Portugal’s abolishment of residency through investment gives boost to Greece Golden Visa, stats confirm

ATHENS - The Golden Visa Programme offered by Greece seems to be attracting international billionaires as €1.57 billion was invested in the country through the Programme in the last 12 months.

The recent data from the Department of Immigration Policy confirms that in the last 12 months, 6,064 applications for new permits have been submitted. Out of these applications, 2,072 residence permits have already been issued while another 3,976 are pending.

Some media reports even estimate the figures of investment to be about €2 billion in the backdrop of the fact that the current minimum investment threshold is €250,000.

The investment figures (€1.57 billion) reported by leading publication Ekathimerini show that in the first quarter of this year, a total of 1,052 new licenses were issued, thus accounting for a surge of 141 per cent compared to the same period in last year’s statistics. 

In addition, for a period from January until March this year, requests for granting of a permanent investor residence permit surged by 156 per cent, thus reaching 2,367.

Greece’s Golden Visa investment immigration scheme permits wealthy foreigners the opportunity to acquire residency in the country if applicants make a significant financial contribution to this country, or over €250,000.

The program is also gaining traction owing to the fact that Portugal has now abolished its Golden Visa program due to multiple reasons including the housing crisis. 

The research conducted by the London investment immigration firm Astons implies that Americans are now attracted to Greece’s Residency by Investment scheme. It said that in March alone, online searches for the Golden Visa Programme of Greece increased by 75 per cent.

 It bears mentioning that Greece’s Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, had unfolded plans that the country would increase the minimum amount of investment for this scheme, in some parts of the country.

It was reported that the minimum investment would have to be €500,000 instead of €250,000; however, the decision has been postponed until July 31.

At present, several European countries offer a Golden Visa scheme for wealthy citizens from other countries but the European Union has been advocating against this program, saying it allows criminals to find refuge in countries under the garb of investment.