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Cost calculator

What residency by investment actually costs

Programmes advertise a minimum of €250,000 to €500,000. You pay more: purchase taxes, contributions to the state, permit fees and intermediaries land on top. On Malta that extra is €126,000, a quarter of the whole sum. Name your own figure and see which of the four it covers.

Four residency-by-investment programmesevery sum in euro

200,0001,200,000

A budget of €500,000 covers entry to 2 of the four. Nearest: Malta — short by €1,000.

  1. Greeceadvertised€400,000really€435,000covered€65,000 left over

    In Attica, Thessaloniki and the large islands the threshold is €800,000 — then it takes €866,000. For a listed restoration or a change of use it is €250,000 — then €274,000.

    Show every cost, line by line

    What the extra is made of

    • Purchase taxes€14,383
    • Notary and lawyer€8,930
    • Agency commission€8,000
    • Residence-permit fees€4,016
    LineBasisAmount
    Transfer tax (ΦΜΑ)actCharged on the taxable value, which is not always the price paid.
    source

    AADE, real estate transfer tax (ΦΜΑ): 3% of the taxable value, plus a municipal surcharge of 3% OF THE TAX — 3.09% in total. VAT on new build is suspended to 31 Dec 2026 (Law 5000/2022 art. 9, extended by Law 5246/2025 art. 12), so every purchase in 2026 goes through ΦΜΑ.

    2026-08-24

    		3.09%€12,360
    NotaryactThe first band of the tariff is disputed: 0.80% in the codified text, 1% in two legal publishers. The lower figure is used.
    source

    KYA 111376/2011: a fixed €20 plus 0.80% to €120,000, 0.70% to €380,000, 0.65% to €2m, and lower above.

    2026-08-24

    		0.73%€2,930
    Land registryreproduction
    source

    Decision 2/12-01-2026, FEK B' 64/13.01.2026: 5‰ of the value plus fixed charges of €3 and €20, from 13 January 2026. Guides quoting 0.475% are out of date.

    2026-08-24

    		0.51%€2,023
    Lawyermarket custom
    source

    No tariff sets a lawyer's fee, and a lawyer's attendance is no longer compulsory. For a foreign buyer the title check is a practical necessity rather than a legal one.

    2026-08-24

    		1.50%€6,000
    Agent's commissionmarket custom
    source

    Not set by law. Custom is about 2% plus VAT FROM EACH SIDE — buyer and seller pay their own agents. Agent sources only.

    2026-08-24

    		2.00%€8,000
    Permit application (e-paravolo)act
    source

    e-paravolo for the investor permit application, Law 5038/2023.

    2026-08-23

    		flat€2,000
    Residence cardact
    source

    Printing of the residence card.

    2026-08-23

    		flat€16
    First renewalact
    source

    First renewal, same paravolo.

    2026-08-23

    		flat€2,000
    The full guide
  2. UAEadvertised€466,000really€498,000covered€2,000 left over

    The threshold is set in dirhams: AED 2,000,000. Converted at 4.288, read on 23 August 2026.

    Show every cost, line by line

    What the extra is made of

    • Purchase taxes€19,810
    • Agency commission€9,328
    • Residence-permit fees€2,305
    LineBasisAmount
    Golden visa government feesreproduction
    source

    DLD golden visa e-service, total AED 9,884.75. The composition was not verified, and the channels do not reconcile: GDRFA publishes AED 1,100 plus ancillaries, and DLD's two-year investor visa is AED 10,212.50. Plausibly three different products.

    2026-08-30

    		AED 9,884.75€2,305
    DLD transfer feemarket customThe instrument splits this fee equally with the seller «unless agreed otherwise». Budget it, but it is negotiable.
    source

    Executive Council Resolution 30/2013 art. 3(1) and schedule: 4% of the contract value, and art. 3 — «unless agreed otherwise, the Fee for the sale of Real Property will be shared EQUALLY by the seller and purchaser». DLD's own page says seller 2%, buyer 2%.

    2026-08-24

    		4.00%€18,657
    DLD administration and trusteeact
    source

    DLD tariff: title deed AED 250, villa and apartment administration AED 250, unified municipality card AED 225, knowledge and innovation fees AED 10 each, registration trustee AED 4,000 + 5% VAT.

    2026-08-24

    		AED 4,945€1,153
    Agent's commissionmarket customVAT at 5% applies to the commission and is not included here.
    source

    DLD sets no commission: «determined by agreement, and failing that by custom». The usual 2% from the buyer is custom, not a rule.

    2026-08-24

    		2.00%€9,328
    The full guide
  3. Maltaadvertised€375,000really€501,000short by €1,000advertised at €375,000

    Housing can be leased rather than bought: €114,000 for the first year. But rent is spent, not staked, and it has to be evidenced every year for the first five.

    Show every cost, line by line

    What the extra is made of

    • Purchase taxes€18,750
    • Contributions to the state€99,000
    • Notary and lawyer€7,750
    • Residence-permit fees€500
    LineBasisAmount
    Stamp dutyactNo reduced rate is open to a buyer who would have needed ministerial permission.
    source

    Cap. 364 art. 32 and art. 3(6): 5% of the higher of price and value — 1% on registration of the promise of sale, 4% on the deed.

    2026-08-24

    		5.00%€18,750
    Administrative feeact
    source

    MPRP administrative fee on the main applicant. S.L. 217.26 as amended by L.N. 310/2024 (from 1 Jan 2025) and L.N. 146/2025 (22 Jul 2025).

