If you want an EU residency card backed by a real property and no requirement to actually live there, Greece is the cheapest version of that trade left in the EU. Officially reorganised in August 2024 under Law 5100/2024 into a three-tier zone system, it now runs on real-estate thresholds of €250,000 to €800,000 depending on location. There's no minimum stay, family coverage reaches both sets of parents, and two tax regimes - a €100k flat-tax Non-Dom option and a 7% foreign-pensioner rate - make it competitive for wealthy relocators too.
Who this is for: This suits investors who want a tangible Mediterranean property and Schengen access with no minimum stay, or wealthy retirees who can use the 7% foreign-pensioner tax regime.
The full Greece series runs across 14 separate articles - each one its own page:
- Greece Golden Visa Cost in 2026: The €250k Route and the All-In Number
- Greece Golden Visa Tax in 2026: Non-Dom, the 7% Pension Rate, and the Catch
- Greece Golden Visa Application in 2026: The Real Step-by-Step
- Greece Golden Visa for Families: Three Generations on One Application
- Greek Citizenship Through the Golden Visa: The 7-Year Path and the Exam
- Greece Golden Visa through real estate in 2026
- Is the Greece Golden Visa worth it?
- Was the Golden Visa really 7% of home sales?
- 31,178 investors, ~90,000 people
- A map of who's leaving
- €800k, €400k, or €250k
- The Airbnb pitch vs Article 100 §7A
- Greece Golden Visa requirements
- My Greece file is stuck
- Also read: Greece Golden Visa requirements
- Also read: My Greece file is stuck (blue receipt, biometrics)
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
Greece now prices Golden Visa property by location. Zone A - €800,000, at least 120m², a single property - covers Attica (including Athens and Piraeus), greater Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini and any island with more than 3,100 residents. Zone B - €400,000, same size and single-property rule - covers everywhere else in the country. The €250,000 conversion/restoration route stays open nationwide, but only for converting commercial property to residential or restoring listed heritage buildings, with a five-year completion deadline. The repricing came from Article 64 of Law 5100/2024, amending the Migration Code (Law 5038/2023), with Circular No. 1/2026 (22 April 2026) adding operational guidance. In the €400k/€800k zones, note that the threshold must be met with one single property - combining smaller units no longer qualifies.
The Airbnb ban matters
The zone map covers price. The next rule governs what you can do with the property. Since 2024, you can't put a Golden Visa property on Airbnb or similar platforms - long-term leases are fine, short-term ones aren't. Listing it as a short-term rental can trigger permit cancellation and a €50,000 administrative fine. That shift ended the yield-driven Athens portfolio play and pushed more investors toward the conversion route instead.
Tax: two regimes worth modelling
That's the property side. Tax works on a separate track. Greece offers two useful overlays if you actually relocate. The Non-Dom flat tax is €100,000 a year on all worldwide income, available if you weren't Greek tax-resident in 7 of the prior 8 years, and it runs for up to 15 years (family members add €20,000 each). The foreign-pensioner regime is a flat 7% on all foreign-source income, including pensions, for retirees moving from a tax-treaty country, also for up to 15 years.
The processing reality
That's the tax picture. Here's how fast an application actually moves in 2026. Greece decentralised Golden Visa processing in 2024–25, and the pending caseload has fallen sharply from a mid-2025 peak above 49,000 files. Around 8,879 permits were issued in 2025 - approvals up roughly 95% year on year - and more than 79,000 permits were active by December 2025. A clean new file in 2026 realistically takes 4–9 months, though busier offices like Athens run slower. Law 5275/2026 added statutory processing deadlines and, for some categories, a single permit combining residence and work rights; a separate fix now recalculates the permit's five-year validity from the card-issuance date rather than the filing date.
The €250,000 conversion route - the EU's cheapest, with strings
Processing speed is one thing. The €250,000 headline number needs its own caveat. Greece still advertises a €250,000 entry point, and it's real - but it no longer buys a finished apartment. That figure now only applies to converting a commercial property to residential, restoring a listed or heritage building, or the Elevate Greece startup route, and the property options carry a five-year completion deadline on penalty of losing the permit. For a turnkey apartment, the floor is €400,000 in Zone B or €800,000 in Zone A, met with one property of at least 120m². The €250,000 route suits someone willing to manage a renovation or back a startup - treating it as a shortcut to a cheap, ready-made home is the most common misreading of post-2024 Greece.
Permanent residence by renewal vs the 7-year passport
One last thing worth deciding early: whether you actually want the passport. Greece's real strength is that you never have to naturalise to get what most buyers actually want. The five-year card renews indefinitely as long as you keep the qualifying investment, with zero required stay - that alone delivers EU residence and Schengen travel. Citizenship is available after seven years of legal residence, but it requires a genuine written exam in B1 Greek plus history, geography and civics, and one to three years of processing on top, so eight to ten years is the realistic timeline. If an EU base and mobility is the goal rather than a Greek passport, indefinite renewal is the real destination, and the language exam is a hurdle you can simply skip.
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.
How much does the Greece Golden Visa cost in 2026?+
Three property tiers, plus 4–10% in taxes and fees on top.
- •€800,000 in Athens, Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini and islands over 3,100 residents.
- •€400,000 in the rest of Greece.
- •€250,000 for a commercial-to-residential conversion or a listed building restored within 5 years.
- •Budget another 4–10% for transfer tax, notary, land registry and legal fees, plus roughly €2,000 in permit and biometric fees for the main applicant.
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.