move&invest

The working

Every figure on this site, and where it came from

On 23 August 2026 each headline figure here was read back from the statute, the ministry tariff or the official fee schedule it is supposed to rest on. Thirty-three checks. Fourteen came back wrong, four could not be established from any primary source at all, and those four are not published as figures anywhere on this site. Below is all of it, including the parts that do not flatter us.

Each row is one thing the site states, what the source actually says, and the mark for how the two compared. Citations are given in full — statute, article, gazette and date — because a link can rot and a citation cannot; the link beside it is where the text can be read today, and it says whether it is the authority's own page or a database reproducing it.

About

Portugal

What the site statesVerdictWhat the source says
The route is a Golden Visa through a fund; property was removedconfirmedLei 56/2023 (“Mais Habitação”), art. 53 repealed subparagraphs i, iii and iv of art. 3(1) of Lei 23/2007 — both property options and the capital transfer. Art. 3(5) bars any investment aimed, even indirectly, at real estate.
€500,000 thresholdconfirmedSubparagraph vii: a €500,000 subscription to a fund that is not a property fund, held at least five years, with at least 60% in companies seated in Portugal.
The other routes the site did not mentionaddedTen jobs (eight in low-density areas, no capital threshold); €500,000 into research (€400,000 in low-density areas); €250,000 into cultural heritage (€220,000); €500,000 into a company creating five permanent jobs.
The €1.5m capital transferwithdrawnIt no longer exists.
“6–9 months to the permit”correctedThe statute (art. 82(5) of Lei 23/2007) allows 90 days for a decision. In practice it runs one to three years: filing to biometrics 6–24 months, biometrics to card 6–18. AIMA reported roughly 30,000 pending cases on 4 August 2026.
IFICI, 20% flat — the site cited the wrong statutecorrectedThe basis is art. 58-A of the EBF (introduced by Lei 82/2023), not the CIRS; the procedure is Portaria 352/2024/1 of 23 December 2024. 20% on Portuguese category A and B income from qualifying activity, for ten years. Registration by 15 January of the year after residency is obtained. Pensions (category H) and income from blacklisted jurisdictions are excluded and taxed at 35%.
“€62,000 on top” — understatedcorrectedAIMA fees from 1 March 2026: €842.80 to consider, €8,418.90 to issue, €4,210.30 to renew, €8,418.90 per family member, less 25% when filed online. One applicant to the first renewal is roughly €13,470 in fees alone; a family of three roughly €40,400. With a lawyer and fund commissions the real range is €30,000–50,000 for one and €65,000–90,000 for a family.

Sources

The 2026 fees are the one weak point on this jurisdiction. AIMA's March revision of the fee table does not answer an automated request, so the figures to the cent come from two independent reports of that table rather than from the table itself. Treat them as secondary until the PDF can be read directly.

Greece

What the site statesVerdictWhat the source says
The route is a Golden Visa through propertyconfirmedArt. 100 of Law 5038/2023 as amended by art. 64 of Law 5100/2024; the procedure is KYA 214926/2025.
“€250,000 threshold”correctedSince 1 September 2024 there are three tiers. €800,000 across all of Attica, the Thessaloniki regional unit, Mykonos, Thira (Santorini) and islands with populations above 3,100. €400,000 everywhere else. €250,000 only by exception: conversion of premises to residential use, reconstruction of an industrial building idle for five years, or full restoration of a listed building — and the works must be finished before the application is filed.
Conditions the site did not mentionaddedThe property must be a single one, at least 120 m² of principal space. Short-term letting is forbidden outright: a €50,000 fine, or €150,000 and withdrawal of the permit where the property is used as an office or transferred in breach.
“2–4 months to the permit”correctedThe statute sets no issuing deadline. On filing, a βεβαίωση is issued (art. 10 of Law 5038/2023) which by itself confers lawful residence and the rights of the permit until a decision. In November 2025 there were 13,499 pending cases, 10,703 of them in Attica; waits reached 18 months and are now shortening.
Non-dom, €100,000 a year — true, with a trapaddedArt. 5A of Law 4172/2013: €100,000 a year on foreign income, plus €20,000 per family member, an investment of €500,000 within three years, up to fifteen years. The golden visa does not count towards that investment — the relief attaches only to the investment-activity permit under art. 16 of Law 4251/2014.
“€34,000 on top”confirmedCorrect at the €400,000 tier. Transfer tax 3% plus a 3% municipal surcharge on the tax, so 3.09%. VAT on new build (24%) is suspended to 31 December 2026, so ΦΜΑ is what is actually paid. The fee is a €2,000 e-paravolo for the application plus €16 for the card. KYA sets no family-member fee, so no figure is published for one. At the €800,000 tier the same set comes to roughly €67,000.

