Looking for a route based on a job offer rather than an investment? Greece's routes here are all capital- or income-based. Browse other countries
Greece. What the capital buys, and what it risks.
A capital-first residency route with several ways in, from a bank deposit to a restored building, plus a separate track for people living on passive income.
When rules change mid-way, the date your application is filed is what often decides which rules apply to you. Where are you right now?
Greece's residency-by-investment program, widely known as the Golden Visa, offers a cluster of separate tiers built around different kinds of capital: real estate, bank deposits, government bonds, corporate securities, investment funds, and startup investment. A separate, non-investment route exists for people who can show ongoing passive income and don't want to invest capital at all. Each investment tier has its own threshold and its own conditions for keeping the permit valid, and none require the holder to live in Greece full-time.
What you keep, what you don't
10 tiers, three very different relationships with your money. Everything below is what Immimaps has verified against Greece's official programme rules — not a marketing minimum.
Placed with the country rather than in an asset, and contractually returned once the hold period tied to it ends. Any hold period is in the ledger below.
Your money is exposed to the asset it sits in, or spent outright. Where the source names a holding period, it's in the ledger below.
Not an investment route at all — for people who can document steady income or savings and don't want to deploy capital.
Living on the income you already have
Not everyone here is investing. This route asks for proof of steady income instead of a capital placement.
€3,500 shown as proof of means — nothing is transferred.
Not an investment route at all — it's for people who can document steady passive income and don't want to deploy capital.
The ledger
| Route | Capital | Your money is | Hold period | Comes back? | Service fees on file |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Golden Visa Bank Deposit | €500,000one-time | Refundable | 5 years | Yes, on closing | Benchmark coming soon Check a proposal |
| Golden Visa Corporate Securities | €800,000one-time | Capital at risk | — | At market | Benchmark coming soon Check a proposal |
| Golden Visa Government Bonds | €500,000one-time | Capital at risk | 3 years | At market | Benchmark coming soon Check a proposal |
| Golden Visa Heritage Projects | €250,000one-time | Capital at risk | — | At market | Benchmark coming soon Check a proposal |
| Golden Visa Investment Funds | €350,000one-time | Capital at risk | — | At market | Benchmark coming soon Check a proposal |
| Golden Visa Prime Real Estate | €800,000one-time | Capital at risk | — | At market | Benchmark coming soon Check a proposal |
| Golden Visa Regional Real Estate | €400,000one-time | Capital at risk | — | At market | Benchmark coming soon Check a proposal |
| Golden Visa Startup Investment | €250,000one-time | Capital at risk | — | At market | Benchmark coming soon Check a proposal |
| Greece Digital Nomad Visa and Residence Permit | €3,500/ month, shown — not held | Threshold, not at risk | — | Never leaves you | EUR 2,000typical · middle half EUR 1,800–2,500 · 5 firmsmixed scope, visa application only to full package · tax excluded on 1 of 5, not stated on 4 · dated 2025 Check a proposal |
| Residence Permit for Financially Independent Persons (FIP) | €3,500/ month, shown — not held | Threshold, not at risk | — | Never leaves you | Benchmark coming soon Check a proposal |
What each route costs, stage by stage
Added up from the official figures on file for each route — split into money spent for good, money locked and returned later, and money shown but never transferred. Not a modelled estimate.
Golden Visa Bank Deposit▾
At application
Decision — reported: 4 months.- Spent for goodOfficial fees: €2,016, paid to the government for the initial application.
- Locked€500,000 placed as capital, returned after 5 years.
When the hold ends
Hold — reported: 5 years.- Locked€500,000 returned after 5 years.
Golden Visa Corporate Securities▾
At application
Decision — reported: 2 months.- Spent for goodOfficial fees: €2,016, paid to the government for the initial application.
- Locked€800,000 placed as capital — recoverable in principle, exposed in practice.
Golden Visa Government Bonds▾
At application
Decision — reported: 4 months.- Spent for goodOfficial fees: €2,016, paid to the government for the initial application.
- Locked€500,000 placed as capital — recoverable in principle, exposed in practice.
Golden Visa Heritage Projects▾
At application
Decision — reported: 4 months.- Spent for goodOfficial fees: €2,016, paid to the government for the initial application.
- Locked€250,000 placed as capital — recoverable in principle, exposed in practice.
Golden Visa Investment Funds▾
At application
Decision — reported: 4 months.- Spent for goodOfficial fees: €2,016, paid to the government for the initial application.
- Locked€350,000 placed as capital — recoverable in principle, exposed in practice.
Golden Visa Prime Real Estate▾
At application
Decision — reported: 6 months.- Spent for goodOfficial fees: €2,016, paid to the government for the initial application.
- Locked€800,000 placed as capital — recoverable in principle, exposed in practice.
Golden Visa Regional Real Estate▾
At application
Decision — reported: 4 months.- Spent for goodOfficial fees: €2,016, paid to the government for the initial application.
- Locked€400,000 placed as capital — recoverable in principle, exposed in practice.
Golden Visa Startup Investment▾
At application
Decision — reported: 4 months.- Spent for goodOfficial fees: €4,516, paid to the government for the initial application.
- Locked€250,000 placed as capital — recoverable in principle, exposed in practice.
Greece Digital Nomad Visa and Residence Permit▾
At application
Decision — reported: 1 month.- Spent for goodGovernment fees on file: €1,091, paid to the government for the initial application.
- Shown, never leaves you€3,500 shown as proof of means every month — nothing is transferred.
Residence Permit for Financially Independent Persons (FIP)▾
At application
Decision — reported: 3 months.- Spent for goodOfficial fees: €1,196, paid to the government for the initial application.
- Shown, never leaves you€3,500 shown as proof of means every month — nothing is transferred.
The order Golden Visa Bank Deposit follows
- 2024-04-05Greece raised its Golden Visa real estate investment thresholds under Law 5100/2024 (in force from 5 April 2024, Article 64): a standard property purchase now requires at least €800,000 in Attica, Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini, and islands with over 3,100 residents, and at least €400,000 elsewhere, up from the prior flat thresholds. A lower €250,000 threshold remains for restoring a listed/heritage building or converting a commercial building to residential use. source
Upload it and Immimaps checks it against what Greece's official programme actually requires — the threshold, the hold period, the fees the brochure leaves out — and reads the contract clause by clause. Free, no account.
Check my documentCountry Analysis lays out policy stability, financial exposure and process risk across all of Greece's routes side by side.
Open Country AnalysisEvery official figure on this page is checked against Greece's official immigration sources. Service fees are what independent firms publish for a route — not an official figure, and never any one firm's price. Immimaps does not publish success rates, approval odds or any probability score — here or anywhere else.
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