    2026-08-23

    		flat€60,000
    Government contributionact
    source

    Government contribution. Identical on the purchase and the lease route.

    2026-08-23

    		flat€37,000
    NGO donationact
    source

    Compulsory donation to a registered NGO.

    2026-08-23

    		flat€2,000
    Residence cardact
    source

    Residence card, €500 per person.

    2026-08-23

    		flat€500
    Notary and lawyermarket custom
    source

    The notarial tariff annexed to Cap. 55 could not be read — the published PDF is truncated. Market sources give 1–2.5%, searches and registration about €600, an architect €400–600.

    2026-08-24

    		flat€7,750
    The full guide
  4. Portugaladvertised€500,000really€528,000short by €28,000advertised at €500,000

    Property is excluded from the Portuguese programme by statute; the investment goes into a fund. Filing online takes 25% off the AIMA fees — about €3,400.

    Show every cost, line by line

    What the extra is made of

    • Notary and lawyer€8,000
    • Fund charges€6,500
    • Residence-permit fees€13,472
    LineBasisAmount
    AIMA: analysis of the applicationact
    source

    AIMA fee schedule in force 1 March 2026: analysis of the application.

    2026-08-23

    		flat€843
    AIMA: grant of the permitact
    source

    AIMA fee schedule in force 1 March 2026: grant of the permit.

    2026-08-23

    		flat€8,419
    AIMA: first renewalact
    source

    AIMA fee schedule in force 1 March 2026: first renewal.

    2026-08-23

    		flat€4,210
    Lawyermarket custom
    source

    Market rate for preparing and filing an ARI application. No tariff.

    2026-08-23

    		flat€8,000
    Fund chargesmarket custom
    source

    Subscription and management charges over the first year, at about 1.3% of the amount subscribed. Set by each fund, not by an instrument.

    2026-08-23

    		a year × 1€6,500
    The full guide

One main applicant, no dependants: everything payable to enter and to hold the permit through its first renewal. Annual costs after that are on each jurisdiction's own page.

The next step is a firm licensed in the jurisdiction you pick.

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The costs on top of the minimum investment

The extra above the advertised minimum comes from four sources. The programmes weight them differently, which is why the gap differs: from 5.3% in Portugal to 25.1% on Malta.

Property purchase taxes
are charged on the price of the asset and grow with it. In Greece the transfer tax with its municipal surcharge is 3.09%, which on a €400,000 property is €12,360. On Malta stamp duty is 5%, or €18,750. In the UAE the land department's registration fee is 4%, or €18,657.
Contributions to the state
exist only on Malta and come to €99,000: an administrative fee of €60,000, a government contribution of €37,000 and a compulsory donation to a registered NGO of €2,000. They do not move with the price of the housing and are the same on the purchase and the lease route — which is why the Maltese gap is the largest.
Residence-permit fees
are usually the smallest and the most predictable. In Portugal they are not: €843 to consider the application, €8,419 to grant it, €4,210 for the first renewal. Filing online takes 25% off them.
A lawyer and an agent
are the one group you can negotiate over, and the one where we have no statute — only market practice. Those lines are marked as such in the working.

The cost of residency by investment, country by country

Greece — €400,000 advertised, €435,000 in reality

The threshold depends on where the property is and what it is. €400,000 covers the whole country except Attica, Thessaloniki and the large islands; there it is €800,000, and entry costs €866,000. The €250,000 threshold is open only for a listed restoration or a change of use, where entry costs €274,000. Of the €35,000 extra, nearly half is the lawyer and the agent.

Portugal golden visa — €500,000 advertised, €528,000 in reality

The smallest gap, 5.3%. Property has been excluded from this programme by statute since 2023; the investment goes into a fund. Most of the extra is the AIMA fees and the fund's charges for the first year. Filing online takes 25% off the fees, about €3,400.

Malta — €375,000 advertised, €501,000 in reality

The largest gap of the four: €126,000 on top, a quarter of the whole sum. The cause is the contributions to the state, which do not move with the price of the housing. Housing can be leased rather than bought, from €14,000 a year: the first year then costs €114,000, but rent is spent rather than staked, and it has to be evidenced every year for the first five.

UAE golden visa — 2,000,000 AED advertised, €498,000 in reality

The minimum is set in dirhams, so its price in euro moves with the rate; on 2026-08-23 it was €466,000. It need not be a single property — several qualify on their combined value. More than half of the €32,000 extra is the land department's registration fee.

What the figure excludes: family, later renewals, ownership

The calculation is for one main applicant with no dependants, carried to the first renewal of the permit. Four things sit outside it.

Family.
A checkable per-dependant figure is published in only two of the four jurisdictions, and the Greek regulation sets none at all. We do not publish a field that would be right about two countries and invented about two others.
Everything after the first renewal:
the second renewal and those after it, the fund's charges from the second year, the Maltese lease from the second year.
Ownership:
property taxes, upkeep, insurance, utilities.
The rate.
The Emirati threshold is set in dirhams, so its price in euro moves with the exchange rate.

Where the figures come from and how to check them

Under every line in the working stands the act that sets it and the day that act was read. Lines carry one of three levels: statute, secondary source, market practice. The third — the lawyer and the agent — is the only one where the sum is negotiable; everything else moves only when the law does.

Every source, with links

Lines read against their sources no later than 2026-08-30

Basis: one main applicant, no dependants, and everything payable to enter and to hold the permit through its first renewal. Family composition is not an input, because only two of the four jurisdictions publish a per-dependant figure and the Greek regulation sets none at all — a control that changed one country in four would misinform about three.