Sources

The migration ministry's own golden-visa pages were out of date when this was checked: they still cited the repealed art. 20B of Law 4251/2014 and the €250,000 figure. That is why the thresholds here come from stegasi.gov.gr and from the statute, and not from the page a reader would most naturally land on.

Malta

What the site statesVerdictWhat the source says
“Permanent residence programme”confirmedCorrect in substance. Formally the Malta Permanent Residence Programme (MPRP), S.L. 217.26 under the Immigration Act (Cap. 217).
“€300,000 threshold”corrected€300,000 was the south-Malta and Gozo threshold before the reform; there is no regional difference any more. Under L.N. 310/2024 from 1 January 2025 and L.N. 146/2025 of 22 July 2025: purchase €375,000 anywhere, or rent €14,000 a year; government contribution €37,000 either way; administrative fee €60,000 for the main applicant; NGO donation €2,000; €7,500 per dependant, with spouse, minor children and adult children with a disability free; card €500 per person. Held for five years. Plus proof of assets: €500,000 of which €150,000 financial, or €650,000 of which €75,000.
“4–6 months to the permit”not verifiedResidency Malta publishes no processing time at all; the agents' handbook (v4.0, 28 January 2025) speaks only of “reasonable timeframes”. Eight months are allowed to complete the purchase and payments after the letter of approval in principle, so 4–6 months to the card is not realistic; six to twelve months end to end is.
Remittance basisaddedTrue but incomplete as the site had it. A resident without domicile pays on foreign income only when it is remitted, and foreign capital gains are untaxed even when remitted. There is a €5,000 minimum tax a year where unremitted foreign income is €35,000 or more. The MPRP does not by itself confer tax residence.
“€118,000 on top” — understatedcorrectedStamp duty is 5% of the higher of price and market value (1% up front on the promise of sale). Main applicant, purchase route: €375,000 + €18,750 + €60,000 + €37,000 + €2,000 + €500 plus notary and lawyer, roughly €126,000 above the price of the property. Rental route: about €113,500 in the first year without stamp duty, and about €190,000–205,000 across five years of rent.

Sources

UAE

What the site statesVerdictWhat the source says
Golden Visa through propertyconfirmedDLD, “Request for Golden Visa – Investor”; GDRFA, “Issuing a golden residence permit (investors)”.
AED 2,000,000 for ten yearsaddedCorrect, with qualifications the site did not carry. The property need not be a single one: GDRFA says “one or more properties with a value of no less than AED 2,000,000”. A mortgage is allowed with a bank letter of no objection stating the amount paid and the balance. Fractional ownership qualifies if the share itself reaches the threshold.
Off-plan propertynot verifiedNo official page says off-plan property qualifies for the golden visa, and GDRFA's owner-visa page expressly requires completed construction. Nothing is stated on the site.
The AED 750,000 and AED 1,000,000 figures in circulationcorrectedAED 750,000 is not found in any current source. AED 1,000,000 is the retirement golden visa, from age 55, for five years — not a shorter investor route.
“3–6 weeks to the permit” — overstatedcorrectedDLD publishes 7–10 working days, GDRFA about 5 working days, ICP an entry permit in 2 days. In practice, title deed to Emirates ID runs about two to four weeks.
No personal income taxconfirmedu.ae, verbatim: “The UAE does not levy income tax on individuals.” The 9% corporate tax and the 15% DMTT do not touch personal income. VAT is 5%.
“€490,000 at a rate of 4.08”correctedThe rate on 23 August 2026 was about 4.288 dirham to the euro, so AED 2m is about €466,400. A rate may not be baked into a figure without its date.
“€38,000 on top” — overstatedcorrectedGovernment fees on the golden visa are AED 9,884.75 (medical 700, Emirates ID 1,153, residence 2,856.75, DLD 4,020, admin 1,155), plus AED 5,774.50 per dependant. The 4% DLD registration fee and the 2% agent commission are market practice and are not confirmed by an official page, so they are named but not totalled. That gives roughly €31,000.

