The Greek government may decide to double the current €250,000 minimum investment required as part of the country’s Residency by Investment (RIP) programme. Besides, Greece may add compulsory physical presence requirements and introduce minimum annual spending.
If the amendments come into force, the qualifying investment in real estate would rise up to €500,000. This figure would put the Greek programme on par with Portugal and Spain, and way above Latvia, in terms of financial requirements. Moreover, it’s possible that Greece may require compulsory stay or yearly spending in the range of €30,000–50,000.
Greek newspapers also mentioned the government’s plans to unveil a Citizenship by Investment scheme similar to the Cypriot model, yet there has been no official announcement of such plans.
What had received confirmation was an update to the existing RIP programme. Greece would allow more asset classes as qualifying investments, including public and private equities, bonds and deposits. Announced in 2017, these plans were, however, postponed and might not be implemented after all. On the bright side, the new government of Greece has been consistently catering to global investors by lowering and even removing taxes under specific scenarios.
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