greek residency, such as:

• EU Access – All Greek citizens and residents enjoy the privileged status of having ETIAS and EES exemption, thus allowing access to the entire EU at will.
• No Physical Residence – Golden Visa investors are not required to reside in Greece to maintain their residency permit, as residency is linked directly to their investment.
• Top-Tier Healthcare– Greece has one of the world’s best healthcare systems. The country offers state-funded and private healthcare, with the latter at a fraction of the cost in the US.
• Greek Lifestyle – Greece is one of the world’s most popular countries with tourists for a reason. The unique culture, historical significance, natural beauty, and distinctive islands offer an incredible experience not just for visitors, but also for residents too. Check out our guide to the Greek lifestyle.
• A Simple Process – The Greek Golden Visa has a streamlined process that only takes three months on average, making it one of the simplest ways to obtain EU residency.
• Non-Dom Tax (NDT) – Greece’s NDT allows new residents who invest €500,000 in Greek assets to pay income tax at a lump sum of just €100,000 a year, no matter their income level. They are also exempt from inheritance and gift tax.

Greece has always held a particular ethos with the American public and with global HNWIs.

The country’s culture, food, history, natural scenery, and overall mythos have drawn Americans to its shores for decades, whether as tourists, residents, or investors.

The Golden Visa makes the entire process convenient, accessible, and easy for Americans, providing them with a robust way to diversify their wealth through investing in one of Europe’s fastest-growing markets.

Astons has been a licensed agent for the Greek Golden Visa from the program’s inception.

Our Athens office – led by local real estate market experts and investment migration specialists – has made Astons an industry leader for one of the European Union’s most coveted residency-by-investment programs.