Sources

Naturalisation: the column that had to be rewritten

What the site statesVerdictWhat the source says
Portugal — “five years to citizenship”correctedLei Orgânica 1/2026 (Diário da República, 18 May 2026, in force from 19 May) rewrote art. 6(1)(b) of Lei 37/81: seven years for nationals of Portuguese-speaking countries and of the EU, ten years for everybody else. Plus an examination in the language and in culture, history and state symbols, and a solemn declaration of adherence to the rule of law. It is not retroactive — applications filed before it came into force are decided under the previous text. The period runs from the ISSUE of the residence permit, not from the application.
Greece — does the golden visa count towards citizenship?addedSeven years of continuous lawful residence (art. 5(1)(δ) of the Citizenship Code, Law 3284/2004). The investor permit is a qualifying title, but the Code requires ACTUAL residence and the golden visa requires no minimum stay — so holding the permit does not by itself accumulate the period. Plus an examination in language, history and civics.
Malta — citizenship by investmentwithdrawnClosed. After the Court of Justice ruling in C-181/23 of 29 April 2025 the ESDI scheme was replaced by Act XXI of 2025 and the S.L. 188.06 rules: naturalisation for merit in science, sport, culture or philanthropy, with at least eight months of residence — payment alone does not qualify. Ordinary naturalisation is four years out of the last six plus twelve continuous months before applying.
What this changes about the comparisoncorrectedPortugal has stopped being the fastest route to a passport in this set. Malta at about five years and Cyprus at four to five for certain categories are now shorter than Portugal's ten for non-EU, non-CPLP nationals. The column is more accurately called “naturalisation by residence is possible” than “route to citizenship” — in all three cases it needs years of real residence and a language examination. In the UAE, naturalisation is exceptional and by nomination; owning property does not start it.

Sources

Cyprus

What the site statesVerdictWhat the source says
The €300,000 threshold under regulation 6(2)not verifiedSecondary sources give €300,000 excluding VAT, with VAT on top; confirmed foreign income of €50,000 a year, plus €15,000 for a spouse and €10,000 for each minor child; medical insurance; annual confirmation that the investment and the insurance are maintained; sale without immediate replacement means withdrawal; police certificates every three years. Criteria as revised on 2 May 2023. None of this could be read from a primary source.
Transfer feescorrectedTransfer fees are not charged where VAT has been paid — and the 6(2) route requires a first-sale property, which carries VAT. So they come out of any estimate. Where they do apply: 1% up to €85,000, 3% up to €170,000, 5% above.
The reduced VAT rate and its limitsnot verifiedVAT is 19% standard and 5% reduced. The limits on the reduced rate (130 m² / €350,000) could not be confirmed.

No source is listed because none could be reached. gov.cy answers 403, the certificate on mip.gov.cy has expired, and the tax department's PDF is closed by robots. That is why Cyprus stands in the comparison table with dashes rather than figures and has no page of its own: a permanent-residency threshold published without being read from the law is exactly the claim that circulates, gets forwarded and cannot be corrected in place. When a primary source becomes reachable, Cyprus gets its figures and its page in the same week.

23 August 2026