Transitional period in Golden Visa after changes come into effect
Change in legislation as of September 1 is bringing new priorities for candidate investors
Greece’s Golden Visa program has been in a transitional period since September 1, when the new changes voted a few months ago came into force. In Attica, Thessaloniki and large islands (with over 3,100 permanent residents), the minimum amount of investment for securing a residence permit has been raised to 800,000 euros for realty investments to secure a five-year residence permit to non-European Union citizens.
Until Saturday there was a threshold of €250,000, while in the center of Athens and the northern and southern suburbs (as well as in the municipality of Thessaloniki, Mykonos and Santorini), the threshold was €500,000, after last year’s changes.
Already, as the figures of the Ministry of Immigration and Asylum show, many investors wanted to register properties with the former regime, which could be done until August 31 as long as a private agreement or preliminary agreement for the purchase of a property was signed, with a payment of 10% of the value of the property to be acquired.
In January-July, 4,734 applications were submitted for the granting of a residence permit. As market executives report to Kathimerini, most of these applications concern properties worth €250,000.
“The vast majority of our customers preferred cheap properties, mainly in areas such as Piraeus and the western suburbs – e.g. Peristeri, Aigaleo etc,” Alexandros Risvas, of the Risvas & Associates law firm, tells Kathimerini. Based on this, it appears that in the year to end-July at least €1.2 billion has flowed in from abroad, with the aim of buying real estate to secure a residence permit.
Last year 8,488 applications were submitted, due to the then changes to the program (from €250,000 to €500,000), while this year’s amendments also maintained the increased activity of investors. Therefore today the examination of almost 10,000 applications (9,804) for the granting of a Golden Visa is pending. Moreover, out of this year’s 4,734 applications, only 481 have been approved, while 3,290 applications from last year are still pending.
