Greece Golden Visa property acquisition investment amount is currently €250,000 and one of the lowest amounts among Europe’s popular residency by investment schemes.
At the International Exhibition of Thessaloniki, the Prime Minister, Mr. Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced that the Golden Visa threshold will increase from 250.000 euros to 500.000 euros.
“In order to increase the affordability of real estate for Greeks, we are now increasing the minimum amount of investment required for the issuance of a golden visa from €250,000 to €500,000” the Prime Minister pointed out in this regard, among other measures for the Government’s Housing Policy.
In this regard, even though officials in the investment immigration sector are expressing their concern and surprise, we have to admit that we all were aware that from 2020 there was a legislative provision passed by the Greek Parliament regarding the possibility of readjusting the lower limit of the Program either overall or by region of the country, taking into account the level of development of each.
In addition, the recent developments at the European level and the emerging directions regarding the European Residency/Citizenship by Investment programs could have played their role to such a development.
Coming to the current situation, and though no official information exists as per when the increase for the Greek golden visa program will take effect, several local sources in Greece expect it could be early 2023.
It will be particularly critical how this change will be implemented in the program, given that there are many “open” sales during this time, which are delayed due to bureaucracy. We are unofficially informed that the Ministry of Development is already studying the individual scenarios for the implementation of the new limit, in order not to disrupt the operation of the program and at the same time to ensure a smooth transition for the investors to the new status.
Within this context, in Greece as a legally constituted state and a community based on the rules of law, under respect to foreign investors who trusted our Country, the implementation of the new framework should not have a retroactive force. Under this light we feel confident that a transition period of at least 3 months will be granted therefore That means all residence permit applications submitted until the new framework comes into effect will be approved with the official up to now limit of €250,000.
Taking into account that the Greek Golden Visa program takes an average of 3-4 months to process investors who are looking to proceed at the current investment level of €250,000, it is advisable to act now.
