Citizeo Expand your global options
Pathway

Greece Investor Residence Permit

Greece Residency
Pathway overview

At a glance

Greece offers residence permits for certain property purchases, financial investments, and investments in businesses on its National Startup Registry. These permits are often called “Golden Visas.” They are for people who are not EU, EEA, or Swiss citizens. Only investments that meet the rules for the relevant permit qualify.

Ordinary property
€800,000 in specified areas or €400,000 elsewhere; one qualifying property
Special property
€250,000 only for the specified conversion or listed-building cases
Other investments
Financial and startup options have separate approved products, amounts, and conditions

Summary

Greece has five-year B.4 and B.5 permits for specified financial and real-estate investments, plus a separate B.6 startup-investment permit initially issued for one year. Ordinary property ownership, an unapproved investment, or merely matching a headline amount is not enough.

Choose the legal investment category before using a headline threshold
  1. Select B.5, B.4 or B.6 Distinguish real estate, qualifying financial investment and registered-startup investment.
  2. Check the asset-specific conditions For property, location, size, use and restoration or conversion rules can change the qualifying test.
  3. Apply and maintain the investment obligations Follow that category’s grant duration, continuing ownership or investment, and renewal requirements.

The categories are alternatives and do not all use the same duration or threshold. Investor residence does not itself authorize work or confer citizenship.

Could this pathway work for you?

Eligibility

EEA means the EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway.

For an ordinary real-estate purchase under B.5, the current thresholds are:

Two special real-estate routes remain at €250,000 throughout Greece:

The Code also covers specified long-term leases of integrated tourist housing and time-share tourist housing at the applicable location-based amount, as well as certain inheritance or parental-gift cases. These are document-heavy alternatives and should be checked against Article 100 before any transaction.

For B.4 financial investment, Article 99 defines the permitted products and amounts. The main current groups include:

Every financial route has additional requirements concerning the entity, custodian or intermediary, account, market, certification, and continued holding. The amount alone is not enough.

The B.6 startup permit has separate requirements:

Additional rules apply when a company or other legal entity makes the investment.

For B.5 real estate, the full price or qualifying lease amount must be paid before the application using a payment method permitted by Article 100, and the notarial certificate must record the transaction and payment details. The applicant must have entered Greece lawfully or already be legally present, provide the required insurance and application documents, and pay the current government charges. Source-of-funds, anti-money-laundering, sanctions, title, planning, tax, and beneficial-ownership checks can all be important in practice.

More about this route

B.4 and B.5 permits are generally issued for five years and may be renewed for five-year periods while the qualifying investment is maintained and the other conditions continue to be met. B.6 is different: its initial permit is for one year and each renewal is for two years. The relevant statutes say that absence from Greece does not by itself prevent renewal of B.5 or B.6.

The lowest current headline amount is €250,000, for specific real-estate conversions, listed-building restorations, or qualifying startup investments. Ordinary residential purchases require €400,000 or €800,000 depending on location and must satisfy additional one-property and size rules.

What This Route Allows

An approved B.4 or B.5 applicant receives a Greek residence permit normally valid for five years. It can be renewed for another five years while the qualifying property, contract, or financial investment remains in place and the other requirements continue to be met. A B.6 startup investor instead receives a one-year permit, renewable for two years at a time while the investment and other conditions set by law continue to be certified.

Qualifying family members may apply for linked residence documents under the current investor-family rules. Each relative must fit the legal definition and provide their own documents; family eligibility should be confirmed before the investment is made.

The permit allows residence in Greece and the short visits elsewhere in the Schengen area permitted under the general Schengen rules. It does not create a right to settle in another Member State.

The B.5 holder may rent the property on an ordinary basis, but the law prohibits short-term rental through the sharing economy and prohibits subletting. Property acquired through the conversion-to-residential branch also cannot be used as the registered office or branch of a business. Breach can lead to revocation and substantial fines.

What This Route Is Not

This is not a citizenship-by-investment program. It gives residence, not Greek or EU citizenship. A later naturalization application is judged under the ordinary rules and requires actual residence and integration; keeping an investor permit without living in Greece does not by itself satisfy those rules.

It is not a work permit. Articles 99, 100, and 100A state that these investor permits do not establish access to any form of work. Owning shares does not give a B.6 holder permission to take a paid or operational role that requires work rights.

It is not permission to buy several smaller ordinary properties and add their prices together. The current €400,000 and €800,000 purchase routes require one property. Nor does every €250,000 property qualify: the property must fit and complete the legal conversion or listed-building route.

The €250,000 startup threshold is not a general “buy any business” option. The company must be in the National Startup Registry, the contribution and securities must fit Article 100A, the investor's interest must stay within the ownership and voting cap, and the business must meet the job-creation and job-maintenance conditions.

The permit is not guaranteed by signing a reservation agreement or paying a deposit. The property title, classification, size, use, payment, and notarial evidence—or the exact financial product and certification—must comply with the law. Old transitional deadlines for purchases begun under earlier thresholds have passed and should not be presented as options for a new 2026 investment.

The residence permit also does not decide tax residence or produce an automatic tax exemption. Property taxes, acquisition costs, rental taxation, and the separate Article 5A tax regime require individual advice.

Next Steps

  1. Choose the legal category first: B.5 real estate, B.4 financial investment, or B.6 registered-startup investment. Do not choose an asset only because its price matches a headline threshold.
  2. For real estate, obtain an independent written review of the location, census rule where relevant, one-property requirement, 120-square-meter rule, current legal use, planning status, listed-building status, title, liens, and seller's prior use of the property for an investor permit.
  3. If considering a €250,000 conversion, verify that residential use can lawfully be completed before filing. If considering a listed building, budget and contract for the restoration required before the first renewal and understand the restriction on transfer before completion.
  4. For a financial route, have the Ministry of Development/responsible investment unit and a regulated Greek institution confirm in writing that the proposed fund, security, company contribution, bond, deposit, intermediary, and account structure fit Article 99.
  5. For a startup route, verify the company's current National Startup Registry status, the instrument used for the new capital, the 33% cap, the employment plan, the remittance route, the certification process, and the one-year initial permit before investing.
  6. Confirm the permitted payment path before sending money. Make sure a real-estate contract and notarial certificate will record all details required by Article 100.
  7. Complete source-of-funds, sanctions, tax, beneficial-ownership, title, and anti-money-laundering checks. Use independent Greek legal, tax, and technical advisors rather than relying only on the seller, developer, startup, fund promoter, or migration marketer.
  8. Check family eligibility and civil-record requirements before the main filing. Obtain compliant health insurance and the current identity and application documents.
  9. File through the official procedure and retain evidence that the investment remains qualifying. For renewal, keep the asset and all annual or periodic certifications required for that route.

Stay up to date on this pathway

Get an email when something important changes.

No account needed. Unsubscribe anytime.

Discussed in these reports

Similar investment pathways in other destinations.

Sources