Does the permit let me work anywhere in the EU?

No. An investment residence permit lets you live in the issuing country and travel freely in Schengen, but it carries no right to work in other EU states. Working in the issuing country itself is usually allowed; the conditions differ.

After how many years can I apply for citizenship?

Malta about five years by naturalisation, Greece seven, Cyprus eight, Portugal seven for EU and Portuguese-speaking nationals and ten for everyone else — that last figure changed in May 2026 and used to be five. The UAE has no citizenship route here at all. Everywhere the clock counts years of actual legal residence, not years of holding the status, so a permit that requires a few days a year accrues nothing on its own.

Do I have to live there to keep the status?

To keep the permit, almost nowhere: a few days a year is usually enough. For citizenship, yes — actual residence is required, and this is where expectations diverge most often.

Does buying property make me a tax resident?

No. Tax residence is decided by days of presence and centre of vital interests, not by ownership. Buying a house and remaining a tax resident of your own country is an ordinary situation.

What if the rules change after I apply?

Applications are normally assessed under the rules in force on the filing date, but there is no guarantee: Portugal and Greece have both changed terms with a short transition. That is the main argument against a long gap between deciding and filing.

Golden Visa (property)

Moving to Greece: residency, tax and property

Greece has the lowest property-based entry threshold in this comparison, and the only one where filing itself confers lawful residence. The threshold is not uniform: since September 2024 it is €800,000 across Attica, Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini and the larger islands, €400,000 elsewhere, and €250,000 only for converting or restoring a specific kind of building.

From: €400,000
First permit: Lawful residence on filing, card in months
Tax regime: Non-dom, €100,000 a year, separate €500,000 investment

The real number

What Greece actually costs

The threshold is the investment alone. Transfer taxes, professional and government fees and the first renewal are not optional — everyone pays them, every time.

Advertised: €400,000
Everything else: €36,000
Real, first year: €436,000

Sources Verified against primary sources on 23 August 2026 — statutes, ministry tariffs and official fee schedules. Figures are for ONE main applicant and cover entry and the first renewal; dependants are priced differently in every jurisdiction and are not included. Amounts in euro; the UAE threshold is AED 2,000,000 converted at 4.288 on the same date. See the working →

Who this route suits

Greece is the lowest property-based entry in this comparison and the only one where filing itself gives you something: the receipt issued on submission confers lawful residence and the rights of the permit while the application is decided. For somebody who needs to be legally in an EU country soon, that is worth more than a faster card.

It suits a buyer, not an investor looking for a return: the property may not be let short-term, and it must be a single property of at least 120 square metres of main space.

What stands behind the figure

The threshold is not one number. Since 1 September 2024 it is €800,000 across the whole of Attica, the regional unit of Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini and every island with more than 3,100 inhabitants; €400,000 everywhere else; and €250,000 only as an exception — converting a building's main spaces to residential, converting an industrial building idle for five years, or fully restoring a listed building, with the work finished before the application is filed.

Short-term letting is prohibited outright. The fine is €50,000, and €150,000 where the property is used as a business seat or transferred in breach, with the permit revoked or not renewed on top.

What changed, and when

Law 5100/2024 replaced a flat €250,000 with the three tiers above from 1 September 2024, with a transition for contracts completed by the end of that year. The old figure is still printed across most of this category, and it is the single most common error about Greece.

The other thing worth knowing changed nothing and is widely misunderstood: the property permit does not satisfy the €500,000 investment requirement of the non-dom regime. That waiver applies only to an investment-activity permit under a different law.

After the first permit

The card takes months — the backlog stood at 13,499 pending files in November 2025, most of them in Attica — but the receipt covers you meanwhile. Naturalisation takes seven years of actual lawful residence plus a language, history and civics exam. The investor permit is a qualifying title for that clock, but it carries no minimum stay, so holding it without living in Greece accrues nothing.

The tax option is separate: €100,000 a year flat on foreign income under art. 5A, plus €20,000 per family member, capped at fifteen years and requiring its own €500,000 investment within three years.

Sources: art. 100 of Law 5038/2023 as amended by art. 64 of Law 5100/2024, and KYA 214926/2025; art. 5A of Law 4172/2013; the AADE transfer-tax schedule.

Buying property here — Buying property in Greece: the rules, the costs and the traps

Questions about Greece

Does the permit let me work anywhere in the EU?: No. An investment residence permit lets you live in the issuing country and travel freely in Schengen, but it carries no right to work in other EU states. Working in the issuing country itself is usually allowed; the conditions differ.
After how many years can I apply for citizenship?: Malta about five years by naturalisation, Greece seven, Cyprus eight, Portugal seven for EU and Portuguese-speaking nationals and ten for everyone else — that last figure changed in May 2026 and used to be five. The UAE has no citizenship route here at all. Everywhere the clock counts years of actual legal residence, not years of holding the status, so a permit that requires a few days a year accrues nothing on its own.
Do I have to live there to keep the status?: To keep the permit, almost nowhere: a few days a year is usually enough. For citizenship, yes — actual residence is required, and this is where expectations diverge most often.
Does buying property make me a tax resident?: No. Tax residence is decided by days of presence and centre of vital interests, not by ownership. Buying a house and remaining a tax resident of your own country is an ordinary situation.
What if the rules change after I apply?: Applications are normally assessed under the rules in force on the filing date, but there is no guarantee: Portugal and Greece have both changed terms with a short transition. That is the main argument against a long gap between deciding and filing.

Ask about Greece

One partner works in each jurisdiction, and an enquiry reaches only them — and only if you tick the consent box. A person replies, usually within one working day.

Send an enquiry

We write when a rule changes

Not a newsletter. A short email when a threshold, a tax or a requirement in one of these jurisdictions becomes something else — with the statute and the date. There will not be many: across 2026 there have been fewer than ten such changes across five countries. The confirmation brings the four routes compared on one printable sheet.

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A confirmation is on its way, with the four-route comparison as a PDF. It also says what you signed up for and how to leave — one word in a reply.

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