Greece runs the most affordable real-estate residency left in the EU, restructured in August 2024 (Law 5100/2024) into a three-tier zone system. There is no minimum stay requirement, family inclusion stretches across three generations, and the layered tax regimes — €100k flat-tax Non-Dom and 7% foreign-pensioner — make it competitive with anything in Europe for HNW relocators.
Who this is for: Investors who want a tangible Mediterranean asset and a zero-presence Schengen card — or HNW retirees who can use the 7% foreign-pensioner regime.
Investment routes
Single property, ≥120m². Attica, greater Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini, islands >3,100 inhabitants.
Single property, ≥120m². Anywhere else in Greece.
Nationwide. Commercial-to-residential conversion or restoration of a listed heritage building (5-year completion deadline).
Equity in a company on the Greek National Startup Registry (Elevate Greece). Added by Law 5162/2024, Art. 44.
Mutual or alternative investment fund in Greek listed instruments.
Fixed term, ≥1 year, with a Greek credit institution.
≥3-year remaining maturity, via a Greek credit institution.
Deep dive
The zone map after August 2024
Zone A (€800,000, ≥120m², single property) covers Attica including Athens and Piraeus, greater Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini, and any island with a population above 3,100. Zone B (€400,000, ≥120m², single property) covers everywhere else in Greece. The €250,000 conversion/restoration route remains available nationwide, restricted to commercial-to-residential conversions or listed-heritage restorations, with a 5-year completion deadline on penalty of permit termination. The repricing was enacted by Article 64 of Law 5100/2024 amending the Migration Code (Law 5038/2023); Circular No. 1/2026 (22 April 2026) added operational guidance. In the €400k/€800k zones the threshold must be met with a single property — combining smaller units no longer qualifies.
The Airbnb ban matters
Since 2024, properties acquired under the Golden Visa cannot be offered as short-term rentals. Long-term leases are fine. Listing on Airbnb or comparable platforms can trigger permit cancellation and a €50,000 administrative fine. The shift killed the yield-driven Athens portfolio play and pushed many investors toward the conversion route.
Tax: two regimes worth modelling
Greece offers two competitive overlays for actual relocators. The Non-Dom flat tax is €100,000 per year on all worldwide income, available to individuals not Greek tax-resident in 7 of the prior 8 years, lasting up to 15 years (family members add €20,000 each). The foreign-pensioner regime is 7% flat on all foreign-source income (including pensions) for retirees relocating from a tax-treaty country, also for 15 years.
The processing reality
Greece decentralised Golden Visa processing in 2024–25, and the pending caseload has fallen sharply from a mid-2025 peak above 49,000. Around 8,879 permits were issued in 2025 (approvals up roughly 95% year on year), and there were over 79,000 active permits by December 2025. Realistic timelines for a clean new file in 2026 run about 4–9 months, though high-volume offices such as Athens take longer. Law 5275/2026 introduced statutory processing deadlines and, for certain categories, a single permit combining residence and work rights; a separate fix recalculates the permit's five-year validity from the card-issuance date rather than the filing date, so cards carry their full term.
The €250,000 conversion route — the EU's cheapest, with strings
Greece still advertises a €250,000 entry, and it is real, but it no longer buys a finished apartment. The figure now applies only to converting a commercial property to residential, restoring a listed or heritage building, or the Elevate Greece startup route — and the property routes carry a five-year completion deadline, on penalty of permit termination. For a turnkey apartment the floor is €400,000 in Zone B or €800,000 in Zone A, met with a single property of at least 120m². The €250,000 route suits an investor willing to manage a renovation or back a startup; it is not a shortcut to a cheap, ready home, and treating it as one is the most common misunderstanding of post-2024 Greece.
Permanent residence by renewal vs the 7-year passport
The Greece Golden Visa's quiet strength is that you never have to naturalise to get what most buyers want. The five-year card renews indefinitely as long as you hold the qualifying investment, with zero stay, which already delivers EU residence and Schengen travel. Citizenship is available after seven years of legal residence, but it requires a genuine written exam — B1 Greek plus history, geography and civics — and one to three years of processing on top, so eight to ten years is realistic. For investors who want an EU base and mobility rather than a Greek passport, indefinite renewal is the real destination, and the exam is a hurdle they can simply decline. Decide which you actually want early, because it changes whether the Greek language exam is ever on your critical path.
The honest tradeoffs
- + Zero physical presence to maintain or renew
- + €250,000 conversion/restoration route — the cheapest route in the EU
- + Three-generation family file (both sets of parents qualify, no age threshold)
- + Non-Dom (€100k flat) and 7% foreign-pensioner tax regimes
- − Zone A jumped from €500k to €800k under Law 5100/2024 (effective 31 Aug 2024)
- − Short-term rentals (Airbnb) banned on Golden-Visa property since 2024 — €50k fine + permit cancellation risk
- − Citizenship requires 7 years, B1 Greek and a history/culture exam
- − 120m² minimum is a single-property rule — can't combine smaller units
Frequently asked
Can I rent the property out?+
Long-term yes, short-term no — the rules changed in 2024.
- •Long-term leases (12+ months) are fully permitted.
- •Short-term lets (Airbnb, Booking, holiday rentals) are banned for Golden-Visa property.
- •Penalty: €50,000 administrative fine and possible permit cancellation.
Do I have to live in Greece?+
No — Greece has the loosest physical-presence rule in the EU.
- •Zero minimum stay to maintain or renew the Golden Visa.
- •You enter once for biometrics.
- •After that, you can renew without ever returning, as long as the qualifying investment stays in place.
What's the cheapest legitimate route?+
The €250,000 conversion or restoration route, nationwide.
- 01Buy a qualifying commercial property and convert to residential, or buy a listed heritage building for restoration.
- 02Restoration must be completed within 5 years of approval, on penalty of permit termination.
- 03Plus 4–10% in transaction taxes and notary/legal fees on top of the headline price.
How does the path to citizenship work?+
Long, but achievable.
- •7 years of legal residency before you can apply.
- •B1 Greek language exam.
- •Knowledge-of-Greece test (history, geography, civics).
- •Application processing typically adds another 12–24 months.
- •Most Golden Visa investors never pursue citizenship — the permit is renewable indefinitely on continued investment.