Greece's Golden Visa was, for many years, the simplest investor-residency proposition in Europe: a quarter of a million euros, anywhere in the country, into property of any description, in exchange for a Schengen residency with no minimum stay. That simplicity has ended. What replaced it is more nuanced — and, for a well-advised investor, still substantially attractive.
The new tier structure
Beginning in 2024 and refined further in 2025, Greece divided its territory into three Golden Visa zones. Athens proper, Thessaloniki's central districts, and the most heavily touristed islands — Mykonos and Santorini chief among them — moved to an €800,000 threshold. The remainder of Attica and the larger urbanized municipalities sit at €400,000. The original €250,000 threshold survives across the rest of the country.
There is also a square-meterage floor in the upper tiers — properties must meet a minimum size — and a single-property requirement, ending the practice of stacking smaller investments to reach the threshold.
Where €250,000 still works
The lower threshold remains live in most secondary regions: the Peloponnese, Central Greece outside Athens, Thessaly, much of Macedonia and Thrace, the Ionian islands beyond Corfu's center, and most of Crete. For an investor whose primary objective is residency rather than a Mediterranean lifestyle property, the €250,000 entry point is geographically broad and continues to deliver real, lettable assets.
For investors uncomfortable with foreign property altogether, the €500,000 capital pathway — Greek government bonds, time deposits, or qualifying fund shares — bypasses real estate entirely. We have seen meaningful uptake of this route since the property thresholds rose.
What hasn't changed, and why it still matters
The two features that made Greece distinctive remain entirely intact. The first: zero minimum stay. After biometrics — a single visit — there is no further requirement to be in the country. The second: three-generation family coverage. Principal, spouse, dependent children, and parents on both sides, all in one application. No other Schengen residency we work with combines these two characteristics.
Greece is the only meaningful EU residency that asks nothing of your time after biometrics. For clients whose calendars cannot tolerate a real residency obligation, that single feature still defines the program.
Our current view for American clients
Greece remains an excellent residency-only program. It is no longer a serious citizenship pathway — naturalization requires seven years of substantial physical presence, which the program is structurally not designed to deliver. If a client wants Schengen mobility, three-generation family coverage, and a tangible Mediterranean asset, Greece is still our first recommendation. If a client primarily wants an EU passport, we point them to Portugal.
The map of where €250,000 still works changes periodically. Before any client signs anything, we update them on which regions remain eligible at the threshold they're targeting.