The Greek Golden Visa program offering permanent residence to non-EU nations investing at least EUR 250,000 in real estate in the country has failed to attract affluent investors. The country’s performance is particularly poor when compared with other Golden Visa programs offered by other EU nations.
Greece issued 983 Golden Visas over a 28-month period starting from June 2013. Latvia, which offers permanent residence in lieu of minimum investment of EUR 250,000, issued 13,518 residence permits over a five-year period starting from July 2015. The latter’s annual issue rate is more than six times higher than the Greek program.
Portugal, another EU nation offering a Golden Visa program, issued 6124 visas over a 32-month period from October 2012 to June 2015 despite a higher minimum investment requirement of EUR 350,000. Even Spain, which has twice the investment threshold as compared to Greece, issued 531 permits in a period of just 15 months starting from September 2013.
Analysis of the 983 Golden Visas issued shows that 650 visas were issued to Chinese and Russian citizens with the UAE, Egypt, Ukraine, and the USA together accounting for 277 permits.
Further analysis reveals that the program resulted in very little inflow of foreign investment into the real estate sector. In many cases, applicants had purchased real estate in Greece even before the program had been introduced. In such cases, permanent residence was merely an added advantage and not the primary reason for the purchase of real estate in the Greece.
The dismal performance of the investment immigration program is attributed to doubts about the country’s continued membership in the EU, the poor state of the economy, political uncertainty, harsh capital control rules, and an unfavorable tax regime.
General Information: Contact us to receive more information about this article.
Interested Investors: Kindly complete the following form and we will contact you to discuss your global residency and citizenship investment options.
Related articles: