Greece to Double Its Minimum Amount of Investment for Golden Visas From May 1
From May 1 this year, Greece’s decision to increase the minimum amount of investment for the Golden Visa Scheme will take effect.
This means that in some parts of the Hellenic Republic, including the municipalities of Thessaloniki and Athens, as well as on the islands of Santorini and Mykonos, foreign investors will no longer be eligible to acquire residency through this program by making an investment of at least €250,000 after, according to the new changes the minimum investment amount has doubled to €500,000, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
The decision to take such a step was previously confirmed by the country’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, while he noted that the new plan aims to raise the affordability of real estate for Hellenic Republic citizens.
Greece’s government introduced the Golden Visa scheme in 2014, and it permits wealthy foreigners to acquire residency if they make a financial contribution to this country, thus allowing them to grant a five-year residence permit that can be renewed.
Still, this country’s scheme, together with all EU countries’ Golden Visa Programs, has often been criticized by authorities in EU countries, calling on them to terminate these residencies through Investment schemes as soon as possible.
In addition, earlier this year, Portugal and Ireland announced that they decided to abolish their Golden Visa Programs.
But Greece’s Golden Visa scheme continues to remain effective despite the fact that the decision to increase the minimum amount of investment for this scheme led some wealthy internationals to think twice when planning to take such a step.
However, not all investors were sceptic when it came to investments made through this program in Greece.
Recently, it was reported that the Golden Visa Scheme drew record-breaking interest in this country in the last quarter of 2022. In addition, it was reported that during this quarter, a total of 2,432 applications for Golden Visas were submitted.
In addition, from September until December last year, there was registered a significant monthly increase.
- September – 337
- October – 438
- November – 878
- December – 1,116
Furthermore, of a total of 16,411 requests submitted in Greece from 2018 until 2022, about a third of them, or a total of 4,485, were submitted in 2022 alone.
The number of year’s total applications, including new and renewal applications, reached 5,547, thus accounting for an increase of 125 per cent, compared to 2,463 submitted in 2021.
The main beneficiaries of this program were citizens from China, Turkey, Lebanon, Russia, as well as Egypt.
>> Greece Experienced Surge in Golden Visa Applications From Americans Last Year
